PremFish ready to join the big league

Cape Town – Premier Fishing (PremFish) — a subsidiary of African Empowerment Equity Investments (AEEI) — could have an inferred market capitalisation of nearly R1.2bn when it lists on the JSE next month.

On Monday, PremFish posted its prelisting statement, which detailed proposals to raise up to R526.5m in fresh capital by issuing 117-million new shares at 450c per share in a private placement. The listing date has been set for March 2.

Export-orientated PremFish — which holds south and west coast lobster allocations as well as an abalone farm in Gansbaai and pelagic, hake and squid operations — is being spun out of listed group AEEI.

AEEI CEO Khalid Abdulla said PremFish was holding roadshows for investors this week. “We’ve had six meetings with potential investors, and there are already signs of interest in the private placement.”

PremFish’s JSE debut will be followed later next month by the listing of hake specialist Sea Harvest, which is being spun out of empowerment company Brimstone Investment Corporation. Market watchers have tipped strongly empowered fishing companies as potential consolidators in the sector via acquisitions, mergers and partnerships.

PremFish’s prelisting statement noted that the capital raised in the private placement would allow the company to grow its business both organically and by acquisition. The prelisting statement showed that in the year to August it increased revenue by 15%.

Profit before taxation increased 17% to R73.5m, which represented an annual compound growth rate of 31.4% for the last three financial years.

Perhaps the most encouraging detail in the prelisting statement was that strong cash generation in the last two financial years saw PremFish move from a net overdraft position of R4.4m to a cash-positive position of R23.5m as at the end of August last year.