$7 target for shv, page-13

1st half EBIT & profits up, dividend up as I expected (I was anticipating a 9 cent dividend so a slight surprise there), share price up.

Crop is forecast to be very slightly below last years. Some inroads made to 3rd party processing to utilise spare capacity in the hulling and cracking plant.

In the meantime the drought in California is worsening in the Central Valley (where the bulk of almonds are grown) to the point that it is now defined as being in exceptional drought (the highest drought rating).

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA

Water access issues are now at the point where at least one grower has bit the bullet and bulldozed 20% of his 5,000 acres. It appears that more are going down the same path although I have only seen one name appearing in all the reports that I have read.

We could see the first decline in bearing acreage in California in nearly 20 years, the last time there was a decline was in 1995. If so then, drought aside, this could see pressure on the supply side for a few years.