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SEALORD, the New Zealand's seafood company, which has a large production unit at Caistor, near Grimsby, has just announced a 13 per cent increase in profits.
Sealord attributed its NZ $20.6 million profit increase over 15 months to a good performance from the company's deep water fishing unit. The results are in spite of higher fuel costs and a rising New Zealand dollar.
The after-tax net profit increase brings total revenue for the holding company, Kura, from NZ $530.8 million last year to NZ $573.5 million, up by NZ $40.2 million.
Reported debt levels are also down by NZ $15 million and owners have been paid NZ $16 million over the period.
The 15 month reporting period follows a change in Sealord's reporting date to match the fishing season, but chief financial officer Jason Dale said that because the period includes two off-season fishing periods the result is not as good as it would have been for the 12 month period.
He said the company's deep water fishing business unit, which catches mainly white fish out beyond the coastline is the main reason for Sealord's profit increase.
This has meant lower costs and combines with higher prices this year for protein in general and white fish in particular.
"They've had a very good catch and then we have lower costs. Overall, we have been able to lift some of the other areas we're looking at expanding into."
He says Sealord has been expanding more into selling retail products such as packaged fresh and frozen fish, instead of a commodity product.
Sealord is half owned by Te Ohu Kaimoana (the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission) and half owned by the Nippon Suisan company of Japan.
Of their over 117,000 tonnes yearly catchment, 90 per cent is exported to more than 60 countries, but New Zealand accounts for 16 per cent of Sealord's market by value.
Returns from the UK marketing business were negatively affected by the lower British pound, although it said performance in both the UK and New Zealand was in line with expectation. The Caistor UK site employs over 200 people and produces fish exclusively for the Waitrose supermarket group.
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