Sales and profits surge for global trader

THE global trader Iceland Seafood International (ISI), which has just purchased Ireland\’s largest fish business, has reported higher sales and profits for 2017.
Full year revenues totalled €249 million, up from €246 million in 2016, while the profit before tax rose by 6.5 per cent to €3.5 million.
Two weeks ago, ISI acquired Oceanpath, Ireland\’s top seafood company which sources, processes and sells both fresh and frozen fish, for an undisclosed figure. The deal is expected to lead to significant profit growth this year.
ISI CEO Helgi Anton Eiríksson said: ‘These are excellent results for Iceland Seafood International considering the challenges of the first half of 2017, with the 10-week fishermen\’s strike in Iceland.
‘Our value added division, which in 2017 included our two operations in the UK [Havelock Seafood in Grimsby and Iceland Seafood Barraclough in Yorkshire] and the business in Spain, saw profits grow €200,000 year on year.’
‘Our sales and distribution division saw its second half pre-tax profit performance improve 28 per cent year on year, after a strike affected first half.
‘This result was very pleasing, with significant new business won within the fresh segment in the US, frozen at sea fillet sales and another strong year for our French business.  Overall, the sales and distribution division delivered normalised profit before tax of €1.5 million.’
Turning to the Irish purchase, Eiriksson said: ‘With Iceland Seafood\’s global sourcing and manufacturing base and Oceanpath\’s focus on manufacturing of premium seafood products, we believe this first acquisition since ISI listed on Nasdaq First North is a great value creator for the group.’