Sea Harvest Group in South Africa has been through a tough first half on 2024, but has delivered an EBIT of R373 million, 6% ahead of 2023, reaping the benefits of significantly improved pricing and strong demand in wild-caught fish that resulted in revenue increasing by 3% to R3.3 billion.
This is despite performance being constrained by continued low hake catch rates, deteriorating market conditions in abalone markets and higher interest rates in both South Africa and Australia.
‘The first six months of this year have been some of the toughest months in the history of the Group with the tragic sinking of the Lepanto,’ said Sea Harvest Group CEO Felix Ratheb.
‘The Board, management and staff extend our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones to the 11 crewmen lost at sea. As, a Group, we continue providing support to the affected families, whilst continuing to cooperate with the investigation into the incident by the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA).’
During the first half of the year, the Group completed the acquisition of Aqunion and Saldanha/Westpoint Fishing thereby diversifying into pelagic fisheries for anchovy and pilchard, and completing the Group’s exposure to all material wild-caught fisheries in South Africa, while the abalone business doubles in size, creating a world-class and competitive aquaculture business of scale.
The lower catch volumes in the hake fishery in its South African fishing operations resulted in lower sales volumes however this was offset by significantly improved pricing during the period.
‘As we continue into the second half of 2024, we look forward to the fish volumes still available to be caught by the Group, supported by firm local and international hake markets, and the improvement of our H2 weighted operations in Australia,’ Felix Ratheb said.
‘With the addition of Sea Harvest Pelagics and Aqunion and the potential decrease in interest rates, the Group looks forward to an ease in operating conditions for the rest of the year.’
