Sea Harvest Holdings Proprietary Limited is the taking a bold step. The company has just announced that it will be floating part of its shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
The company said in a statement that to set the ball rolling, it has renamed itself to Sea Harvest Group Limited. Its ordinary shares will then be listed on the main board of the the JSE.
However, its final outcome is still subject to the approval of Brimstone Investment Corporation Limited which is the majority owner of Sea Harvest. Also as a caveat, Sea Harvest said the listing will also be determined by ‘market conditions’ and ‘requisite approvals by the JSE‘.
At the end of it all, Sea Harvest said it is also looking at achieving a capital raising of up to ZAR1.5 billion via private placement, this will be ‘simultaneously with the Listing’.
Corporate information
Sea Harvest is a leading black-controlled and internationally recognised vertically integrated fishing and branded FMCG business established in 1964 with operations in South Africa and Australia. With access to a fleet of 29 vessels and close to 3,000 employees, the Group has operations in Saldanha Bay on the West Coast of South Africa and in Mossel Bay on the Southern Coast of South Africa through an exclusive supply arrangement with SeaVuna Fishing Company Proprietary Limited. In July 2016, Sea Harvest acquired a controlling interest in Mareterram Limited (“Mareterram”), a vertically integrated agri-business listed on the
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX share code: MTM) with operations in Shark Bay, Carnarvon, Western Australia, a head office in Perth and a national sales team. The principal business of the Group is the fishing of Marine Stewardship Council (“MSC”) certified Cape hake and Shark Bay tiger and king prawns, processing of the catch into frozen and chilled seafood, and the packaging, marketing and distribution of these products both locally and internationally. Sea Harvest is the leading frozen fish brand in South Africa with strong consumer loyalty and brand equity.
Sea Harvest markets its range of fish, prawns and related seafood products through an extensive and sophisticated marketing and sales network, servicing retail and foodservice customers in 22 countries and has offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
The Group has demonstrated strong growth in the last five years with revenue and EBITDA growing at CAGRs of 15% and 22%, respectively. During this same period, EBITDA margins expanded from c.15% to c.19%. In the financial year ended 31 December 2016, 59% of the Group’s revenues were generated in hard currencies with Europe and Australia being the Group’s largest international markets.
