Annual revenue at Sunkist Growers exceeded US$1bn for the sixth consecutive year. Announcing the results at its annual meeting last week, the Californian cooperative said payments issued to growers also topping the billion-dollar mark for the second year in a row.
President and CEO Russell Hanlin said Sunkist had made many advancements to keep the cooperative well positioned in the current business environment and last year’s results demonstrated the positive impact of those improvements.
Notable changes in the past few years include the implementation of the cooperative’s grower distribution programme.
“We made our third distribution to growers in 2015, and are committed to increasing these distributions annually. This programme was accomplished through an effective cost containment plan and revenues from our for-profit businesses,” Hanlin said.
The company said its juice processing joint venture with Ventura Coastal had yielded positive results for the organisation.
“Now in its fourth year, the tie-up continues to generate improved by-product earnings, more timely payments and greatly contributes to grower distributions,” Sunkist noted.
With 49 licensees in total, the Sunkist brand is used to market approximately 700 products in 77 countries. “All of these businesses continue to contribute to positive revenue streams and also help strategically position Sunkist for future growth,” Hanlin continued.
Another significant event for the cooperative was Sunkist’s headquarter relocation to Valencia in 2014, which the company claimed strengthened its financial position and also geographically centralised its business operations to its grower base.
As the term of chairman of Sunkist’s board of directors comes to a close, the company announced the election of Gerald Denni of Golden Valley Citrus and co-owner of Mittman-Denni Citrus Management to his first term as chairman.
Elected by the board to vice chairmanships for 2016/17 were Mark Gillette, James Finch and Nicholas Bozick. Other incoming directors included Norman Evans, Amy Fukutomi, Jim Layes, Tony Lombardi, Randy Vogt and Scott Wiley, as well as Steve Cutting and Robert Grether who have previously served on the board.
