Chiquita’s net sales rose by 2 per cent year over year in the second quarter of 2007 to $1.3 billion (£640 million), and the company hauled in a net income of $9bn in the period.

This includes a charge of $3m, related to a settlement of US anti-trust litigation, and compared to a net income of $23m in the year-earlier period.

“We were not satisfied with our second quarter results,” said Chiquita chairman and ceo Fernando Aguirre. “We are taking aggressive actions to address continuing challenging market conditions, and expect to reverse the recent trend and begin delivering modest year-over-year improvements in operating results, starting in he third quarter.

“We remain confident in our strategy to generate sustainable, profitable growth by delivering innovative higher-margin products and building a high-performance organisation,” he continued. “We were pleased to complete the previously announced strategic shipping agreement during the quarter, and to use a significant portion of the proceeds from that transaction to pay down debt. We will continue to take actions to strengthen our balance sheet, improve our risk profile, focus our efforts on market activities and diversify our company by product, channel and geography.”

Chiquita repaid more than $200m in debt during the second quarter, primarily from proceeds from the sale of its 12 refrigerated cargo vessels. As a result, the company’s total debt on June 30, 2007 stood at $857m, compared to $1.061bn on March 31, 2007. The company expects to continue paying debt until it reaches its target debt-to-capital ratio of 40 per cent, compared to 49 per cent on June 30, 2007.

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