Mauna Loa reported a profit of $2.68 million, or 35 cents a share, for the quarter ending Dec. 31, compared with a profit of $725,000, or 10 cents a share, in the 1995 quarter. Macadamia nut sales of $6.9 million in the latest three months were up 68.3 percent from sales of $4.1 million in the 1995 period.
Honolulu-based Mauna Loa, the world's largest grower of macadamia nuts, had reported a drop in sales for the 1995 quarter because of adverse weather at its 4,000-plus acres in Kau.
The partnership said it received an average of 60 cents a pound for its nuts through 1996, an increase of 6 percent over the 1995 price. Mauna Loa said it also was able to reduce its production cost in 1996 to an average of 42 cents a pound, from 45 cents a pound in 1995.
For all of 1996, Mauna Loa reported a profit of $3 million, or 40 cents a share, compared with a 1995 profit of $1.2 million, or 16 cents a share. Sales in 1996 totaled $13.2 million, up 23.6 percent from $10.6 million in 1995.
Mauna Loa's Class A partnership units traded at $3.25 on the New York Stock Exchange last week.