In an announcement to growers and shareholders Zespri director Bruce Cameron said SunGold returns are forecast at $11.15 a tray against the top end of the June forecast of $11.20, with the average per hectare return forecast at $152,000 for the season. That is up almost 5% on last year’s returns.
Meantime Green returns are forecast at $6.26 a tray, putting the average per hectare earnings at $63,125, on a par with last season’s returns.
On the back of the fruit payments, Zespri’s forecast range for corporate net profit after tax for the year ending March 31 2020 is $182 million to $190m, including income from SunGold licence releases.
Dividend forecast for the same period is estimated to be 86c-90c a share.
