Iwi’s seafood company losses ‘unacceptable’

Iwi-owned company Takitimu Seafoods has made a significant loss for the third year running, prompting the iwi chair to call for an independent review of the company’s performance. Its loss of $5.5 million in 2021/22 follows losses of $6.9m in 2020/21 and $3.5m in 2019/20. Takitimu Seafoods was incorporated in 2019 following the purchase of troubled company Hawke’s Bay Seafoods, which was the subject of a lengthy court action that led to a fine of $1.08m for large-scale illegal fishing. Takitimu’s sole shareholder is Kahungunu Asset Holding Company Ltd, which manages assets on behalf of Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated (NKII), which has the mandate to represent the people of Ngāti Kahungunu and is the governing body for all aspects of the iwi’s development. The poor financial performances led to a restructure of Takitimu Seafoods in May that saw 35 jobs lost. This had been put down largely to Covid-19, which had led to the sudden cessation of all export sales of crayfish and seafood to China.