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DATE

Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, at 4:30 p.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

  • President and Chief Executive Officer-Harold Edwards
  • Chief Financial Officer-Greg Hamm
  • Investor Relations-John Mills

TAKEAWAYS

  • Total Net Revenues -- $43.8 million, reflecting lower sales of brokered lemons, oranges, and specialty citrus due to the transition of citrus brokerage operations to Sunkist.
  • Adjusted EBITDA -- $3.9 million, exceeding the $3 million reported in the prior year third quarter due to improved agribusiness operating income and progress on cost-saving initiatives.
  • Fresh Lemon Carton Sales -- $27.3 million, increasing from $23.8 million last year, driven by higher pricing despite a slight decline in volume.
  • Average Lemon Price -- $19.88 per carton, representing an increase from $17.02 per carton in the third quarter of the previous fiscal year.
  • Fresh Lemon Sales Volume -- 1,373,000 cartons, compared to 1,397,000 cartons last year, as high import volumes from Argentina impacted market supply.
  • Avocado Sales Volume -- 7 million pounds, rising from 5.7 million pounds last year due to the alternating high-production nature of the California crop and delayed harvesting to optimize pricing.
  • Average Avocado Price -- $1.15 per pound, declining from $1.50 per pound last year as market pricing fluctuated.
  • Avocado Revenue -- $8 million, compared to $8.5 million in the prior year third quarter, reflecting lower average pricing.
  • SG&A Expenses -- $4 million, decreasing from $5 million last year following the transition of citrus brokerage operations to Sunkist and progress toward a $10 million annual savings target.
  • Windfall Farms Sale -- $15 million, representing the expected cash proceeds from a sale scheduled to close on Sept. 14, 2026.
  • Nonstrategic Asset Monetization -- $200 million, identified by management for potential monetization across real estate development, land assets, and water rights.
  • Full-Year Lemon Guidance -- 4.0 million to 4.5 million cartons, with management now targeting the lower end of the range due to high levels of lemon imports in the U.S. market.
  • Full-Year Avocado Guidance -- 7 million to 7.25 million pounds, representing an increase from the previous guidance range of 5.5 million to 6.5 million pounds.
  • Fiscal Year 2027 Avocado Outlook -- 10 million pounds, projecting a 30% increase over fiscal year 2026 production as new acreage begins bearing fruit.
  • Real Estate Project Distributions -- $180 million, expected from the Harvest at Limoneira and other residential projects over the next seven fiscal years.
  • Organic Recycling Capacity -- 295,000 tons, the annual processing limit for the Agromin joint venture facility, expected to become operational in the second half of fiscal year 2027.
  • Long-Term Debt -- $100.7 million, increasing from $72.5 million at the end of fiscal year 2025.
  • Cash Balance -- $2.2 million, increasing from $1.5 million at the end of the previous fiscal year.
  • Insurance Proceeds -- $2 million, confirmed by insurers on Sept. 2, 2026, and expected to be recognized as income in the fourth quarter.
  • Fallowed Acreage -- 600 acres, representing citrus farming operations that ceased in Arizona to prioritize water rights monetization over agricultural use.
  • Farming Services Revenue -- $200,000 annually, to be received by the company under a post-sale farming agreement for the Windfall Farms property.
  • Non-GAAP Adjusted EPS -- $0.02, compared to an adjusted net loss of $0.02 in the prior year third quarter.
  • GAAP Net Loss per Diluted Share -- $0.17, compared to a net loss of $0.06 in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025.

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RISKS

  • Edwards noted, "Sunkist sales plan fell short because there were just too many lemons in the market at this time," explaining that an oversupply of fruit from Argentina impacted domestic sales volume and pricing.
  • Edwards warned that while rain is generally beneficial for tree physiology, extreme weather events like El Nino can cause challenges if heavy rainfall leads to flooding.

SUMMARY

Limoneira Company (LMNR -10.71%) reported progress on its value creation strategy, focusing on the monetization of land and water assets alongside its core agribusiness operations. Management stated that third-quarter results were impacted by lighter lemon volumes resulting from an oversupply of fruit imported from Argentina. The company raised its avocado volume guidance for fiscal year 2026 and expects a 30% increase in production for fiscal year 2027 as recently planted acreage begins to bear fruit. Strategic developments include the $15 million sale of Windfall Farms and the continued advancement of real estate projects and a commercial composting joint venture.

  • The transition of citrus brokerage operations to Sunkist eliminated orange and specialty citrus revenues while contributing to lower salaries and benefits costs.
  • Management expects to receive approximately $155 million from Harvest at Limoneira and related residential developments over the next five fiscal years.
  • The company has ceased citrus farming on 600 acres in Arizona to participate in water-fallowing programs that benefit municipalities in Phoenix and Tucson.
  • Edwards stated, "Phase 3 of the project consists of approximately 500 home lots, and we believe we will go to market with this phase in fiscal year 2027."
  • The Agromin joint venture facility is projected to generate significant shared earnings starting in the second half of fiscal year 2027.
  • Management noted that California avocados continue to command premium pricing due to superior quality and logistical advantages in reaching high-consumption markets.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

  • Adjusted EBITDA: A non-GAAP financial metric representing earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, adjusted for non-cash and non-recurring items such as asset impairments.
  • Agromin Joint Venture: A 50-50 partnership for developing a commercial composting center to process organic waste.
  • Class 3 Colorado River Water Rights: Legal entitlements to use river water that can be monetized through conservation or fallowing agreements with municipal users.
  • Fallowing: The agricultural practice of leaving land unplanted to conserve resources, such as water, often in exchange for compensation from other water users.
  • Harvest at Limoneira: A residential and commercial real estate development joint venture with The Lewis Group of Companies.
  • SG&A: Selling, general and administrative expenses, which include corporate overhead, marketing, and non-production costs.
  • Windfall Farms: A 724-acre property in Paso Robles, California, featuring wine grapes and related infrastructure.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Greetings, and welcome to Limoneira's Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, John Mills with ICR. Thank you. You may begin.

John Mills: Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Limoneira's Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2026 Conference Call. On the call today are Harold Edwards, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Greg Hamm, Chief Financial Officer. By now, everyone should have access to the third quarter fiscal year 2026 earnings release, which went out today at approximately 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. If you've not had a chance to view the release, it's available on the Investor Relations portion of the company's website at limoneira.com. This call is being webcast, and a replay will be available on Limoneira's website as well.

Before we begin, we'd like to remind everyone that prepared remarks contain forward-looking statements, and management may make additional forward-looking statements in response to your questions. Such statements involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside the company's control and could cause its future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include risks detailed in the company's Form 10-Qs and 10-Ks filed with the SEC and those mentioned in the earnings release.

Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking or other statements herein, whether a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Please note that during today's call, we will be discussing non-GAAP financial measures, including results on an adjusted basis. We believe these adjusted financial measures can facilitate a more complete analysis and greater understanding of Limoneira's ongoing results of operations, particularly when comparing underlying results from period to period. We provided as much detail as possible on any items that are discussed on an adjusted basis. Also within the company's earnings release and in today's prepared remarks, we include adjusted EBITDA and adjusted diluted EPS, which are non-GAAP financial measures.

A reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA and adjusted diluted EPS to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the company's press release, which has been posted to our website. And with that, it is my pleasure to turn the call over to the company's President and CEO, Mr. Harold Edwards.

Harold Edwards: Thanks, John, and good afternoon, everyone. During the third quarter, we continued to make progress on our value creation strategy of growing long-term agricultural income, which includes streamlining operations, expanding avocado production, optimizing lemon packing with recently announced Sunkist partnership and expanding our organic recycling facility. In addition, we have identified real estate development and nonstrategic land assets and water rights of over $200 million. The third quarter results came in below our expectations due to lighter-than-anticipated lemon sales volume. However, adjusted EBITDA exceeded prior year third quarter results. The quarter benefited from higher total agribusiness operating income, driven by stronger-than-expected avocado volume and progress toward our targeted $10 million in annual selling, general and administrative expense savings.

We now expect to achieve the lower end of our lemon volume guidance as a result of higher lemon imports hitting the U.S. market. However, we are again raising our avocado volume guidance for fiscal year 2026. Looking ahead, we expect to produce more than 10 million pounds of avocados in fiscal year 2027, an increase of approximately 30% over fiscal year 2026. This growth is driven by the 400 acres of avocados we planted in 2023 and 2024, which are expected to set a crop this year and contribute to volume in fiscal year 2027.

We have also -- we also have an additional 400 nonbearing acres that are expected to begin bearing over the next 2 to 4 years. As a reminder, California avocados command premium pricing due to the superior quality, and our strategic location provides logistical advantages to the highest per capita consumption markets in the United States. Turning to the monetization of nonstrategic assets. We expect the sale of Windfall Farms for $15 million to close on September 14, 2026, which is the most recent step in our ongoing strategy to monetize nonstrategic assets, strengthen our balance sheet, reduce debt and redeploy capital into higher return opportunities across our core agribusiness and real estate platforms.

As we enter the fiscal fourth quarter, we expect another quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA and additional asset monetization events. Regarding our water rights monetization, we've taken decisive steps in Arizona, ceasing citrus farming operations on 600 acres of lemons to focus on water monetization by farming low water use crops, which we anticipate will make this asset significantly more profitable. We expect a monetization event from our Class 3 Colorado River water rights in 2026. Additionally, our Santa Paula Basin conserved pumping rights represent high-value nonoperational resources that we can convert to cash while maintaining our agricultural operations. Looking into fiscal year 2027, we are well positioned to achieve meaningfully stronger EBITDA.

This includes the benefit from our recently signed 50-50 organic recycling joint venture with Agromin to create a potential high-return facility with the capacity to process up to 295,000 tons of organic waste annually is expected to generate significant shared earnings when the facility becomes operational in the second half of fiscal year 2027. A dramatic increase in our avocado volume from the additional acreage that was planted in 2023 and 2024, realizing the full benefit from our current cost savings initiatives, optimizing lemon packing with our transition to Sunkist and an additional $4 million in anticipated operating improvement due to Windfall Farms management, improved lemon storage margins and improved lemon logistics.

Turning to our real estate development project, Harvest at Limoneira. We continue to expect future proceeds from Harvest, Limoneira Lewis Community Builders II and East Area II to total $155 million over the next 5 fiscal years. Home sales for Phase 2 continue to be robust with 2 to 7 homes per week being sold. Phase 3 of the project consists of approximately 500 home lots, and we believe we will go to market with this phase in fiscal year 2027. In addition, we have 300 apartments approved and expect to break ground on this portion of the project in the second half of fiscal year 2027.

Part of our real estate development is a 25-acre East Area II Medical Pavilion project that we believe could begin to be monetized in fiscal year 2026. Additionally, we have Limco Del Mar, our 221-acre agricultural infill property which represents a strategic asset with potential for residential development and significant long-term value creation. In summary, as we enter the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026, we believe we are very well positioned to achieve positive adjusted EBITDA and monetize one of our water assets in the quarter and continue building the foundation for sustained profitability. We've transformed our cost structure, focused our revenue streams, optimized our asset base and positioned ourselves for sustainable EBITDA growth.

I believe the items just discussed have us very well positioned to unlock the tremendous asset value at Limoneira. Now let me turn the call over to Greg for the financial details, and then we'll take your questions.

Greg Hamm: Thank you, Harold, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm pleased to be speaking with you today to discuss our third quarter fiscal year 2026 financial results. As we discussed last quarter, the third and fourth quarters were expected to be our seasonally stronger periods under the Sunkist agreement, and our third quarter results are tracking in line with that expectation. Total net revenue for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 were $43.8 million compared to $47.5 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025. Agribusiness revenues totaled $42.2 million compared to $45.9 million in the prior year third quarter. Other operations revenue was $1.6 million compared to $1.5 million in the prior year third quarter.

The year-over-year decrease was primarily due to the transition of our citrus brokerage operations to Sunkist, which eliminated orange and specialty citrus revenues and decreased brokered lemon and other lemon sales, partially offset by increased fresh lemon carton sales driven by higher pricing. Additionally, avocado revenues decreased due to lower prices, partially offset by higher volume of avocados sold compared to the prior year third quarter. Fresh lemon carton sales were $27.3 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 compared to $23.8 million in the same period last year.

We sold approximately 1,373,000 cartons of fresh lemons at an average price of $19.88 per carton during the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 compared to 1,397,000 cartons at $17.02 per carton in the prior year third quarter. Fresh lemon carton sales and per carton prices for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 are net of the Sunkist marketing fee. Brokered lemons and other lemon sales were immaterial in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 compared to $3.8 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025. Turning to avocados.

Through the first 9 months of fiscal year 2026, we sold approximately 7.3 million pounds of avocados, exceeding the high end of our previous full year guidance range of 5.5 million to 6.5 million pounds. In the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, we sold approximately 7 million pounds at an average price of $1.15 per pound compared to 5.7 million pounds at $1.50 per pound in the prior year period. The increase in volume includes some of the harvest we intentionally delayed from the second quarter to maximize pricing and reflects the alternating high and low production years that are typical of the California avocado crop, partially offset by lower average pricing this quarter compared to the prior year.

There was no orange revenue in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 compared to $1.7 million in the same period last year and no specialty citrus and wine grape revenue compared to $600,000 in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025, both due to the transition of our citrus brokerage operations to Sunkist. Total costs and expenses in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 were $46.8 million compared to $48.1 million in the third quarter of last fiscal year, primarily driven by a decrease in agribusiness costs and lower selling, general and administrative expense, partially offset by impairment of assets related to Windfall Farms.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $4 million compared to $5 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025, primarily reflecting lower salaries, benefits and other selling expenses related to the Sunkist transition. Operating loss for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 was $3 million compared to an operating loss of $600,000 in the prior year period. This reflects the revenue and cost factors just described. Net loss applicable to common stock after preferred dividends was $3 million or $0.17 per diluted share in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 compared to a net loss applicable to common stock of $1 million or $0.06 per diluted share in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025.

Now let me turn to adjusted results. Adjusted net income for diluted EPS in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 was $400,000 or $0.02 per diluted share compared to an adjusted net loss of $400,000 or $0.02 per diluted share in the prior year period. A full reconciliation is provided in our earnings release. Non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA was $3.9 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 compared to $3 million in the same period last year. A reconciliation to net loss attributable to Limoneira Company is provided in our earnings release. Turning to our balance sheet.

Long-term debt less current portion as of July 31, 2026, was $100.7 million compared to $72.5 million at the end of fiscal year 2025. Cash and cash equivalents were $2.2 million as of July 31, 2026, compared to $1.5 million at the end of fiscal year 2025. During the first 9 months of fiscal year 2026, we received aggregate insurance proceeds of $5.4 million related to combined business interruption and casualty loss claims arising from incidents at our packing houses. On September 2, 2026, we received confirmation from our insurance company that an additional $2 million of insurance proceeds is to be paid for these claims.

We anticipate receiving these additional insurance proceeds in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026, at which time income will be recognized for the amounts received. I also want to update you on the Windfall Farms transaction. Subsequent to quarter end, on August 17, we announced that we entered into a new agreement to sell Windfall Farms for $15 million all cash following a competitive public auction process. We expect this transaction to close on September 14, 2026, subject to customary closing conditions, and we intend to use the proceeds to reduce debt and fund continued avocado acreage expansion, consistent with our capital allocation priorities. There are 2 additional pieces of the transaction worth highlighting.

First, the buyer has executed a farming agreement under which we will continue to farm the Vineyard Property and will be paid $200,000 per year in addition to full reimbursement of all expenses on the property. Second, the buyer elected to exclude the 2026 crop from the sale, so we will be able to collect the economic benefit of this year's vineyard crop, which we expect to be substantially complete by October 31. Now I'd like to turn the call back to Harold to discuss our remaining fiscal year 2026 outlook and longer-term growth pipeline.

Harold Edwards: Thank you, Greg. We expect to achieve the lower end of our fresh lemon volumes due to higher import volume and now believe we will sell 4.0 million to 4.25 million (sic) [ 4.5 million ] cartons for fiscal year 2026. We have increased our expected avocado volumes to now be in the range of 7 million to 7.25 million pounds compared to the previous range of 5.5 million to 6.5 million pounds for fiscal year 2026. We expect at least 30% increase in volume in fiscal year 2027 compared to fiscal year 2026.

We have identified over $200 million in real estate development and nonstrategic land assets and water rights that we expect to monetize beginning in the fourth quarter of this year and over the next few years. In addition, we expect to receive total proceeds of approximately $180 million from Harvest, Limoneira Lewis Community Builders II, and East Area II spread out over 7 fiscal years, of which $10 million was received in fiscal year 2025 and $15 million was received in fiscal year 2024. We are excited about our overall business for fiscal year 2027 and the tremendous opportunity we have to enhance shareholder value through improved agricultural results and monetization events. Operator, we'll now open the call to questions.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Pooran Sharma with Stephens.

Pooran Sharma: Just wanted to understand the lemon volumes and imports you called out. I believe you mentioned higher imports as the reason you're going to the lower end of the guide here. Could you maybe give us a sense as to where you're seeing these imports coming from? Is this mainly a timing issue? Or is it just more industry supply than you're anticipating here in the back half?

Harold Edwards: Thanks for the question. Yes. So as usual, there's a series of connect the dots items that happened that caused the challenges in our sales volume in the third quarter. So the first thing that happened was Western Europe got oversupplied with lemons from South Africa. And Western Europe is typically the outlet for Argentina fruit. And so as the price went down in Western Europe, the Argentina fruit diverted to the United States and in essence, oversupplied the market. And so that's really what happened is Sunkist sales plan fell short because there were just too many lemons in the market at this time. And it hurt us on volume, and it actually hurt us on price as well.

And it was just an unexpected oversupply from Argentina. And that Argentina was the sole culprit of the oversupply in the lemons. And while that's beginning to be better and relieve itself as that fruit is diminishing in the market, we have intentionally held back on sort of pushing that additional supply forward into the fourth quarter out of an abundance of caution. We are seeing price beginning to firm and strengthen a bit, but there's still challenges with the sort of aftermath of the oversupply caused by the imports of fruit from Argentina.

Pooran Sharma: Okay. I appreciate the color there. And -- maybe just on water monetization. I think you mentioned you have over $200 million of real estate strategic land and certain water rights for potential monetization. I believe the Colorado River water monetization event, you're expecting it to occur here in fiscal 2026, which leaves kind of a narrow window. So I just wanted to get your thoughts on what needs to happen here to complete a transaction? And has your confidence around the timing and the value of that monetization changed at all since the last quarter?

Harold Edwards: No, it's kind of right on track with the last quarter. So a series of things needed to happen. The first is we needed to remove our lemons from our 1,300 acres that we have of farmland in Yuma, Arizona. We've done that. The next thing is we needed to identify lower water using crops that could be substitute for the lemons. And so we're close to some exciting announcements of what those crops will be.

But by doing that, that then frees up a certain amount of water that we won't be required for our agricultural operations that we can contribute to fallowing programs, long-term fallowing programs that will allow water users principally from municipalities, specifically probably the Central Arizona Project. So all of the housing in Phoenix that goes all the way down to Tucson and throughout Arizona to take advantage of those water rights from the Colorado River.

And so we're very confident that we're very close to entering into a long-term agreement to take advantage of these fallowing programs, which will provide significant benefit for us and our shareholders as we monetize those water rights in the fourth quarter of this fiscal year.

Operator: Our next question is from Mark Smith with Lake Street Capital Markets.

Alex Ewig: This is Alex Ewig on for Mark Smith. I just want to start. You guys raised avocado volume guidance again and are expecting over 10 million pounds in fiscal year '27, which is about 30% increase year-over-year. Could you maybe walk us through the cadence of your 400 acres planted in '23 and '24 coming online? And then how much of that fiscal year '27 number is already locked in versus weather or yield dependent?

Greg Hamm: I would say that 7 million -- 6 million to 7 million is a lock-in because that's on acreage that is already producing and contributed to this year's volume. And then the rest of the increase would be on the expanded acreage from the '22, '23, '24 plantings.

Harold Edwards: And I would just add to that, that it's -- I think it's dangerous to use the word locked in because there's a lot of events that need to happen. Specifically, the fruit needs to grow. It needs to remain on the tree. It needs to survive wind events and weather-related events to get itself to be harvestable and to go to market. So there's still quite a bit of runway between us and actual harvest and sales for 2027. But what we do know is we have a very large crop that's set for next year. We see the fruit on the tree right now. So we're off to a great start.

And so we're confident that we should see the trees that were planted in 2023 and '24 begin to contribute to the overall production in 2027.

Alex Ewig: Great. And kind of what weather impact do you guys expect if the El Nino weather pattern is continuing?

Harold Edwards: Yes. So they're predicting quite a bit of rain in this part of California. And just so long as it doesn't all come at once that creates flooding, then rain is actually a good thing for us. It fills up our aquifers and really helps with the physiology of our trees. The danger is, again, if it all comes all at once or too much at once, which causes flooding, which is always a challenge for us and potentially a risk for us. So we're ready. We've got our teams ready. We've got our culverts and our barrancas cleaned out, and we're ready for the rain. So we're ready to face it.

Greg Hamm: And I think the El Nino is predicted to have less rainfall in Mexico, which, in theory, would reduce the size of their crop and provide more opportunity for the California avocados.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Thank you. At this time, there are no further questions. I'd like to hand the floor back over to Harold Edwards for any closing remarks.

Harold Edwards: So thank you all for your questions and your interest in Limoneira. Feel free to call Greg or I with additional questions, but we'd like to wish you a great day. Thank you.

Greg Hamm: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you again for your participation.