Alico, Inc. (ALCO) will raise its quarterly dividend by 100 percent to 18 cents per share in 2020.

On October 9, 2020, the Company paid a fourth quarter cash dividend of $0.09 per share on its outstanding common stock to stockholders of record as of September 27, 2020. Additionally, the Company has declared a first quarter of fiscal year 2021 dividend of $0.18 per share on its outstanding common stock to stockholders of record as of December 24, 2020.

John Kiernan, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented

“As part of our Alico 2.0 strategy, we have continued to evaluate and strategically sell off parts of the Alico Ranch assets and generate cash flow to produce greater returns for our investors. Over the last three years we have received net proceeds, net of taxes, of approximately $67.0 million from the sale of real estate and property and equipment, with $28.0 million occurring during the 2020 fiscal year. These proceeds have been used to fuel our Company’s growth by acquiring additional citrus acres, with our latest transaction for 3,280 gross acres closing on October 30, 2020, investing in new citrus tree plantings, with more than 1.1 million planted over the last three years to create higher density within our groves, accelerating debt repayments, funding working capital requirements and continuing to increase our quarterly dividend.

“We have also continued to simplify our balance sheet and maintain strong key performance indicators with a current ratio greater than 2.45:1 and a debt-to-equity ratio of approximately 0.68:1. Alico has repaid over $38.2 million on term loans in the last three years. Additionally, our Return on Equity is 11.2%, our Return on Assets is 5.6%, our Return on Invested Capital is 5.6% and our Return on Capital Employed is 1.8%.”

Mr. Kiernan continued, “In addition, our Board of Directors has decided to increase the quarterly dividend by 100%. This is in addition to the 50% increase our Board of Directors implemented to the quarterly dividend last year at this time, reflecting the Board of Directors’ continued confidence that the business strategy we have developed will support a higher level of return of capital to shareholders over the long term.”

Alico is one of the largest citrus producers in the United States of America. The company owns acres of land in eight Florida counties (Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands and Polk) including mineral rights acres. Alico's principal lines of business are citrus groves and conservation. The company operates two divisions: Alico Citrus, a citrus producer, and Water Resources and Other Operations, a water storage and environmental services division. Alico, Inc. was incorporated under the laws of the state of Florida in 1960.