Home of Lucky Star, Oceana Group records operating profit increase of 9%
Fishing giant, Oceana Group, this week said it will not pay an interim dividend despite posting a 2% increase in revenue and a 9% increase in operating profit. The decision to defer the dividend will be reviewed as the business impact from Covid-19 becomes clearer.
Oceana Group released its interim results for the semester ended 31 March 2020, this Thursday 04 June 2020, through a posting on the Stock Exchange News Service (SENS) of the Johannesburg Securities Exchange.
In Namibia, Oceana owns Erongo Marine Enterprises and Commercial Cold Storage. The only local cannery, Etosha Fishing Corporation, is an associate company. All three companies are certified by the Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade as essential economic service providers and food suppliers.
Group operating profit increased by 9% to R605 million (March 2019: R554 million) driven by growth of 18% in the African operations. The strong performance of the Africa operations together with a lower net interest expense, resulted in group profit before tax increasing by 10% to R466 million. Performance was driven by sustained demand for canned fish, horse mackerel and hake, supported by firm pricing across all sectors.
Group Chief Executive, Imraan Soomra said “This is an excellent result, and I’d like to pay tribute to our people at Oceana, who have really risen to the challenge. During the first days of lockdown, they responded incredibly to our call to arms and we recorded 100% attendance at work.
In respect of long term fishing rights, Soomra said “in South Africa, the Cabinet had approved the extension of fishing rights to December 2021 with exemptions granted to existing rights holders to continue fishing based on current allocations while in Namibia fishing rights of our partners have been extended for a further seven years,” pointing out that only 16% of Oceana’s fish supply is up for renewal in 2021.
Caption: Oceana Chief Executive, Imraan Soomra will be present the Group’s financial results during a live webcast at 9am on Friday 5 June.
