Homegrown seafood processor Alliance Select Foods International Inc. said Monday it sold its entire 80-percent stake in a New Zealand subsidiary for P266 million (N$Z7.5 million).
ASFII said in a disclosure to the stock exchange its board of directors approved the sale of its farmed salmon subsidiary Akaroa Salmon New Zealand Ltd. to Ngati Porou Seafoods Limited, Te Kahui O Onuku Charitable Company Limited and Archipelago Capital Management Limited.
Alliance Select plans to use proceeds from the sale to reinvest in the company’s operations and reduce debt.
It said the sale was consistent with the company’s long-term objective to focus on Philippine operations and strengthen the company’s balance sheet.
“We remain optimistic about the future of ASFII and will continue to invest in our business. We are confident that this latest development will allow us to streamline our operations and improve profitability,” ASFII chief executive Raymond See said.
ASFII is primarily engaged in tuna processing, serving over 30 countries worldwide. It also processes the by-products and scraps from its tuna processing operations into fishmeal and sells these to the domestic feeds market and to traders.
The company’s main products include canned tuna, smoked and raw salmon, fishmeal and fish oil.
ASFII narrowed its net loss in the third quarter to $214,892 from the $535,205 net loss in the same period last year despite lower revenues.
The company widened its net loss in the first nine months to $867,956 from $746,758 net loss a year earlier as revenues dropped 40 percent to $31 million from $52 million amid weak export demand and high freight costs due to the global shortage of shipping containers that dampened sales.
The company said it implemented cost optimization measures to reduce the cost of goods sold and lower selling and administrative expenses.
“We are looking forward to a more stable environment as economies across the globe recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve made several adjustments in our business, including streamlining of operations and improving our cost structures, which should allow for better growth coming into 2022,” See said.
The share price of ASFII was unchanged at P0.59 on Monday.
