Chiquita Brands International, the global banana and fresh produce supplier, has reported a 26 per cent year-on-year fall in profit for the first quarter, citing poor weather and a strong dollar as the main factors.
Revenue for the first quarter decreased 10 per cent to $842 million (£567.4m) from $935m in the same quarter last year. Analysts had expected the company to report revenues of $910.4m for the first quarter.
The company reported income from continuing operations of $23m versus $32m for the first quarter of 2008. On a comparable basis, the company reported income from continuing operations of $22m versus income of $41m in 2008, excluding "items affecting comparability".
Net sales for bananas decreased 8.1 per cent to $485m, and net sales for the salads and healthy snacks segment declined 16 per cent to $281m from the year-ago quarter. However, net sales for other produce increased 3.9 per cent to $75m from last year.
Results are thought to have been hurt by a strong dollar, higher sourcing costs and poor weather in Central America.
But Chiquita continues to expect improved fiscal 2009 results, on a comparable basis, as a result of both profit improvement strategies and cost reduction initiatives, primarily through improvements in salads.
Fernando Aguirre, chairman and chief executive officer, said: "Our first quarter was strong, especially considering the challenges we faced from currency and temporary flood-related costs. We are confident in the execution of our profit improvement and cost reduction initiatives and our plan to improve full-year 2009 results on a comparable basis.
"Our banana results remained relatively strong. We are also pleased with the early evidence of improvement in our performance in value-added salads. We are on track to achieve our full-year target of three to four per cent operating margins in salads in 2009, which is a significant improvement versus last year, as a direct result of the actions we have taken in the last several quarters related to pricing, cost reduction and network efficiencies," he added.
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