Chinese seafood firm's sales soar

A LEADING Chinese marine foods and seafood processor and producer has reported a 28 per cent increase in revenues over last year.
Aquatic Foods Group, which supplies local and export markets, recorded revenues of RMB 856 million (£89.1 million), for the year ended December 31, 2014, their first trading update after the successful IPO (initial public offering).
This was up on RMB 667 million in the previous year.
Growth in revenue was achieved across all product categories, with fish accounting for approximately 68 per cent, followed by sea cucumbers at about 16 per cent.
Revenue from exported products equated to approximately RMB 79.5 million, accounting for 9.3 per cent of aggregate revenue in 2014, compared to 10.1 per cent in 2013, which is in line with the group’s strategy to increase its presence within China.
Aquatic Foods hopes to capitalise on the increasing levels of disposable income currently seen across China.
In 2014, the national per capita disposable income saw a real increase of eight per cent, which the group believes will lead to increased demand for healthy, sustainably sourced pre-processed and ready to eat products.
Li Xianzhi, chief executive officer of Aquatic Foods, said: ‘The board is extremely pleased with the excellent progress that the group has made in 2014 and also with the strong start to the current financial year.
‘Not only has Aquatic Foods seen strong organic growth in our Chinese domestic market, but the group has also successfully raised £9.3 million and had its shares admitted to trading on the AIM [alternative investment market] market in London.
‘The significance of our AIM listing is that it will expedite our strategic plan of expanding our processing capabilities and distributor network across China, in order to further increase sales.’