Premier Food sees increased revenue

Cape Town – Premier Food and Fishing (PFF), announced on Thursday that its interim results to the end of February show group revenue has increased by 7% to R182m compared to the prior period.

This was mainly as a result of increased sales volumes in the lobster and squid segments.  

PFF, a member of diversified listed entity African Equity Empowerment Investments Limited (AEEI), operates a vertically integrated fishing business specialising in the harvesting, processing and marketing of fish and fish-related products, as well as general food products.

On 2 March 2017, PFF was listed on the main board of the JSE and raised capital in the amount of R526m on the listing date through the issue of 117 million new shares.

CEO Samir Saban said he is very pleased with the results and the group is looking to further build on this during the rest of the year.”

Group operating profit increased by 12% to R18m mainly due to efficiencies achieved across all segments, while the group’s profit before tax for the six months to 28 February 2017 increased by 26% to R24m.
 
Headline earnings per share increased by 33% from 9.52 cents per share to 12.70 cents per share. These results indicate consistent and steady growth of PFF’s financial position over the last few years, according to the group.

“The group experienced increased lobster landings due to good catch rates as well as a good size mix for the period under review. The industrial fish landings were up by 20% compared to the prior period while hake sales volumes and the profitability of the hake segment increased during the current period,” said Saban.

“The squid segment experienced higher catch rates as well as higher sales volumes compared to the prior period, which also resulted in increased revenue and operating profit for the period under review.

“We continue to focus on increasing production capacity and efficiencies at our abalone farm and the sales volumes were in line with our expectation when compared to the prior period.”

 When listing PFF, Saban expressed that the capital raised would be used for the expansion of the company’s abalone farm, as well as for acquisitions of other fishing companies. The group reported that the expansion of the abalone farm will commence shortly with the expansion of the farm from 100 tons to 300 tonnes.
 
Premier Fishing submitted its long-term fishing rights for west coast rock lobster (WCRL), horse mackerel and hake inshore to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (DAFF) during February 2016. The company was successful in its application for horse mackerel and still awaits the outcome of its application for the WCRL fishing rights from DAFF.

“We are satisfied that  PFF is well positioned for organic and acquisitive growth to deliver the projected outlook for sustainable returns for all stakeholders in terms of its Vision 2020 Vision,” said Saban.
 
Khalid Abdulla, group CEO of AEEI, the major shareholder, is also pleased with the group’s results and performance which are in line with its growth strategies.

Due to the seasonality of the fishing industry, Premier Fishing normally performs better in the second half of the financial year.