Clean Seas Tuna turned a profit for the first time in seven years as the Port Lincoln company completes its transition from speculative researcher to fish farmer, shareholders heard today.
Shareholders at the company annual general meeting at the Grand Chifley Hotel on South Terrace Adelaide were told Clean Seas had achieved a profitable bottom line one year earlier than previously expected.
Reporting a statutory and an underlying profit, the company said its Yellowtail Kingfish growth performance exceeded expectation.
Company chairman Paul Steere said it was a “further demonstration of a viable business model based on Hiramasa Yellowtail Kingfish”.
It’s been a rocky ride for Clean Seas investors who bought into the West Coast fishing and research group when it first listed in late 2005 at $0.50 and its peak share price of $2 in 2007 at $2.00.
After shedding millions of dollars cash on its speculative research program to breed Southern Blue Fin Tuna onshore, Clean Seas shares bottomed out at one cent.
Eventually the company deferred its research program to concentrate on Kingfish production.
Strapped for cash, it launched two capital raising share issues at 3.2 cents a share – one in May 2013 to raise $3 million and the other last November to raise $9 million.
Today, shareholders were told the share purchase plan put the company in a net positive cash position with no net debt, allowing it to rebuild the business.
In its full financial year report, Clean Seas said it had sold 571 tonnes of fish and retained biomass of 1,300 tonnes to facilitate 2014/15 sales growth.
That has resulted in a statutory net profit for the year after tax of $11.1 million and an underlying profit of $1.2 million.
“The turning point in achieving operational profit comes after two years of solid restructuring;support from our shareholders in our over-subscribed capital raising of November 2013 and significant improvements in biological performance and fish husbandry,” the company said.
Hiramasa Yellowtail Kingfish is marketed as a premium fish, with much of the product sold for sashimi.
Shares in Clean Seas opened trade today at 6.8 cents, up from around 4 cents in June.
