Nueva Pescanova closed the 2023-2024 financial year with a EUR 131 million (USD 145 million) loss on EUR 970 million (USD 1.07 billion) worth of sales.
But, the Pontevedra, Spain-based vertically integrated seafood firm’s new management – put in place in September 2023 – says the group is “on the path to recovery” after it implemented a change in strategic and operational measures. Those included a streamlined decision-making process via a reorganization of the company’s executive management committee, implementation of a new business plan, a commercial reorganization, the reshaping of processes to improve service and increase operational efficiency, and an optimization of the firm’s working capital.
“The strategic and operational measures adopted by the Nueva Pescanova Group’s new management team have succeeded in reversing the company’s negative trend of the last two financial years and have set it on the path to recovery, achieving in the first five accounting months of 2024 – which run from April to August – an increase in turnover of 2 percent compared to the same period of the previous financial year,” the company said in an 11 September press release.
It blamed its losses on “inflation, a historic fall in the price of shrimp, and the climatic effect of El Niño.”
Operational efficiencies implemented by the new management team improved margins, generating EBITDA of EUR 18.1 million (USD 20 million) between April and August 2024, up 185 percent from the EUR 9.8 million (USD 10.8 million) EBITDA of the previous financial year.
“This positive development of the company in the first months of the current financial year allows us to conclude that the trend has been reversed, and we estimate that in the first nine months of the financial year we will reach an EBITDA of EUR 37.5 million [EUR 41.5 million] – almost four times the EBITDA of the entire 2023-2024 financial year,” it said.
Nueva Pescanova’s board of directors is planning on proposing a capital increase of EUR 72.6 million (USD 80.4 million) at the company’s 26 September shareholder’s general meeting to finance the future growth of the company. It said Abanca, the group’s main shareholder, has guaranteed to front at least EUR 71 million (USD 78.6 million) of the request, to be paid in Q4 2024.
The board is also proposing a EUR 0.31 (USD 0.34) devaluation of each share of the company “in order to offset losses from previous years and clean up the balance sheet.” It said the move will have no cash impact but will result in a revaluation of the company at EUR 223 million (USD 246.9 million).
“With the capital increase, the local financing, and optimization of the working capital management, the group has succeeded in restoring liquidity and solvency and securing funds for its 2024-2028 business plan,” it said.
Nueva Pescanova lost more than EUR 73 million (USD 79 million) in 2023, Abanca reported in May 2024. In addition to that, the company will take a EUR 42 million (USD 46.5 million) impairment “to clean up the balance sheet,” it said. As part of its new business plan, Nueva Pescanova has implemented improvement measures “to make its operations more robust and leave it prepared to face possible future negative cycles.”
The company, which granted Cooke Inc. exclusivity in negotiating a purchase of an 80 percent stake in Nueva Pescanova, only to see the deal fall through in October 2023, said it will move to a natural-year calendar for financial reporting beginning in 2025, with the 2024 financial year condensed to the nine months ending 31 December.
Nueva Pescanova Sales, Marketing, and Innovation Vice President Fernando Zaldívar Kunz confirmed to SeafoodSource at the 2024 Seafood Expo North America negotiations to sell the company remain inactive.
