Empresa Agroindustrial Pomalca S.A.A.

What it is

Pomalca is a Peru-based agro-industrial company whose core work is sowing, cultivating and harvesting sugarcane, then processing it into refined sugar, molasses, and other cane by-products. It also mills third-party cane and has a small real-estate arm.

At the close of 2024 the company controlled a total area of 16,425 hectares, of which 7,518 hectares were actively under sugarcane cultivation. It holds roughly a 7.4% share of Peru’s national sugar output — a meaningful slice of a commodity market, though not a commanding one.

Who owns it

The company was incorporated in Peru on 3 October 1970, though its corporate privatisation was completed in 1997 after Peru’s agrarian reform laws were reversed. The largest single shareholder on record at 31 December 2024 is Corporación Agroindustrial del Norte, holding 51,382,832 shares — a 16.3% stake (our calculation from CAVALI registry data in the 2024 Memoria Anual).

Three members of the Oviedo Picchotito family — Edwin, Elvis and Octavio — sit on the board as directors, and the 2024 Memoria confirms they are related by second-degree consanguinity, making the family a significant collective presence in governance even though no single Oviedo entity is disclosed as holding above 5% individually. The remaining shares trade freely on the Lima exchange.

Who runs it

The board chair is Carlos Alberto Andrade Villar, who holds the condition of independent director and has led the board since December 2019 after a long career in Peru’s sugar industry, including prior stints as CEO of two other sugar companies. The CEO (Gerente General) is Walter Eloy Culqui Carrera, a CPA and MBA who has run day-to-day operations since June 2017; he came to Pomalca after serving as general manager of a sugar mill in Argentina within the Gloria Group network.

The CFO equivalent — Gerente de Administración y Finanzas — is Juan Gonzalo Rodriguez Soto, in post since January 2013, bringing over 30 years of accounting experience in Peru’s agro-industrial sector. The vice-chair of the board is Elvis Richard Oviedo Picchotito, a director since October 2004 who is regarded as a key force behind the company’s post-reform stabilisation.

The money, in plain words

Pomalca is a small company by any international measure: its entire stock-market value — what all shares are worth combined, the market capitalisation — sits at roughly S/78.8M PEN (about US$23M at today’s exchange rate). The most recently reported quarter showed revenue of about S/65.8M PEN (~US$19M), but the trailing net result is a loss, not a profit — the most recent quarter’s net loss was S/2.42 (US$0.71)M PEN, following a S/486,000 (US$143 k)loss the quarter before.

The company has 315.1M shares outstanding at a nominal value of S/1.00 (US$0.29)each, yet trades at S/0.25 (US$0.07)— meaning the market values each share at just one quarter of its face value, a signal of persistent investor scepticism. A dividend yield of 1.15% was recorded for 2024, which is unusual for a company in a loss position and implies the payout came from reserves rather than current earnings.

What it is doing now

The 2024 Memoria reports that irrigated area fell 8.6% year-on-year — from 98,645 to 90,132 hectares of irrigation coverage — due to La Niña drought conditions that produced a water deficit between September and December 2024. That climatic pressure compressed production and pushed costs higher.

The staff wage bill also rose by S/2.35 (US$0.69)M versus 2023, partly from an October pay rise given to all workers with active contracts and an extraordinary bonus.

In 2025 Pomalca celebrated its 21st anniversary of private-sector management, reflecting the nearly two decades that have passed since re-privatisation. The 2025 Memoria Anual — covering fiscal year 2025 — was published in early 2026 and is now available on the company’s website, though the full audited financials for that year are the next data point to watch.

What to watch

• Water. Sugarcane is thirsty. La Niña-driven droughts on Peru’s northern coast are the single biggest short-term risk to harvest volume and, therefore, to revenue.
• Debt and trust structure. The auditors flagged a Fideicomiso (trust) arrangement with a company called Trust that controls cash flows — a structure that limits financial flexibility and adds a layer of counterparty risk worth monitoring.
• Ownership concentration. With the Oviedo family collectively prominent on the board and Corporación Agroindustrial del Norte as the largest named shareholder at 16.3%, minority investors have limited leverage. Any change in family alignment could move the stock sharply.
• Path to profit. The company has been loss-making on a trailing basis. Investors need to see whether higher sugar prices globally, combined with better harvests, can flip the income statement into sustained black ink.
• FY2025 results. The 2025 Memoria has been published; the full audited income statement for FY2025 is the next hard number that will tell whether 2024’s weather-hit was a one-year setback or a structural pattern.

This is news, not investment advice.