Oceanus back in the black with full-year profit of 176m yuan

Singapore

OCEANUS Group, which has been on the Singapore Exchange's (SGX) watch-list since December 2015, reached a "turning point" in the year 2017.

The premium seafood supplier said on Thursday that it was finally back in the black, with a net profit attributable to shareholders of 176 million yuan (S$36.8 million) for the year ended Dec 31, 2017, from a loss of 62.2 million yuan the year before.

Its revenue for the period also doubled to 20.7 million yuan in FY2017, from 10.4 million yuan a year ago.

For the quarter ended Dec 31, 2017, Oceanus reported a net profit of 209 million yuan, from 29.9 million yuan the year before. Its revenue for the quarter was up 77 per cent year-on-year, to 7.9 million yuan.

Its earnings per share for Q4 FY17 was 86 renminbi cents per share, from a loss per share of 0.23 renminbi cent the year before.

Oceanus also reported that it is in a positive net cash position of 114 million yuan for the first time in seven years. The group's debt restructuring exercise was completed on Dec 26, 2017, when over 19 billion new shares were issued, converting S$71.8 million or 85 per cent of its total outstanding debt to equity.

Executive director and CEO Peter Koh, said, "This is indeed a turning point for Oceanus and our faithful shareholders - it is our pleasure to report that Oceanus is now debt-free and profitable. We have over the past years cleaned up operations, put in place robust controls and risk management processes and built a strong management team to lead Oceanus into its next phase of growth on strengthened fundamentals."

Mr Koh added, in the group's quarterly update related to its watch-list status, that Oceanus has "met all necessary criteria required and hopes to be granted our exit in FY2018".

"The group will continue to work closely with our auditors and SGX to accelerate the process," he said.

Oceanus also announced earlier on Thursday that its plan to take a 60 per cent stake in an Australian abalone processor and retailer has been challenged by vendors of the target company's shares.

The group said that it had received letters from vendors of BNY Abalone World Factory Outlet's shares, alleging that the acquisition is void and have demanded a re-transfer of BNY shares.

The vendors have also commenced legal proceedings in Australia against the company, Oceanus said.

In response, Oceanus said that it has obtained legal advice and disputed the vendors' allegations, and has also taken steps to enforce its rights.

Back in July 28, 2017, Oceanus announced that it had entered into a collaboration agreement with BNY Abalone World Factory Outlet to "further sales expansion" into the Melbourne, Sydney and Asia-Pacific markets.

Oceanus would own a 60 per cent stake in BNY, with the latter being renamed Oceanus Australia Abalone World, focusing on production, quality control, formulation of new recipes, managing the duty-free store in the Gold Coast and driving domestic sales within Australia.

The announcement said that both companies "will work closely together in research and development activities to develop new technologies for the production of abalones, formulating new ingredients and developing new products".

At the time, Mr Koh described the company as having a "close working relationship" with BNY, saying that he was pleased that both companies have taken this step to pursue growth together.

As a result of the allegations above, Oceanus said BNY has blocked access to its accounting and other records, which Oceanus intended to include in its consolidated financial results for FY2017.

Oceanus shares closed at 0.9 Singapore cent, up 0.1 Singapore cent or 12.5 per cent, on Thursday.