California-headquartered agribusiness Limoneira saw its net revenue rise 12% in the first quarter to reach US$31.6 million, while a lower effective tax rate will put the company in good stead profitability-wise for the fiscal year.

As its name suggests, lemons accounted for about 88% of that net revenue with the category not only seeing a rise in volume but also more than a US$3 lift in the average price per carton sold.

Meanwhile, orange revenue almost tripled to US$1.3 million.

The group, which also has real estate operations, recorded an EBITDA of US$200,000, up from a loss of US$1.3 million for the corresponding period in 2017.

"We are pleased with our first quarter fiscal 2018 results, generating consolidated revenue growth of 12% and positive EBITDA in a seasonal soft quarter," chief executive officer Harold Edwards said in the announcement.

"Our core citrus business is performing consistent with plan and we are encouraged by the early results from our strategic alliance with Suntreat which is advancing our competitiveness in the orange and specialty citrus category.

"We continue to seek new avenues to build upon our One World of Citrus^TM marketing program and improve the availability of fresh citrus to our growing ranks of global customers."

He added the company continued to remain confident in its fundamental business drivers, while the previous EBITDA guidance between US$23-25 million for the year remained unchanged. This figure takes into account a cut of 10 percentage points in the effective tax rate to 28.2%.

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