Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Seeka reports full-year net loss and revenue fall as bad 2023 weather takes toll

By Andrea Fox
Herald business writer·NZ Herald·
27 Feb, 2024 10:26 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌

Subscriber benefit

The ability to gift paywall-free articles is a subscriber only benefit. See more offers by clicking the button below.

Already a subscriber?  Sign in here
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Seeka is now focused on restoring profitability and reducing debt after a tough FY23.
Seeka is now focused on restoring profitability and reducing debt after a tough FY23.

Seeka is now focused on restoring profitability and reducing debt after a tough FY23.

One of the country’s biggest kiwifruit growers, NZX-listed Seeka, has testified to horticulture’s grim weather-battered 2023 year with a full-year net loss of $14.5 million.

This was on the back of a $47m fall in revenue to $301m from $348m for the year ended December 31, 2023. Net profit in FY22 was 6.5m.

A loss before tax of $21m was in line with the announced guidance of $20m to $25m. Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) was $26m, down 44 per cent on FY22′s $46.1m.

Chief executive Michael Franks said the 2023 harvest was difficult across the horticulture sector with a warm, wet winter and extreme weather events including cyclones affecting orchards in New Zealand and Australia.

“Yields were down across the industry with Seeka only handling 30 million trays of class 1 New Zealand kiwifruit in 2023, compared with 42 million in 2022,” Franks said.

Open up the latest news from Bay of Plenty

Get daily Bay of Plenty headlines straight to your inbox.
Please email me competitions, offers and other updates. You can stop these at any time.
By signing up for this newsletter, you agree to NZME’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Seeka was now focused on restoring profitability in FY24 and reducing debt, with the La Nina weather system impacting the last two seasons now over.

Orchards were now benefiting from much improved growing conditions, with kiwifruit vines holding high levels of fruit. The industry’s forecast of record volumes would allow Seeka to realise the full efficiencies of its highly-automated post-harvest facilities, Franks said.

The 2024 season kiwiberry harvest and sales were nearing completion and the first RubyRed kiwifruit crops were being packed.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Seeka had the capacity, systems and staff to handle the much higher volumes, he said.

“While 2023 volumes were materially down, Seeka’s operational performance between the orchard and point of sale was excellent. More than 99 per cent of the kiwifruit we packed for our growers was delivered on time and in spec to the marketer Zespri, and the quality of our fruit supplied to the international consumer was the best in the industry.

“The large drop in kiwifruit volumes, however, reduced Seeka’s revenue for the year to $301 million, down from $348m in 2022. This contributed to a full-year loss of $14.5m after tax in 2023, compared to a $6.5m net profit in 2022.

“Seeka responded to the seasonal downturn by suspending dividends and reducing overheads. This included establishing a captive insurance structure to slow the impact of rising insurance costs. Having completed a number of post-harvest automation projects, Seeka also reduced its capital expenditure.

“In June our bankers provided a new $201m sustainability-linked loan facility that included covenant waivers that allow Seeka to focus on restoring profitability”, Franks said.

Read More

  • Seeka grows value by nearly $300m from humble beginnings ...
  • Kiwifruit company Seeka announces expansion for 2022; ...
  • Seeka Limited buys Aongatete Coolstores for $25m - ...

Seeka’s total assets remained stable at $549m, with $388m invested in property, plant and equipment.

After a sustained period of investments, Seeka had a post-harvest infrastructure capable of handling more than 50 million trays of kiwifruit, which is forecast to handle short-term growth from its supplying growers efficiently, Franks said.

“Seeka is focused on restoring profitability in 2024 and reducing debt, while maintaining the excellent operational performance achieved in 2023 for its growers and customers. Having invested in capacity and automation, Seeka is containing capital spend to maintenance, risk reduction, and automation.”

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Andrea Fox joined the Herald as a senior business journalist in 2018 and specialises in writing about the dairy industry, agribusiness, exporting and the logistics sector and supply chains.

Subscriber benefit

The ability to gift paywall-free articles is a subscriber only benefit. See more offers by clicking the button below.

Already a subscriber?  Sign in here
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

King's Birthday gift: Four Lotto players scoop $30k apiece

31 May 10:43 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

Home-schooled athletes denied medals to cycle 800km seeking rule change

31 May 06:00 PM
Premium
Bay of Plenty Times

Health NZ approves company's bid to become its own primary health organisation

30 May 06:00 PM

‘No regrets’ for Rotorua Retiree

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Recommended for you
Watch: Australian sprinter breaks 10-second barrier in 100m
Sport

Watch: Australian sprinter breaks 10-second barrier in 100m

01 Jun 02:06 AM
Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design
Sponsored Stories

Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design

01 Jun 02:00 AM
Woman stole stranger's identity to create a fictitious carer and claim benefits
New Zealand

Woman stole stranger's identity to create a fictitious carer and claim benefits

01 Jun 02:00 AM
Holiday road toll at four after Port Waikato crash
New Zealand

Holiday road toll at four after Port Waikato crash

01 Jun 01:30 AM
From foster care to own boss: How a teen mum defied the odds
Business

From foster care to own boss: How a teen mum defied the odds

01 Jun 12:44 AM

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

King's Birthday gift: Four Lotto players scoop $30k apiece

King's Birthday gift: Four Lotto players scoop $30k apiece

31 May 10:43 PM

Three Bay of Plenty players won over $30,000 in Lotto's second division.

Home-schooled athletes denied medals to cycle 800km seeking rule change

Home-schooled athletes denied medals to cycle 800km seeking rule change

31 May 06:00 PM
Premium
Health NZ approves company's bid to become its own primary health organisation

Health NZ approves company's bid to become its own primary health organisation

30 May 06:00 PM
Chiefs secure top seed with win over Highlanders

Chiefs secure top seed with win over Highlanders

30 May 09:18 AM
Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design
sponsored

Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search