Camellia – modernising a “secret” agriculture company

Founded in 1889, Camellia PLC dates back to the days of the British Empire.

Valued at a fraction of its underlying asset value, the company had long been left for dead. However, in 2024, the entire board and executive leadership were replaced.

The company is due to provide an update in four weeks, which could act as a catalyst for a 20-30% move in the share price.

Camellia PLC.

"HALO" back en vogue?

There are not many companies valued at just GBP 125m (USD 168m) that employ a staggering 78,000 people. Relative to annual revenue of GBP 107m (USD 144m), Camellia PLC (ISIN GB0001667087, UK:CAM) employs a seemingly outsized workforce.

This looks different when considering that most employees are farm workers in India, Bangladesh, Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, and Brazil. Growing tea, nuts, blueberries, macadamia nuts, and avocados is a labour-intensive industry.

Might agriculture stocks be worth a closer look?

Stock markets have recently experienced a "tech wreck" of notable proportions. The global tech sector has gone through one of its worst periods of relative underperformance versus the broader market since the early 1970s. There is a growing concern that software assets and white-collar jobs are becoming increasingly replaceable by AI.

If these fears prove justified, agriculture could benefit from reallocation towards "HALO" companies – heavy assets with low obsolescence. These are typically found in traditional industries that have long been neglected by investors.

Against this backdrop, recent developments at Camellia, combined with an upcoming update, could make the company worth considering – even without external interest in its shares. There is a possibility that the share price will see an uplift driven purely by internal measures.

Long known for being stuck in the past, Camellia may soon become an example of how even the stuffiest British businesses can modernise, streamline, and optimise – with a greater focus on shareholder value.

The case of Camellia is one of the lesser-known stories of successful reform within UK PLC.

Streamlining a hotchpotch of a holding company

During the 1960s-1980s, Camellia grew into the world's largest producer of tea and owned some of the best-known tea estates globally. As by-products, it also produced a variety of other crops.

This expansion was driven by an eclectic leader, Gordon Fox, who took majority control of the company in 1969 in a move not entirely unlike Warren Buffett's acquisition of Berkshire Hathaway. At the time, he needed just GBP 200,000 to take control of a company listed on the main board of the London Stock Exchange.

Under Fox's leadership, Camellia expanded its portfolio of tea plantations. To hedge against adverse weather and the political instability that inevitably occurs in tea-growing regions, the company diversified its agricultural investments across continents and countries.

In addition, excess cash was used to build a portfolio of assets, including:

• Residential real estate in prime London locations.
• An estate in Kent (Linton Park), which also served as corporate headquarters.
• Artwork.
• Stamps and manuscripts.
• A minority stake in a Bermuda-based insurance company.

And that's just a selection of the most recent assets – there were others along the way.

Fox had his own way of running Camellia, and it proved successful. Over his 49-year tenure, the stock delivered a 67x return (equivalent to 9% compound annual growth), while the dividend per share increased 150-fold.

That said, this mix of assets is not one that would appeal to most modern investors.

From what I have been able to ascertain, Fox is still alive. He is 97 years old and pursues his interest in Buddhism from his residence in Switzerland's Montreux.

Since taking control, he never sold a single share. Today, his stake is held via a holding company owned by a Bermuda-based charitable foundation. The Camellia Foundation uses dividends from the company to support educational and humanitarian causes.

In recent years, the foundation appears to have taken a more active interest in how Camellia is run and how much cash it generates for distribution.

In 2024, the company enacted its most significant set of changes since Fox took control:

• CEO and CFO replaced.
• Entire non-executive board replaced, including the chairman.
• Capital allocation strategy redesigned.

In 2025, the new leadership introduced the "Value Enhancement Plan". Recognising that both the company and its share price had stagnated, Camellia embarked on a programme to:

• Dispose of non-core assets.
• Invest in (and optimise) the core agricultural business.
• Close the gap between share price and intrinsic value.

Details were outlined in a presentation dated 19 May 2025.

The largest non-core asset – a 37% stake in Bermudian insurer BF&M – was sold in June 2024 for USD 100m. At the time, the shares were trading around 4,500 pence, implying a market cap of just GBP 126m (USD 170m).

Camellia subsequently increased its dividend to a record 260 pence and announced a GBP 9m share buyback programme. When this progressed slowly, a tender offer was launched to return up to GBP 18.9m to shareholders by purchasing shares at 5,400 pence – a 16.9% premium to the prior average price.

However, only 215,084 shares (7.8% of share capital) were tendered.

This suggests that many shareholders believe the intrinsic value and longer-term potential of the company are significantly higher. Some may also recall that the share price exceeded 12,000 pence in 2018. In addition, the dividend – described as "sustainable" – offers a yield of 5% p.a. at current levels.

Camellia PLC.

How to value Camellia

The company's core agricultural business comprises:

• 48,000 hectares of mature land.
• 4,000 hectares of immature land.
• 36,000 hectares of unplanted "supporting" land.

The stock is currently trading at 0.4x book value, compared to more than 1x for most listed agricultural peers.

On an enterprise value per hectare basis, Camellia is valued at less than GBP 3,500. Comparable companies trade in a range of GBP 3,000-11,000 per hectare. While such comparisons are imperfect, they provide another indication of the company's low valuation.

Applying more conservative assumptions – such as 0.75x book value or GBP 6,000 per hectare – would imply a valuation well above 10,000 pence, more than double the current share price.

What's the catalyst?

The most likely answer is further capital returns.

At an unspecified date in May 2026, Camellia is due to provide another update. Recent press releases offer some indication of what may follow:

• 1 April 2026: sale of artwork for GBP 3.7m (37x book value!).
• 2 April 2026: agreement to sell the Linton Park estate for GBP 11m.
• 7 April 2026: memorandum of understanding to sell the Chalouni Tea Estate for INR 190m (GBP 1.5m).

Net cash (excluding leases) was estimated at GBP 71m in December 2025. Including recent disposals, this could rise to GBP 86m. In addition, the company holds over GBP 40m in short-term financial investments (reportedly US Treasuries).

Following the tender offer, there are 2.59m shares outstanding, implying a market cap of GBP 125m.

The Camellia Foundation did not tender shares in the previous offer, increasing its stake from 52% to 56.45%.

As part of the Value Enhancement Plan, the company also intends to increase capex to improve operations and drive growth. This likely brought the core business close to break-even in 2025, compared to a GBP 5.5m loss in 2024. However, further investment – potentially up to GBP 25m annually – will be required, with returns dependent on volatile agricultural prices.

Unless there is a significant upswing in agricultural markets, it seems unlikely that the stock will re-rate to book value in the near term. This is partly due to lingering effects of past setbacks, including a GBP 16m (!) settlement related to employee abuse cases and a failed UK fruit venture that resulted in GBP 13m of write-offs.

That said, another tender offer would be a rational next step:

• GBP 7m from the prior tender offer remains unused.
• GBP 16m of additional proceeds have been generated.
• Buying back stock at a steep discount to book value is highly accretive.

This time, a higher price may be required. At 5,400 pence, too few shares were tendered. A level closer to 6,500 pence may prove more effective.

Investors today:

• Receive a dividend yield of over 5%.
• May benefit from a near-term uplift via a tender offer.
• Gain exposure to "HALO" assets – hard assets with low obsolescence.

Will Camellia ever become a successful stock market play? In theory, it should be possible. The global agriculture industry stands to benefit from increasing adoption of technology (e.g. drones to survey plantations) as well as automation (machines replacing labour). There is also a significant consolidation opportunity, given that much of global farming remains in the hands of small and medium-sized operators. Finally, with a growing population and rising affluence worldwide, demand for agricultural products should continue to increase.

However, sceptics will argue that there is still some way to go before Camellia can be considered a fully modernised company. For example, management compensation remains relatively generous, and there is currently no Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) in place. While this could change over time, a degree of scepticism remains warranted as to whether the company will fully follow through on its transformation.

My view is that the company may ultimately go private.

The current executive team and board clearly understand capital allocation. For a business that does not require access to public markets, maintaining a costly and cumbersome listing on London's main board may not be justified.

Moreover, buying back stock at a significant discount is akin to risk-free money for the controlling foundation. For example, a tender offer at 6,500 pence for 100,000 shares would create roughly GBP 5m of value for remaining shareholders.

This isn't a fast-paced AI or robotics investment – quite the opposite. That, however, may be precisely what makes it attractive to certain investors.

Anyone looking to learn more about Camellia may find the extensive research published by Liberum particularly useful. These reports are available via Research-Tree.com, or feel free to email me with "CAM" in the subject line.

Full day of brainstorming about similar ideas

For those interested in similar situations – UK-listed companies undergoing modernisation and potential re-rating – I am hosting a small event in London on 21 April 2026, with two spaces remaining.

The full-day, in-person session "The UK Market Opportunity – which stocks lead the renewal of UK PLC?" will bring together fund managers, PLC executives, private investors and family offices.

The focus will be on both current best practice and latent potential: companies that are already delivering, as well as those that could re-rate meaningfully if specific changes were implemented. More broadly, the aim is to explore what could drive a sustained improvement in UK market valuations.

Participation is GBP 600. If you are interested, please get in touch with a brief background to ensure a good fit for the group.

This is the final call to join.

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