Jul
7
The city of Vigo, in Spain’s northwestern region of Galicia, still holds the leadership of frozen seafood production in Spain despite the financial storm that has engulfed some of its largest players, including Pescanova, Freiremar and Vieira.
In the annual ranking published by the trade magazine Alimarket, eight out of the ten top companies trading frozen fish and seafood have their headquarters in the Vigo district, Faro de Vigo reported.
In 2007, a year before the financial crisis, there were six Vigo-based companies in the top-ten list. The fall of the three largest firms, particularly that of Pescanova, has benefited other businesses like Pescapuerta, Iberconsa or Marfrio, which have increased their exports and expanded commercial networks.
The biggest blow to the sector has been Pescanova’s demise and its ongoing restructuring process. According to estimates by Alimarket, Pescanova’s production volume, which was 150,000 metric tons in 2012, dropped 13.3%.
Pescanova’s results in 2014 will be even lower, as it looks set to lose key subsidiaries such as Pesca Chile, Acuinova in Portugal, and Pesca Austral in Argentina. Together, their turnover was above €200 million, and represented 30% of the group’s earning before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization — Pesca Chile, with 47% of Chile’s hake quota, sold 90% of its production to Pescanova companies.
The second largest impact comes from Freiremar, a fishing company with port in the Canary Islands but base in Vigo. The firm’s production was 35,000t in 2012, but barely 13,000t last year. In 2007, its output was 65,000t.
Freiremar is immersed in a creditor agreement process since December, and has implemented a collective dismissal of 322 workers. It has some €151m in total liabilities.
Vieira has also seen its size reduced to less than 9,000t last year, against 40,000 in 2007. By early 2014, it had overcome a creditor agreement forcing it to restructure and liquidate some of its subsidiaries, and sell foreign businesses like its Namibia branch — now acquired by Congelados Iberconsa — and cut staff numbers. The company is said to be in negotiations to recover its Argentine subsidiary, expropriated by the regional authorities of Santa Cruz.
But while Pescanova, Freiremar or Vieira struggled, other companies filled the void left in front of them. Iberconsa increased sales by 5,000t to 50,000t, helped by the acquisition of Vieira’s subsidiary in Namibia in the second quarter of last year — Iberconsa also bought Ibermar in Argentina, adding 2,000 cubic metres of freezing facilities.
Pescapuerta, the second largest operator in Spain after Pescanova, has increased sales by 1,775t to 52,975t, and has cancelled plans of selling its subsidiary Tunacor Group in Namibia.
Marfrio in 2013 acquired 60% of Vieira’s subsidiary in Peru to consolidate its giant squid business, which is expected to bring in profit this year. In Galicia, the company has announced expansion investments in its plant in Marin — a new line of squid processing.
Profand has also increased sales by 2,000t to 42,000t.
Read the original source of the news here.
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