Note 1. Description of Business and Basis of Presentation

Description of Business

Alico, Inc., together with its subsidiaries (collectively, “Alico”, the “Company", "we", "us" or "our”), is a Florida agribusiness and land management company owning approximately 83,000 acres of land and approximately 90,000 acres of mineral rights throughout Florida. Alico holds these mineral rights on substantially all its owned acres, with additional mineral rights on other acres. The Company manages its land based upon its primary usage, and reviews its performance based upon two primary classifications: (i) Alico Citrus and (ii) Land Management and Other Operations. Financial results are presented based upon its two business segments (Alico Citrus and Land Management and Other Operations). 

Basis of Presentation

The Company has prepared the accompanying financial statements on a consolidated basis. These accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements, which are referred to herein as the “Financial Statements”, have been prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). All significant intercompany transactions and account balances between the consolidated businesses have been eliminated.

Segments

Operating segments are defined in the criteria established under the Financial Accounting Standards Board - Accounting Standards Codification (“FASB ASC”) Topic 280 as components of public entities that engage in business activities from which they may earn revenues and incur expenses for which separate financial information is available and which is evaluated regularly by the Company’s chief operating decision maker (“CODM”) in deciding how to assess performance and allocate resources. The Company’s CODM assesses performance and allocates resources based on two operating segments: (i) Alico Citrus and (ii) Land Management and Other Operations.

Principles of Consolidation

The Financial Statements include the accounts of Alico and the accounts of all the subsidiaries in which a controlling interest is held by the Company. Under U.S. GAAP, consolidation is generally required for investments of more than 50% of the outstanding voting stock of an investee, except when control is not held by the majority owner. The Company’s subsidiaries include: Alico Land Development, Inc., Alico-Agri, Ltd., Alico Plant World, LLC, Alico Fruit Company, LLC, Alico Citrus Nursery, LLC, Alico Chemical Sales, LLC, 734 Citrus Holdings, LLC and subsidiaries, Alico Skink Mitigation, LLC and Citree Holdings 1, LLC (“Citree”). The Company considers the criteria established under FASB ASC Topic 810, “Consolidations” in its consolidation process. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates, judgments and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities as of the date of the accompanying Financial Statements, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities in the Financial Statements and the accompanying Notes, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses and cash flows during the periods presented. Actual results could differ from those estimates. The Company evaluates estimates on an ongoing basis. The estimates are based on current and expected economic conditions, historical experience, the experience and judgment of the Company’s management and various other specific assumptions that the Company believes to be reasonable.

Noncontrolling Interest in Consolidated Subsidiary

The Financial Statements include all assets and liabilities of the less-than-100%-owned subsidiary the Company controls, Citree. Accordingly, the Company has recorded a noncontrolling interest in the equity of such entity. Citree had net loss of $79,479 for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2021, net income of $107,051 for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020, and a net loss of $781,783 for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2019, respectively, of which a net loss of $40,535, a net income of $54,596, and a net loss of $398,709 were attributable to the Company for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The shift to net income for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020 was the result of reimbursements received under the federal relief program relating to Hurricane Irma, aggregating approximately $493,000.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In December 2019, the FASB issued ASU 2019-12, which simplifies the accounting for income taxes by removing certain exceptions to the general principles in the existing guidance for income taxes and making other minor improvements. The amendments in the ASU are effective for the Company on October 1, 2021. The Company does not expect the adoption of ASU 2019-12 will have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements and will adopt the standard effective October 1, 2021.

In March 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-04, Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting, which provides temporary optional expedients and exceptions for applying generally accepted accounting principles to contracts, hedging relationships and other transactions affected by reference rate reform. The Company’s floating rate notes and variable funding notes bear interest at fluctuating interest rates based on LIBOR. Because LIBOR will cease to exist, the Company will need to renegotiate its loan agreements but the Company cannot predict what alternative index would be negotiated with its lenders. ASU 2020-04 is currently effective on or before December 31, 2022 and upon adoption may be applied prospectively to contract modifications made. The Company is currently assessing the impact of adopting this standard and the impact on its consolidated financial statements.

The Company has reviewed other recently issued accounting standards which have not yet been adopted in order to determine their potential effect, if any, on the results of operations or financial condition. Based on the review of these other recently issued standards, the Company does not currently believe that any of those accounting pronouncements will have a significant effect on its current or future financial position, results of operations, cash flows or disclosures.

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

In January 2017, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2017-04, “Intangibles-Goodwill and Other” (Topic 350), which simplifies the accounting for goodwill impairment. The updated guidance eliminates Step 2 of the impairment test, which requires entities to calculate the implied fair value of goodwill to measure a goodwill impairment charge. Instead, entities will record an impairment charge based on the excess of a reporting unit’s carrying amount over its fair value, determined in Step 1. The Company adopted ASU 2017-04 effective October 1, 2020, using the prospective approach, and will apply this standard in future impairment tests.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-13, “Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Disclosure Framework - Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurements” (“ASU 2018-13”), which aims to improve the overall usefulness of disclosures to financial statement users and reduce unnecessary costs to companies when preparing fair value measurement disclosures. ASU 2018-13 became effective for annual and interim periods in the fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019. Retrospective adoption is required, except for certain disclosures, which will be required to be applied prospectively for only the most recent interim or annual period presented in the initial fiscal year of adoption. The Company adopted ASU 2018-13 effective October 1, 2020, and the adoption of this standard did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

In November 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-19, “Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments-Credit Losses.” ASU 2018-19 clarifies that receivables arising from operating leases are not within the scope of Subtopic 326-20. Instead, impairment of receivables arising from operating leases should be accounted for in accordance with Leases (Topic 842). The standard is effective for the Company on October 1, 2020, with early adoption permitted. The Company adopted ASU 2018-19 effective October 1, 2020, and the adoption of this standard did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

The COVID-19 Pandemic

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the current novel coronavirus outbreak (“COVID-19”) to be a global pandemic. In response to this declaration and the rapid spread of COVID-19 within the United States, federal, state and local governments throughout the country have imposed varying degrees of restrictions on social and commercial activity to promote social distancing in an effort to slow the spread of the illness. These measures have had a significant adverse impact upon many sectors of the economy, including certain agriculture businesses. To date, the Company has experienced no material adverse impact from this pandemic.

On November 4, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) posted an Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) on mandating that all private employers with 100 or more employees ensure their employees are COVID-19 fully vaccinated before entering the employer’s worksite or, at the employer’s option, require employees who remain unvaccinated and want to come to the worksite to wear an approved face covering and produce a negative COVID-19 test at least weekly. Pursuant to the ETS, employers must offer up to four hours of additional paid time off, including travel time, per vaccine dose to allow employees to be vaccinated and reasonable time and paid sick leave to recover from side effects experienced after each vaccine dose. Pursuant to the ETS, the ETS remains in effect for a maximum of six months. This ETS implements President Biden’s COVID-19 Action Plan, which aims to accelerate the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations in the United States.

Pursuant to the ETS, the ETS is effective immediately upon its publication in the Federal Register. Pursuant to the ETS, employers must comply with most requirements within 30 days of publication (December 5th) and with optional testing requirements within 60 days of publication (January 4th). Employees who have completed their vaccination by that date do not have to be tested, even if they have not yet completed the 2-week waiting period. On November 6, 2021, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency motion to stay enforcement of the ETS, subject to the resolution of ongoing litigation challenging the constitutionality of the ETS. The order enjoins the federal government from taking any action to enforce the ETS while it is in effect. On November 12, 2021, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed its suspension of the ETS and, on November 16, 2021, OSHA announced it suspended its activities related to the implementation and enforcement of the ETS pending future developments in the litigation. It is unknown how long the Fifth Circuit’s stay will remain in place. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals was selected through the lottery system on November 16, 2021, to hear a consolidated action concerning multiple challenges to the ETS and is authorized to uphold or lift the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals order.

Also, a number of state governments have considered legislation related to employer vaccine mandates during the pandemic. OSHA maintains that its ETS preempts these laws, but states such as the State of Florida disagree. On November 17, 2021, the Florida legislature passed legislation, which was signed into law on November 18, 2021 and codified at section 381.00317, Florida Statutes, prohibiting private-sector employers from implementing a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for full-time, part-time, or contract employees without providing at least five individual exemptions, including, but not limited to, pregnancy or anticipated pregnancy; religious reasons; COVID-19 immunity; periodic testing; and the use of employer-provided personal protective equipment. If an employer fails to comply with the new law and terminates an employee based on a COVID-19 vaccination mandate, then the employer will be subject to a fine of up to $50,000 per violation.

The Company plans to monitor conflicting guidance from the State of Florida and the federal government and adjust its policies in accordance with the resolution of the ongoing litigation in the federal courts.

Since the commencement of COVID-19 in March 2020, the Company took steps to allow and encourage greater separation for our employed and contracted field workers and has worked with its harvesters, haulers, and suppliers to minimize interactions. For the continued protection of our employees and in accordance with the OSHA mandate, the Company intends to comply with all requirements as outlined in the ETS that was published on November 4, 2021, to the extent consistent with applicable law.

Reclassifications

Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified in the accompanying Financial Statements for consistent presentation to the current period. These reclassifications had no impact on net income, equity, cash flows or working capital as previously reported.

Seasonality

The Company is primarily engaged in the production of fruit for sale to citrus markets, which is of a seasonal nature, and subject to the influence of natural phenomena and wide price fluctuations. Historically, the second and third quarters of Alico's fiscal year produce most of the Company's annual revenue. Working capital requirements are typically greater in the first and fourth quarters of the fiscal year, coinciding with harvesting cycles. Because of the seasonality of the business, results for any quarter are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved for the full fiscal year.