Lucky Star helps buoy Oceana’s profit
Oceana, SA’s largest fishing company, expects a surge in profit in its next interim results, thanks to higher opening inventory levels, strong volumes in canned fish and firm international pricing for fishmeal, fish oil and wild-caught seafood.
This comes off the back of low stock levels in the same period in 2022, because of the civil unrest in SA in 2021.
Rising prices for chicken, the most widely consumed protein in SA, have made nonperishable food more attractive to cashstrapped consumers, who cannot store fresh foods in refrigerators because of power cuts, as they seek nonperishable sources of protein.
Oceana owns the Lucky Star brand, which sells canned pilchards, sardines, middlecut (mackerel) and tuna. The brand traditionally focused on canned pilchards but has grown its offering as it procured and marketed canned meat and vegetable products such as baked beans and chakalaka as part of Lucky Star’s product portfolio.
The company, valued at
R9.26bn on the JSE, foresees headline earnings per share, a common profit measure in SA that excludes certain items, more than doubling (127%-147%) to 286.5c-311.8c, and earnings per share rising 136%-156% to 283.4c-307.4c in the six months to end-March.
The interim reporting period will be the first set of the results in which its Commercial Cold Storage (CCS Logistics) business will be treated as a discontinued operation after it was sold earlier in April for R760m to reduce R2.69bn of long-term debt and concentrate on growing its businesses, according to its 2022 annual results.
The group’s businesses include wild-caught fishing in SA and the US; the canned Lucky Star brand; and fishmeal and fish oil business.
The company’s interim results are expected to be published on June 5. /