Category Archives: Updates

MANILA, Philippines — Alliance Select Foods International Inc. has sealed the NZ$2.93 acquisition of an 80 percent of Akaroa Salmon NZ Ltd., a New Zealand-based salmon marine farmer and processor of fresh and smoked salmon.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said it has signed a share purchase agreement with Akaroa to buy the 80 percent stake for NZ$2.8 million. Alliance will also invest an additional NX$0.13 million as working capital in Akaroa.

The acquisition is being funded by a P97.07 million private placement of Alliance shares. The firm sold 60.67 million shares at P1.60 per share or a 14.57 percent premium over the 30-day volume weighted average price from May 17 to July 2, 2012.

Akaroa is being valued at $3.5 million at current exchange rates and Alliance’s proposed acquisition is valued at $2.18 million. Alliance will also invest $100,000 for Akaroa’s working capital needs.

The balance 20 percent stake will be held by Duncan Bates who joined Akaroa soon after his father founded the company. He will continue in his role as Akaroa’s general manager.

Akaroa is only one of three companies in New Zealand that can supply fresh salmon to its customers through-out the year.

It is a thriving niche producer at the highest end of the quality salmon market supplying New Zealand’s leading chefs and the discerning diner with premium fish and smoked salmon products. Alliance said its investment in Akaroa will allow the Kiwi company to double its farming capacity in the coming years and support its plans to be an export leader into key high-end markets globally.

“An investment in Akaroa will further strengthen Alliance’s salmon portfolio. Akaroa is a fully-integrated company which will give Alliance direct access to raw materials,” Alliance said.

It added that the investment will also allow Alliance to target an additional market segment by offering Akaroa’s fresh portion cuts to institutional and retail buyers like hotels and restaurants in markets like Singapore, Hong Kong, USA, South Korea and Japan.

By JAMES A. LOYOLA (Manilla Bulletin)

NEW ZEALAND
Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Alliance Select Foods International Inc., a listed seafood processing and exporting company, completed the acquisition of a New Zealand-based salmon farming and processing company.

The company said in a Philippine Stock Exchange filing on Tuesday 2 Oct. that it bought 80 per cent of Christchurch-based Akaroa Salmon NZ Ltd. for NZD 2.8 million (about PHP 97 million). The remaining 20 per cent will be held by Akaroa general manager Duncan Bates, whose father founded the firm.

The deal will be financed through the issuance of 60.67 million new shares to six investors, including company chairman George Sycip, for PHP 97.7 million, or about PHP 1.60 per share.

Source: Miguel R. Camus / Business Mirror

MANILA, Philippines – Listed tuna and salmon processor Alliance Select Foods International Inc. turned around to a profitable performance in January to September this year on record sales.

In a regulatory filing, Alliance Select said it booked a $1.625-million net income in the nine-month period, reversing the $903,876 loss a year ago.

“The turnaround was due to the record sales and high gross profits rates of the tuna division,” Alliance Select said.

Revenues almost doubled to $57.19 million from $32 million in the same period last year, allowing the firm to post $7.876 million in gross profits, up from $4.46 million a year ago.

Around 60 to 70 percent of Alliance Select’s revenues come from abroad. The group’s biggest markets include UK, France, Germany, Netherlands and the US.

“The abundance of fresh fish during the third quarter has been critical to the turn-around of the tuna division,” Alliance Select said.
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The company processed 8,253 metric tons (MT) of fish in the third quarter, almost matching the 10,796 MT processed in the first half this year.

“With the peak season around the corner for the company’s salmon subsidiaries and continued availability and access to tuna raw materials, the group is projected to return to its historic high growth and profit margins,” the firm said.

Last month, Alliance Select completed the purchase of an 80-percent share in New Zealand salmon firm Akaroa Salmon NZ Ltd. for NZ$2.8 million or approximately P96.6 million.

Alliance Select said it would invest an additional NZ$126,881, equivalent to P4.38 million, as working capital in Akaroa. It is in line with its goal of becoming a significant player in the global salmon industry.

The firm started engaging in tuna processing, canning, and export of canned tuna products through its plant in Gen. Santos City in 2004.

To date, the company produces more than 200 MT of processed seafood daily, supplying hundreds of successful brand name companies across 60 countries around the world.

Alliance Select has three factories in Gen. Santos City with a production capacity of 70 MT of tuna a day. It also has a factory in Indonesia that produces 50 MT of tuna a day.

In addition, the firm has one plant each in the US and Thailand.

By Neil Jerome Morales (The Philippine Star)

MANILA, Philippines — Alliance Select Foods International Inc. is planning a stock debut on the Singapore Stock Exchange, the first Philippine company to widen its investor base via dual listing on the local and Singapore bourses.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Alliance said its board had approved a resolution to list on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd. (SGX-ST)’s Catalist by way of an offering of Singapore depository shares (SDS) representing common shares of Alliance.

The board has authorized the issuance of up to 430.29 million shares from its authorized capital stock to comprise the underlying shares which shall be deposited with a depository bank.

The SDS will be issued by a depository bank and represent a certain number of Alliance shares. They will be listed on SGX’s Catalist or second board.

The underlying common shares representing the SDS will also be listed on the PSE.

In its disclosure, Alliance said the listing of the SDS would enable it to “raise additional funds to finance its future growth.”

Alliance has mandated CIMB Bank Berhad, Singapore branch to act as its financial advisor for the proposed listing on SGX-ST.

By Doris C. Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines – The Indonesian tuna processing unit of Alliance Select Foods International has set up a new unit that recently obtained authority to tap Indonesia’s rich fishing grounds.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday, Alliance said its Indonesian subsidiary PT International Alliance Food Indonesia (PTIAFI) had “just achieved a major breakthrough in achieving self-sufficiency in terms of raw fish supply” with the setting up of a new unit that has obtained allocation for capture finishing within Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone.

The new subsidiary set up by Alliance’s Indonesian unit is called PT Van De Zee. It is 80-percent owned by Alliance, representing the maximum holding allowed for foreigners under Indonesian capture finishing laws.

“PT Van de Zee will be operated in integration with the tuna processing activities of PTIAFI thus making it the first foreign investment company to be granted a capture fishing license and allocation in the rich fishing grounds of Indonesia,” Alliance spokesperson Rajat Balain said.

Indonesia’s Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources has accepted from PT Van de Zee its fees for an initial allocation of 5,000 metric tons for 2012. Conditional on the fulfillment of its five-year vessel acquisition program, PT Van de Zee has a potential allocation of 30,000 metric tons of 2016.

“This means that by that year, PT Van de Zee would be able to fully support a 100-percent capacity utilization of PTIAFI’s processing plant, which has a capacity of 90 metric tons per day,” Balain said.

Such allocation, Balain said, would not only give the Indonesian unit a very high competitive advantage in an industry whose biggest challenge has been to access raw material resource.

He added that PT Van de Zee itself would likely boost the overall value of the Alliance Group as its optimum yield of 30,000 metric tons per year would translate to an annual gross revenue of $66 million based on the present value of $2,200 per metric ton.

This development suggests that the production out of Indonesia can exceed Alliance’s production in General Santos, Philippines.

By: Doris C. Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer

FISH PROCESSOR Alliance Select Foods International, Inc. has moved to hike its stake in its Indonesian canned tuna subsidiary to near 100% amid the company’s ongoing international expansion plans, a disclosure to the local course showed yesterday.

Alliance Select purchased 500,000 PT International Alliance Foods Indonesia (IAFI) shares from fishing firm PT Wailan Pratama for $500,000, increasing the listed firm’s stake in IAFI to 99.98% from 89.98%, the disclosure stated.

“Alliance Select feels that Indonesia will play a crucial role in the company’s future growth and profitability. The country is extremely rich in marine resources and full control of IAFI will enable it to better plan production schedules and sales strategy to tap additional export markets around the globe,” the firm said.

The share purchase is expected to be approved by the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board and the Department of Law and Human Rights “in the next few days” in accordance to Indonesian law, the disclosure added.

This comes as the company is looking to expand its presence in the Asian region this year.

Last November, Alliance Select said it was looking to begin shipping salmon to South Korea this year via subsidiary Big Glory Bay Salmon and Seafood Co. to service demand from large supermarket chains.

Salmon product exports are also being eyed to markets like Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, China, and Malaysia, as salmon and tuna sales are expected to contribute to a double-digit revenue growth for the company this year, an earlier report said.

Alliance Select, formerly Alliance Tuna International, Inc., was incorporated in 2003 and began commercial operations in General Santos City in 2004, engaging in tuna processing, canning, and the export of canned tuna products to Europe and North America.

It is registered with the Trade department’s Board of Investments as a new canned tuna exporter and operates a General Santos City plant with a rated production capacity of 140 metric tons per day.

The company booked a comprehensive loss for the January to September last year amounting to $959,455, reversing a net profit of $766,549 in 2010 levels on the back of acquisition expenses.

Revenues dipped by 3.03% to $32.02 million from P33.48 million, while manufacturing and sales costs fell by 6.90% to $27.55 million versus P29.85 million, year-on-year, according to its latest financial statement.

It expects to swing to profit for the second half last year on the back of a 5 to 6% sales boost due to healthy revenues from holiday sales, the company earlier said.

Shares of Alliance Select declined by 0.69% to P1.44 yesterday from P1.45 on Wednesday.

-Franz Jonathan G. de la Fuente Businessworld

Alliance Select pins hope on new revenue stream

FISH EXPORTER Alliance Select Foods International Inc. expects salmon to account for a larger bulk of its revenues this year, with subsidiary Big Glory Bay Salmon and Seafood Co. planning to increase shipments to markets in Asia.
“Salmon sales will create [sic] a significant push for [2012] because Big Glory Bay will have been in operation for 12 months,” Rajat Balain, Alliance Select’s assistant vice-president for corporate planning said in phone interview two weeks ago.

Mr. Balain had said that revenues from salmon were not a major driver for 2011 sales since Big Glory Bay started operations just last August.

“Salmon sales will contribute one-fourth to one-third of the company’s sales,” he said, noting however that tuna sales should fare well too.

Export ventures of the company will also focus on Asia since there is more market opportunity in the region, rather than markets in the West, where the firm has already established a network with suppliers and producers.

Earlier, Mr. Balain said that the company would be shipping its first smoked salmon order to South Korea this month, and is looking at opportunities in China, and Malaysia and Indonesia.

Salmon processed by its subsidiary comes from New Zealand.

Alliance Select, formerly Alliance Tuna International, Inc., recorded a net loss of $1.44 million in the third quarter of 2011, 227% bigger than 2010’s $380,208 loss, according to its latest financial report, as the firm bankrolled acquisitions. The nine-month net loss totaled $959 million, a reversal from 2010’s $766,549 profit. — C. H. C. Venzon

www.bworldonline.com

Below are links from Business news and blogs from around the web:

• Alliance Tuna buys cannery in Indonesia 05/20/2008
• Alliance Tuna increases stake in Indonesian subsidiary 03/14/09
• Alliance Tuna hikes profits by a third as prices go 04/14/09
• GenSan’s Alliance Tuna opening new P60million processing plant 06/16/09
• Alliance Tuna International expands product line, changes name 05/28/10
• Alliance Tuna Sees hefty profit growth in ’10 07/01/2010

This year we won the Agora for Outstanding Achievement in Export Marketing from the Philippine Marketing Association. We are honored. Below we quote from The Daily Philippine Inquirer’s website (Business Section:

Alliance Tuna International is one of the leading canned tuna manufacturers in the Philippines. Its high-quality tuna and salmon products are currently exported to over 40 countries. Even though it is not exactly a household name in the country, the global clamor for its products is too loud not to hear.

“We don’t have aggressive TV and radio campaigns. Our biggest marketing strategy, through the leadership of our president and CEO Jonathan Dee, is to ensure that we have first-rate quality products,” says Teresita Ladanga, SVP and COO of Alliance Tuna.

Despite the lack of larger-than-life ad campaigns, it remains one of the most profitable corporations and is the 2009 Agora awardee for Export Marketing.

To see the whole article, click here.

MANADO, North Sulawesi, Indonesia – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inaugurated Friday (May 15) the PT International Alliance Food Indonesia, a Filipino-owned tuna canning plant in Bitung, North Sulawesi.

The inauguration of the plant which is the Philippines’ only publicly-listed tuna-canning enterprise was held at the VVIP Room of the Sam Ratulangi International Airport here before the President flew back to the Philippines.

The 1 p.m. event followed President Arroyo’s luncheon meeting with the Filipino community at the Grand Ballroom of the Ritzy Hotel in downtown Manado.

Sulawesi Utara Governor Sinyo Harry Sarundajang welcomed to the inauguration President Arroyo and her delegation which included Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, Environment Secretary Jose Atienza, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, and other government officials.

Governor Sarundajang’s welcome remarks were followed by the speech of Indonesia Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Freddy Numberi who gave an overview of the fisheries situation in North Sulawesi as he hoped that the Filipino investment in Bitung “will benefit both countries, and especially North Sulawesi.”

The inauguration was capped by the signing by President Arroyo with gold ink the giant metal plaque that proclaims, “By the grace of our Lord, a new era of cooperation dawns with the inauguration of PT International Alliance Food Indonesia in Bitung, North Sulawesi on 15 May 2009.”

Jonathan Dee, Alliance Tuna president and chief executive officer, said the 60-ton-per-day Sulawesi plant augments the company’s cannery in General Santos City which packs 140 tons of tuna per day.

The President – who returned to the country after the ceremonial inauguration — was in Manado on Thursday (May 14) and Friday to attend the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) Summit 2009 at the Grand Kawanua Convention Center.

In her statement at the CTI Summit, President Arroyo revealed to the CTI member nations and development partners that the BIMP-EAGA – the East Asia growth area covering Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines – is “pursuing the establishment of a joint fisheries consortium among our private sectors.”

“We are pursuing the adoption of policies that call on the tuna industry to share the costs of caring for tuna spawning grounds in the Coral Triangle.

“Funding and technical assistance is being provided by the Global Environment Facility or GEF, the Asian Development Bank, and the Australian and United States governments, among others,” the President revealed.

“International non-governmental organizations such as Conservation International, the Nature Conservancy and the Worldwide Fund for Nature are also joining forces to work with the Coral Triangle governments in pursuing the regional plan of action as well national action plans,” the President added.