Lockdown fish demand pushes Oceana revenue and profits into the stratosphere
The holding company of three operational entities in Namibia’s fishing industry, Oceana Group has just released its financials showing group revenue is up by 9% while operating profit increased by 21%. These solid results were reported for the period ended 30 September 2020 and showed little or not impact from the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Oceana Group is listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange and on the Namibian Stock Exchange. Amongst other interests in the rest of Africa and in the United States, Oceana is the owner of local horse mackerel company, Erongo Fishing Enterprises, the only surviving local cannery, Etosha Fisheries, and a large cold storage facility, CCS Logistics in Walvis Bay.
Group Chief Executive, Imraan Soomra said “For this set of results, we must first look beyond the numbers and acknowledge the great effort of our workforce in all the geographies in which we operate. Having been classified as essential services in South Africa, Namibia and the USA, our frontline workers across these countries responded selflessly and heroically to the need to provide food security in extremely uncertain times, leaving their families to help keep our production and supply chains operating seamlessly.”
Oceana operates in South Africa, Namibia and the United States and markets fish-based products in 46 countries across the world, managing a fleet of 54 vessels and eight cold storage facilities. “Our customers are located across the world, with fresh fish being in demand in Africa and Europe, pet food in the US, fishmeal in Europe, Africa and Asia, and canned fish in South Africa,” said Soomra.
Oceana is the owner of the famous Lucky Star canned pilchard label which is canned in Walvis Bay and in South Africa from stock imported from Chile and Mauritania.
“Over the medium term, the group expects a growing demand for its products. It will look to earnings growth in canned fish by keeping it affordable and consistently supplied,” Oceana stated.
For the year ended 30 September 2020, the group posted revenue of N$8.3 billion and profit of N$1.4 billion. Oceana is the largest fishing company in Africa.
