Consumer Staples

Clean Seas Seafood to hit upper end of FY22 guidance

Thu 09 Jun 22, 1:18pm (AEDT)
Salmon swimming against river current
Source: Jakub Rutkiewicz / iStock

Key Points

  • Company expects full year FY 2022 revenue to hit upper estimate of $66m
  • YTD revenue to May reflects 37% growth compared to prior period, even as price of Kingfish per kg jumps $2
  • Clean Seas sitting on $40m cash (including undrawn facilities), full year sales volumes at nearly 4,000t

Clean Seas Seafood (ASX:CSS) is up over 2% in lunchtime trade as the company flags expected revenue for the full 2022 financial year between $64m-$66m. 

Clean Seas believes it is in a good place to boost its yearly production capacity to 10,000t a year, an increase of over 6,000t on this financial year's sales volume at 3,700t. 

Year to date sales volumes up to May were 21% higher compared to the prior period and revenue up 37%. 

(Source: Clean Seas) A presentation outlining the company's rationale on Kingfish farming
(Source: Clean Seas) A presentation outlining the company's rationale on Kingfish farming

Kingfish is king 

Part of this growth is due to the company's marketing strategy surrounding its Yellowtail Kingfish products, which the company is eager to sell underpinned by ESG credentials. 

Salmon and fish farming has been hit with more than one reputational crises in recent years after operations in Tasmania came into the spotlight for questionable practices surrounding antibiotic applications. This is likely why Clean Seas retains enthusiasm for the marketing of its product as sustainable. 

Despite this, the company outlines growing global interest in Kingfish products and noted strong demand was not offset by higher prices. 

Inflation has hit the company's price of fish per kg from $17.19/kg pre-pandemic to $19.03/kg in 2022; all things considered, one of the less dramatic price rises out there in the market right now. 

Separately, in 2019, the Australian government begun funding Yellowtail Kingfish aquaculture projects around Australia.

Company seeking to expand North American, Asian footprint

Clean Seas also highlights that combining its cash on hand and undrawn facilities together, it sits on $40m with which to progress operations before sales and revenue. 

Clean Seas posits that it has a 98% market share for Kingfish products in Australia, which itself represents roughly 10% of the global market. 

The company's biggest prize jurisdiction is North America, which supplies some 69% of the global market; Clean Seas perceives its market share in the US and Canada as reflecting only 3%. 

Europe is more promising with CSS boasting a 35% market share, but penetration into Asia is lower at only a 4% market share. 

Clean Seas' three month charts leave one asking: is this stock overlooked?
Clean Seas' three month charts leave one asking: is this stock overlooked?

 

Written By

Jonathon Davidson

Finance Writer

Jonathon is a journalism graduate and avid market watcher with exposure to governance, NGO and mining environments. He was most recently hired as an oil and gas specialist for a trade publication.

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