Vigo, Spain-based Profand Fishing Holding hit a record sales figure in 2022, achieving a turnover of EUR 929 million (USD 872 million).
However, the company saw its 2022 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) fall 19 percent compared to 2021, it said in self-reported results released on 31 May, 2023. The company, which is privately held, is not required to report its results publicly and did not detail its EBITDA for 2022.
Grupo Profand – which includes both Profand Fishing Holding and Dutch subsidiary IMV – is a major supplier of the Spanish supermarket chain Mercadona. It operates fishing vessels, processing facilities, and aquaculture facilities across 10 countries on five continents, with sales in Europe, the U.S., Asia, South America, and Africa. It describes itself as a world leader in cephalopods, but said recent investments into the company from private shareholders, including a EUR 100 million (USD 118.1 million at the time) influx from the Madrid, Spain-based Corporación Financiera Alba in September 2021, have allowed it to expand.
In 2018, Profand acquired Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based Stavis Seafood, and in 2019, it bought seafood processor and distributor Caladero and North Kingstown, Rhode Island, U.S.A.-based Seafreeze. Those acquisitions were followed up in 2021 with Profand’s purchase of Kefalonia Fisheries, a sea bream and sea bass farming operation based in Lixouri, Greece.
In 2021, Profand’s sales reached EUR 804 million (USD 755 million), meaning its 2022 sales were up 15 percent year-over-year. Profand said it actually sold more seafood by volume in 2022 – 120,00 metric tons (MT) compared to 117,000 MT in 2021 - but said its lower EBITDA was due to “not transferring to the consumer the increases in operating costs that it has been bearing (electricity, fuel, personnel costs after the salary update linked to CPI in the Group's Spanish plants, freight, and raw materials, among others).”
Profand said it has committed EUR 37 million (USD 34.7 million) to growing its value-added production capacity at its facilities in Zaragoza and Vilagarcia, Spain.
“The advanced technologies used by Profand in its processing plants allow the company to increase the shelf life of its products and improve food safety by inactivating pathogenic microorganisms and eliminating or reducing additives,” it said. “This translates into a considerable reduction in food waste.”
Profand said it is participating in seven fishery improvement projects (FIPs), including the CAPECAL jumbo squid fishery in Peru, which is one of the largest fisheries globally, accounting for an estimated 500,000 MT in annual landings.
Additionally in 2022, the company advanced its Profand 4 Future sustainability strategy, under which it extended its sourcing of renewable energy to 42 percent of the company’s total usage, and upped its use of recycled materials to 82 percent in its product trays.
Photo courtesy of Grupo Profand
