Australian honey maker Capilano Honey's joint venture with Comvita has had an immediate, if unrealised, benefit for the Queensland-based company's bottom line.
Capilano and Comvita, the Tauranga-based company, teamed up last year to create Medibee Apiaries in Australia to produce Leptospermum honey, commonly known as manuka, for medical and natural health products.
In July last year, Capilano realised a capital gain of A$2.1 million following the sale of its manuka beekeeping assets into the joint venture with no tax attributable to the capital gain on the asset sale, it said. The total assets it sold into the joint venture were worth A$9.2m.
Capilano Honey today reported a net profit of A$10.3m for the year to June 30, up 9 per cent on the prior year, it said in a statement to the ASX.
Medibee Apiaries was the single largest supplier of manuka to Capilano in the 2017 financial year, with purchases from the joint venture amounting to A$1.2m. As of June 30, Capilano owed A$659,524 to Medibee Apiaries.