Sealord revenue falls, profits up

NZPA

Friday 7th January 2011

The holding company which owns the Sealord Group reported a fall in revenue to $530.9 million for the year to the end of June, down from $584.9 million a year earlier.

Profit for the year for Kura Ltd was up to $18.4m from $16.6m, financial statements filed with the Companies Office show.

Kura is half-owned by Maori company Aotearoa Fisheries and half by Nippon Suisan Kaisha of Japan, known as Nissui.

The financial statements show that during the year, Kura drew down a loan for $69.6m from Nissui, while secured bank loans of $69.8m were refinanced in late October.

The group's banking facility had been refinanced last May, when it entered into new multi-option facilities with a syndicate whose members include the ANZ, BNZ and Bank of Tokyo.

Total borrowings were $281.3m for the latest year, up from $229.6m the year before. That meant Kura's gearing ratio rose from 33 percent to 35 percent, at the top end of the target range of 20 to 35 percent.

No dividend was paid for the year to the end of June, compared to a payment of $16m the year before.

Last August, in the group's current financial year, it sold for $23.3m its 35 percent share of Danish seafood marketing company to Nissui, which now owns all of Nordic.

In September, Nissui also reported it had taken over Sealord's sales function for all products to be sold into the Japanese market.

As a result of the move, Nissui would have more access to fish caught in this country, while Sealord would be able to enhance its added value by becoming capable of various types of sales requested by individual consumers, Nissui said.

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