Seadragon appoints Nevin Amos, ex-Comvita, as CEO

Monday 18th July 2016

SeaDragon, the fish oil refiner, has hired Nevin Amos as its new chief executive.

Amos will take over from interim chief executive Richard Alderton in October. He is the chief executive at Pacific T&R and before that worked at Comvita, a cornerstone shareholder in SeaDragon, for nearly a decade. Alderton will remain on SeaDragon's board as a non-executive director.

"Nevin’s strong links to Comvita will also assist SeaDragon to make the most of the strategic alliance we have formed with our cornerstone investor to add value to New Zealand fish and aquaculture products," chairman Colin Groves said. "He has strong leadership skills and a proven record in global business. This includes an awareness of SeaDragon’s target markets and an in-depth understanding of supply chain systems and processes. These skills have the potential to add enormous value as we transition to the production and marketing of sustainably-sourced Omega-3 fish oils."

Comvita held 13.1 percent of SeaDragon as of July 1 and has options that could lift that holding to between 25 percent and 31 percent. SeaDragon shareholders will vote on whether to approve a proposed $3 million convertible loan from Comvita at their annual meeting in August, which would effectively lift the honey healthcare products maker's interest to between 31 percent and 37 percent.

Last month, the Nelson-based company's auditors warned it may not have sufficient cash reserves to meet its obligations if it fails to achieve its forecast cash flow and doesn't receive continued support from investors and financiers.

The announcement was made as SeaDragon published its audited financial results for the year to the end of March. Its net loss almost doubled to $5.5 million from $2.8 million a year earlier, while sales fell to $5.6 million from $6.2 million. The company had previously flagged an unaudited net loss of $4.9 million.

The shares last traded at 1.2 cents and have dropped 21 percent this year.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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