January 24, 2024
Sealord set to expand despite loss
Sealord chief executive Doug Paulin says the company had to keep investing in the future, despite booking a $4 million loss for the past financial year.
The Nelson-based company, which is a 50-50 joint venture between Māori and Japanese fishing giant Nissui, is buying Christchurch-based Independent Fisheries for an undisclosed price.
That will take Sealord’s headcount from 1000 to 1500 staff and increase its available quota by more than 40 percent, making it the country’s largest deepwater fishing company.
Mr Paulin says it was a unique opportunity.
“So whoever purchased it in this round, that was it, it wouldn’t go to market again. So, we decided that it was – regardless of difficult cash and finance times – it was the right thing to do for the organisation, because we’ll have that quota and that fishing operation forever,” he says.
Doug Paulin says the $4 million loss was driven by an extremely poor squid catch, having one if its main boats out of action at the height of the hoki season, and new accounting rules which meant it had to write off the $9 million cost of a new computer system in the year it was implemented – but that loss can be made up with a good year of fishing.