15 Nov 2018

Sanford's full year profit hit by climate change impact

12:20 pm on 15 November 2018
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High water temperatures last summer led to lower volumes of fish, including salmon, Sanford says. Photo: Supplied

The listed fishing company said the company's full year profit rose by 13 percent to $42.3 million in the 12 months ended in September.

It was boosted by an insurance payout to cover earthquake damage to a mussel processing facility in Havelock.

Otherwise, underlying profit rose 1.5 percent to $64.7m.

Increased prices, primarily for fresh hoki, helped drive sales up 7.7 percent to $515m.

Sanford chief executive Volker Kuntzsch said the climate had a greater impact than experienced before, with abnormally high water temperatures during the summer, which affected the aquaculture and fishing divisions.

"Volumes were down in salmon, mussels and wildcatch, both inshore and deepwater," he said.

However, the company's move to extract more value from wild and farmed seafoods had helped offset the lower volume of salmon, mussels and wildcatch.

The closure of the Havelock processing facility for earthquake repairs had also contributed to an overall drop of 15 percent in the mussel harvest, over the year earlier.

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