King Oscar profitable for Thai Union Group

Norwegian canned fish firm King Oscar added in 2018 16.4 mill. NOK to the profit of its owner, Thai Union Group. The good news was reported by the seafood business news website undercurrent.com.

Turnover in the 2018 financial year rose 2.7% to NOK 190.7 million but as cost of goods sold rose further, the operating profit was NOK 3.7m. Aided by “other income”, bottom line profit was up, from NOK 3.6m in 2017 to NOK 16.4m in 2018 reports the website.

Thai Union Frozen Products Public Company Limited bought the Norwegian seafood brand ‘King Oscar’ from a private equity fund Procuritas Capital Investors IV in September 2014.

Mr. Thiraphong Chansiri, President and CEO of TUF, announced at the time of the purchase that the acquisition would help TUF hit its revenue target of USD 8 billion by 2020 if not before. The deal would have a positive contribution to TUF’s earnings by increasing TUF’s group revenues with an estimation of 2 percent.

“It is a relatively small, but highly strategic acquisition for our group. It will give us a unique position and an opportunity to build ‘King Oscar’ brand in the market worldwide and into our global brand portfolio,” Thiraphong Chansiri said about the purchase.

TUF is regarded as the world’s largest producer of shelf-stable tuna products with annual sales exceeding THB 100 billion (USD 3.66 billion) and a global workforce of over 35,000 people.

About Gregers Møller

Editor-in-Chief • ScandAsia Publishing Co., Ltd. • Bangkok, Thailand

View all posts by Gregers Møller

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *