Retrieving the last Non-blank Value using Look-up

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to posting in the forum, but I have spent the better part of this morning (and several other mornings) reading and learning. Usually I find what I'm looking for and hence the need not to post.

HOWEVER I can't for the life of me figure out a solution for a task I'm trying to perform. Let's get on with it....


I have a spreadsheet with several columns and rows that is updated daily. Only new rows are added, no new columns. I'm using a lookup function in order to grab the LAST value of an entry. The issue I'm running into is that all columns for any given new row added won't necessarily be filled out- For example Below


A B C
Apple 1 2
Oranges 3 -
Pear 4 5
Oranges 6 7
Apple 8 -
Pear - 9



The formula I'm currently using to retrieve the data in column B is:

=LOOKUP(2,1/($A:$A=L2),B:B)


The Result I'm getting when L2 = Pear is a 0
The Result I WANT to get when L2 = Pear is 4


Any Help would be greatly appretiated!!

I could kiss you right now!

Thank you SOOOO much. This did exactly what I wanted.

Sorry for the poor formatting.