Sealord lands record catch

Shane Jones is leaving Sealord to stand on Labour's list in the elections. Picture / Herald On Sunday

Sealord has landed its biggest annual catch yet, with the company posting a record before-tax profit and gutting its debt.

Sealord, New Zealand's biggest seafood company and one of the world's 20 largest fishing operators, has announced an unaudited net profit before tax of $53 million for the year ended June 30, an increase of close to $2 million on last year.

Debt was chopped by $100 million in the past three years and unaudited net profit after tax was $35.7 million, said chief executive Doug McKay.

The result was achieved on foreign exchange-eroded revenues of $557.5 million, he said. Revenue last year was $582.6 million.

The private Nelson-headquartered company, which this year is operating 12 large fishing ships, down two on last year, is half-owned by Japanese fishing giant Nissui.

The other half is owned by Aotearoa Fisheries, the holding company for 52 Maori iwi which hold shares in Aotearoa's controlling shareholder, the trust Te Ohu Kaimoana.

Te Ohu is the new brand of the Waitangi Fisheries Commission.

The financial year started with debt of $200 million, McKay said.

He declined to say what debt the private company carried now.

Operating cash flows in the year to June 30 had doubled to $71 million, he said.

More than 50 per cent of revenue was from sales of fish bought from other international fishing companies. For the first time, Sealord had bought more fish from other companies than it had caught, McKay said.

The strategy was Sealord's answer to squeezed fishing quotas in home waters and how to use its fishing skills and knowledge overseas.

"We can be very effective at sourcing fish from other people and we know what customers are after and what sort of fish they want."

Sealord's annual accounts will not be audited until September.

The company revealed them because chairman and Te Ohu Kaimoana leader Shane Jones will today address the annual meeting of Te Ohu and update iwi on the performance of their company.

It is likely to be Jones' last address as chairman of Sealord, which he has headed since 2002.

The 45-year-old businessman, charged by the Government in 2000 with sorting out the Maori fisheries allocation wrangle, is a Labour Party list candidate in the approaching general election.

Almost certain to be an MP by the end of the year, he could stay on as chairman of Te Ohu but is readying to step down as Sealord chief.

Jones and McKay took on the leadership of the dismally performing Sealord in 2002.

Brierley Investments had sold its 50 per cent share to Nissui just eight months before.

The company had negative cash flows and huge debt. "We inherited a mess," said Jones.

But there are still big seas to survive. The Government has cut the annual hoki catch from 180,000 tonnes to 100,000 tonnes. For Sealord, which holds 30 per cent of the hoki quota, the announcement was a gut shot. Not long ago the limit was 250,000 tonnes a year, McKay said.

"Hoki is by far our biggest species. We were down to 60,000 tonnes, now we are 33,000 tonnes."

McKay said Sealord would have to find $3 million of the $20 million that New Zealand's signature to the Kyoto deal would cost the country's fishing industry next year.

In addition, Sealord's regulatory costs bill would be "staggering", the biggest source of inflationary costs in its 2005-2006 plan, he said.