Frankfurt am Main, 19. March 2015

Frankfurt am Main, March 19, 2015 - Although 2014 remained an extremely challenging year for the entire seafood processing industry, Haikui Seafood generated higher revenue and even exceeded its targeted EBIT margin.

According to preliminary results for the financial year 2014, revenue of Haikui Seafood went up by 2.9 per cent to 121.1 million Euros (2013: 117.6 million Euros) due to higher selling prices, which were partially offset by a lower sales volume resulting from the keen competition and a weaker global economy. Measured in Haikui Seafood's local currency Renminbi, revenue increased by 2.0 per cent to approximately 987.7 million Renminbi (2013: 968.2 million Renminbi).

Higher raw material costs and higher direct labour costs per production unit, which could not be fully passed on to the market, led to a decrease in gross profit by 6.7 per cent to 19.8 million Euros (2013: 21.2 million Euros). Accordingly, gross profit margin went down by 1.7 percentage points to 16.3 per cent (2013: 18.0 per cent). For the same reasons and due to higher administrative expenses, EBIT dropped by 12.7 per cent to 13.9 million Euros (2013: 15.9 million Euros), corresponding to an EBIT margin of 11.5 per cent (2013: 13.6 per cent).

Nevertheless, the EBIT margin is still at an attractive level and was fully in line with the latest full-year 2014 guidance of Haikui Seafood, predicting that EBIT margin would reach the lower end of a range between 11 and 13 per cent.

"The strong business development in the fourth quarter of 2014, where we saw revenue growing by 75.9 per cent year-on-year in RMB terms, enabled us to return to the growth path that we had set out to achieve in 2014. We are proud that we were able to assert ourselves against the continuing keen industry rivalry on top of the increasingly challenging international business environment", says Chen Zhenkui, CEO of Haikui Seafood.

Further growth opportunities seen for 2015
In 2015, the profitability of seafood processors is also expected to be negatively impacted by the on-going challenging global economic development given the soft commodity prices, a weak world trade and increasingly divergent monetary policies across major economies. Furthermore, the Chinese seafood processing industry in particular will face additional challenges ranging from the emerging number of competitors from low-cost regions in Asia, rising wages in China, the inability of customers - especially those in Europe - to accept higher prices, to the on-going credit crunch in China which leads to lower selling prices by some seafood processors to generate cash.

Consequently, for the financial year 2015 Haikui Seafood expects its gross margin and EBIT margin to decline compared to 2014 levels. However, the management expects the Company to remain on its path of revenue growth in 2015 and in the long term by continuing to implement the business development strategy to capture business opportunities that arise from the changing market dynamics.

The audited results for the full financial year 2014 will be published with the annual report 2014 on April 15, 2015.

About Haikui Seafood AG
Haikui Seafood processes fish and seafood for the Chinese and international markets. Its products range includes frozen or canned fish and seafood, produced from a large variety of species of raw fish and seafood, including prawn, crab, various fish species and shellfish as well as cephalopods. Clients of Haikui Seafood are distributors in China and overseas, located mainly in Asia, the U.S. and Europe. Haikui Seafood employs 670 permanent employees and 902 additional temporary workers as of December 31, 2014. The company has an annual processing capacity of more than 34,000 tonnes (output). The processing facilities are located in the South-East of China on Dongshan Island, Zhangzhou, Fujian Province. Haikui Seafood operates a streamlined supply chain including self-owned processing facilities, in-house research and product development capacities as well as warehousing and cold storage facilities while simultaneously cooperating closely with raw goods suppliers.

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