Aotearoa Fisheries posts smaller FY earnings as Sealord profit drops, trims dividend

Aotearoa Fisheries, which manages more than $530 million of fisheries assets for its iwi shareholders, reported a 27 percent decline in annual profit on reduced earnings from its half-stake in Sealord Group.

Net profit fell to $16 million in the year ended Sept. 30, from $21.9 million a year earlier, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. Aotearoa Fisheries said the contribution from Sealord, which it jointly owns with Japan's Nippon Suisan Kaisha, was lower than the $12.7 million it received in 2014 without giving details.

"It has been a challenging year with a poor crop of mussels, softening global white fish pricing in the last quarter and vessel breakdowns, leading to a below-expectation profit," said Sealord chief executive Steve Yung. "Our fishing capacity was restricted due to vessels being off the water, which reduced both sales and profitability."

Sealord has started working with rival seafood company Sanford, sending out a vessel to catch orange roughy for the past three months, sharing the catch and costs. Sanford called for more collaboration with other fishing industry players to help reduce their cost of business at their annual meeting earlier this month.

In June this year, the majority of mandated iwi rejected dismantling Te Ohu Kaimoana, despite an independent review advising it should be scrapped, while unanimously voting in favour of transferring all Aotearoa Fisheries voting and income shares from the fisheries body to iwi control. Under the Maori Fisheries Act in 2004, Te Ohu Kaimoana was set up to manage the fishing quota awarded to Maori in the 1992 fisheries settlement.

"The company is fundamentally in a sound position as the 58 iwi organisations ready themselves to take direct ownership of the company," Te Ohu Kaimoana chief executive Peter Douglas said. "While we think the medium-term future for seafood is positive, we are dealing with natural systems with all the variations that go with that. We also work in high-value markets that are susceptible to global and local conditions."

Aotearoa Fisheries' other investments include inshore fishing businesses Moana Pacific and OPC Fish and Lobster, paua exporter Prepared Foods, and oyster producers Kia Ora Seafoods and Pacific Marine Farms.

The board declared a $6.4 million dividend to iwi shareholders, down from $8.8 million a year earlier.

(BusinessDesk)