Star Advertiser
By Andrew Gomes
A financial loss widened for Maui Land & Pineapple Co. in the third quarter largely due to COVID-19 mitigation impacts that reduced revenue for the owner of 23,000 acres of land on Maui.
Maui Land reported a $633,000 loss in the July-September period, compared with a $9,000 loss in last year’s third quarter.
The Kapalua-based company also noted that a planned sale of 46 acres at Kapalua Resort for $43.9 million did not close as expected in September because of COVID-19 restrictions. This sale, arranged in February, is now expected to close in March.
Maui Land, which quit farming pineapple in 2009 and now derives income largely from leasing land to others and operating real estate brokerage firm Kapalua Realty Co., has relied in recent years on asset sales to generate significant income. The company did not sell any assets in the recent quarter or the year-ago quarter.
Operating revenue for Maui Land dropped to $1.7 million in the third quarter from $2.7 million a year earlier.
The company said in a financial report that property rent revenue declined in large part due to tenants paying less rent that is based on a percentage of the tenant’s revenue. Maui Land received no such percentage rent in the third quarter, compared with $488,000 in the year-earlier period.
Maui Land also said it reserved $108,000 in the third quarter to cover doubtful rent collections and that it returned a potentially forgivable $246,500 federal Paycheck Protection Program loan earlier this year based on guidance from the U.S. Small Business Administration that intended for the program to help small businesses that lack significant access to capital.
As a company with publicly traded stock, Maui Land has the capability to raise capital in the stock market.
Shares of Maui Land stock closed at $10.61 Thursday, following the earnings report released Wednesday after shares closed at $10.79.
Third-quarter loss
$633,000
Year-earlier loss
