JOHANNESBURG - Fishing company Sea Harvest said yesterday it expected its earnings a share for the year to the end of December to show an improvement of at least 28percent compared with last year’s numbers.
The group said the performance was mainly driven by the South African operations with strong market demand for Cape hake globally and significantly enhanced performance from the investments made in the Saldanha Bay processing plants.
It listed on the JSE last year in March under the farming, fishing and plantation sector when being unbundled from Brimstone Investments, which continues to hold more than 50percent in Sea Harvest.
“Shareholders are advised that the company expects to report a basic earnings per share of between 110cents and 124c, representing an increase of between 28percent and 44percent,” the group said. It reported earnings a share of 86c last year.
Sea Harvest has made key acquisitions since its listing.
It made its first in August last year by acquiring a freezer trawler, MV Therney, for R181million from an Icelandic fishing company, HB Grandi. And this was followed by another one in December where it entered into negotiations to acquire the entire business of Viking Fishing for an undisclosed amount and 51percent majority stake in Viking Aquaculture.
The last acquisition was still subject to a number of conditions such as the satisfactory completion of a comprehensive due diligence of Viking Fishing and Viking Aquaculture.
In the expected results Sea Harvest also announced that its basic headline earnings a share would be between 99c and 113c and this would represent an increase of between 74percent and 98percent compared with headline earnings a share of 57c reported last year as disclosed in the company’s pre-listing statement dated March 6, 2017.
The group said the earnings a share and headline earnings a share calculations were based on the weighted average number of shares in issue (Wanos) during the twelve month period to end December 31, 2017, of 217859827million, compared to a Wanos of 141540333million for the year to end December 31, 2016.
Sea Harvest’s shares gained 3.75percent on the JSE yesterday to close at R12.45.