Shareholders in Te Puke-based Comvita New Zealand will know tomorrow whether their loyalty was well-placed when the manuka honey company reports its result for the year to March.
The company successfully fought off a $2.50 a share takeover bid last October from Singapore-based Cerebos Pacific.
At the time, a valuation conducted by consultants Grant Samuel put Comvita's value at $3.40 to $4.00 a share, which was well in excess of what Cerebos was prepared to pay.
Cerebos' argument was that Grant Samuel's valuation had assumed a consistent earnings record, which is something Comvita had struggled to achieve over the years.
Just before Cerebos made its move, Comvita forecast of a normalised net profit of $7.3 million to $8.2m and sales of $91m to $95m for the year. The company said in January that its earnings guidance was on track.
Comvita's biggest shareholder is co-founder Alan Bougen, who has 10.2 per cent. Bougen's holding, together with the holdings of staff, other interests closely associated with the company and the Butt family Hong Kong, represent a voting bloc of around 30 per cent.
The company has a large shareholder base in the Bay of Plenty.
Comvita, which is involved in natural health and beauty products - much of it derived from manuka honey - last month announced a new management structure to position what the company said would be its next phase of development.
Comvita shares traded today at $2.99, up from $1.58 a share before the announcement of last year's bid from Cerebos. The Cerebos bid valued Comvita at $73.8 million compared with today's total market value of $85m.
