Food producer Oceana recorded a strong operational performance for the first five months, with production volumes of fishmeal and fish oil doubling and Lucky Star sales up 5% year on year.
Lucky Star's “pleasing results” were attributed to steady consumer demand and higher local production volumes. Cannery upgrades from the previous half also led to improved efficiencies for the canned fish subsidiary, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
Upgrades to Oceana’s west coast facilities also doubled the output of its African fishmeal and fish oil units during the period under review by reducing these divisions' power and coal usage and capitalising on higher redeye herring landings.
As a result, African fishmeal and fish oil inventory levels closed 119% higher than in the previous period, while inventory levels in the US closed 43% higher.
The group's Wild Caught Seafood business benefited from a 5% increase in total allowable catch and strong demand for sustainable wild caught species, with catch rates improving in the second quarter.
Despite the lift in output, headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the six months ending March were expected to be more than 40% lower than the previous first half’s 578.8c, according to a trading statement released last month.
The recovery of Peruvian fish oil and fishmeal production pushed prices down, with the normalisation of global pricing weighing on Oceana’s US and African fishmeal and fish oil segments.
US fishmeal and fish oil business Daybrook saw a 17% decrease in sales volumes, largely as a result of the decline in global fish oil pricing.
Oceana expects to release its interim results on June 9.
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