Strategic Sale of Santa Paula Basin Water Pumping Rights Validates Long-Term Water Resource Strategy While Retaining Significant Portfolio Value
Three Separate Transactions Total $1.7 Million at $30,000 per Acre-Foot; Demonstrating the Value of 9,000 Acre-Feet of Water in Santa Paula Basin
Limoneira Company (the “Company” or “Limoneira”) (Nasdaq: LMNR), a diversified citrus growing, packing, selling and marketing company with related agribusiness activities and real estate development operations, today announced the successful completion of three separate water pumping rights transactions in the Santa Paula Basin, totaling $1.7 million. The sales, which valued the water pumping rights at $30,000 per acre-foot, underscore the increasing value of water resources in the region and validate the Company’s long-term strategy of optimizing water asset management.
The transactions represent a strategic monetization from the Company’s substantial portfolio of approximately 9,000 acre-feet of water pumping rights in the Santa Paula Basin, which Limoneira has accumulated through efficient water application practices and strategic land management over the past century. Limoneira retains approximately 21,000-acre feet of water rights, usage rights and pumping rights located in the Santa Paula and Fillmore Basins, the Paso Robles Basin, and Class 3 Colorado River water rights. These rights represent a strategic asset that may be opportunistically monetized for shareholder benefit while maintaining the Company’s core agricultural and development operations. The Company will continue to pursue industry leading irrigation and farm management practices in support of conserving water to satisfy regional demands while meeting its own requirements.
Harold Edwards, President and Chief Executive Officer of Limoneira Company, stated, “We are pleased to facilitate the sale of these water pumping rights to help the requirements of local buyers needing additional water. We are also pleased to create transactions that demonstrate the significant value these Santa Paula Basin water pumping rights have to our stockholders. Limoneira’s commitment to stewardship and sustainability have allowed us to create conserved water that we can monetize without compromising our present and future demands. We believe that over time these water pumping rights will continue to become more valuable and that opportunities to monetize additional conserved water will present themselves.”
About Limoneira Company
Limoneira Company, a 132-year-old international agribusiness headquartered in Santa Paula, California, has grown to become one of the premier integrated agribusinesses in the world. Limoneira (le moñ âra) is a dedicated sustainability company with 10,500 acres of rich agricultural lands, real estate properties, and water rights in California, Arizona, Chile and Argentina. The Company is a leading producer of lemons, avocados and other crops that are enjoyed throughout the world. For more about Limoneira Company, visit www.limoneira.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are based on Limoneira’s current expectations about future events and can be identified by terms such as “expect,” “may,” “anticipate,” “plans,” “intend,” “should be,” “will be,” “is likely to,” “strive to,” and similar expressions referring to future periods.
Limoneira believes the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable but cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance or achievements. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, Limoneira cautions you against relying on any of these forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause future outcomes to differ materially from those foreseen in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: success in executing the Company’s business plans and strategies, including the review and evaluation of strategic transactions; the process by which the Company engages in its evaluation of strategic transactions; the outcome of potential future strategic transactions and the terms thereof; the possibility that the evaluation of potential strategic transactions will not realize any additional value to our stockholders, and managing the risks involved in the foregoing; changes in laws, regulations, rules, quotas, tariffs and import laws; weather conditions that affect production, transportation, storage, import and export of fresh product; increased pressure from crop disease, insects and other pests; disruption of water supplies or changes in water allocations; disruption in the global supply chain; pricing and supply of raw materials and products; market responses to industry volume pressures; pricing and supply of energy; changes in interest and currency exchange rates; availability of financing for land development activities; political changes and economic crises; international conflict; acts of terrorism; labor disruptions, strikes or work stoppages; loss of important intellectual property rights; inability to pay debt obligations; inability to engage in certain transactions due to restrictive covenants in debt instruments; government restrictions on land use; and market and pricing risks due to concentrated ownership of stock. Other risks and uncertainties include those that are described in Limoneira’s SEC filings that are available on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. Limoneira undertakes no obligation to subsequently update or revise the forward-looking statements made in this press release, except as required by law.
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