Oceana hope for bigger Horse Mackeral TAC

Much like competing fishing groups, Oceana will be hoping for a bigger Horse Mackeral Total Allowable Catch as the group goes into the remaining six months of its financial year, indicating that its performance here would be affected by the allocation.
Said Oceana, “In Namibia, our performance for the second six months will be dependent on the timing and extent of the allocations of remaining horse mackerel quota. The 2015 Namibian horse mackerel Total Allowable Catch decreased by 4% to 335 000 tons. The Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources made an initial allocation of 145 000 tons for the 2016 fishing season on the same basis as the prior period. Reduced owned quota and expensive purchased quota has necessitated a critical review of the commercial performance of our third vessel. As a result the Desert Rose was sold in October 2015.”
According to Oceana, horse mackerel prices were relatively unchanged despite an oversupply of fish in its traditional African markets. “Pricing was however negatively impacted by a change in size mix. The favourable exchange rate partially offset the effect of weaker dollar prices. Despite weaker markets, margins in Namibia improved following the sale of excess fishing capacity and the termination of experimental fishing efforts in Angola,” the group noted.
The performance of the group for the six months ended 31 March 2016 was positive. Revenue grew by 40%, increasing to N$3.6 billion from N$2.5 billion in 2015. Operating profit before abnormal items increased by 67% to R587 million over the period. Cash flow from operations increased by 75% to N$401 million.
Group headline earnings for the period increased by 19%. As a result of the diluting effect of the additional shares issued during September 2015, basic earnings per share and basic headline earnings per share increased by 7% and 6% respectively. An interim dividend of 112 cents per share has been declared.
“As the Group is materially a net exporter of goods, our overall performance for the full year will also be impacted by prevailing exchange rates. We anticipate that our acquisitions of Foodcorp and Daybrook will continue to deliver the projected returns. In our drive for efficiency and focus, we will continue to evaluate non-core and under-performing assets in the period ahead,” Oceana noted.