Iceland Seafood International hf: Invests in significant processing and coldstore capacity in the United Kingdom and plans to merge its operations there into one legal entity. Total investment in property and minority shares of about £8-9m
Today, March 4th, Iceland Seafood International (“Iceland Seafood”) is announcing the following:
- Its plans to merge Iceland Seafood Barraclough Ltd and Havelok Ltd into one legal entity - Iceland Seafood UK Ltd.
- To own Iceland Seafood UK Ltd. 100% Iceland Seafood has acquired a 33% minority share in Havelok Ltd.
- Is investing in a significant processing and coldstore capacity in Grimsby for £5.0-6.0m to increase its presence in the UK seafood processing market.
The board of Iceland Seafood International has decided that during this year the two UK subsidiaries Iceland Seafood Barraclough Ltd and Havelok Ltd will be merged into one legal entity, under one leadership team on a single manufacturing site. We have today secured the purchase of the previous 5 Star Fish Site on Great Grimsby Business Park. Following a period of refurbishment, we are planning to transfer both the existing Havelok and Iceland Seafood Barraclough operations to the site. This process will be complete by early 2021, by which time we expect to have created substantial new business and new jobs associated with that. The total investment for the site, refurbishments and machinery to fully utilize its potential is between £5.0-6.0m. The site includes a cold store capacity of about 2.000 metric tons of products and 3 processing areas in total of about 10.000m2. Product range will be reflecting current offerings but on a larger scale. These will include coated products, both chilled and frozen, natural products, both chilled and frozen and various shellfish productions for the UK retail and foodservice market.
We will in due course elaborate on the financial implications for the merged entity and for Iceland Seafood as a whole – but the impact will be in 2021 and onwards and will financially depend on the reception of our customers for our services and our ability to process seafood for the UK market efficiently and competitively.
In order to be the sole shareholder of the merged entity, Iceland Seafood has entered into a share purchase agreement with the management of Havelok which jointly hold 33% of the shares in the business. Post the transaction Iceland Seafood holds 100% of the shares in both Havelok and Iceland Seafood Barraclough. The consideration for the shares is £3.0 million to be paid half with cash payment and half with shares in Iceland Seafood. That totals to 24.663.637 new shares being issued. Havelok financials are included in Iceland Seafood’s consolidated accounts, the transaction will therefore only impact Non-controlling interests in Iceland Seafood’s accounts. As a part of the agreement, Danny Burton the MD of Havelok will continue as director in the new merged entity.
The business will be led by our 2 existing UK Managing Directors; Peter Hawkins and Danny Burton, with Peter heading up the overall operation and Danny overseeing the refurbishment of the site and operational teams. The business will be named Iceland Seafood UK Ltd.
Bjarni Ármannsson Iceland Seafood’s Chief Executive Officer said ‘following our NASDAQ main market listing in Iceland in October 2019 where we raised €15.2m of new equity, we announced our intent to make strategic investments in our key markets. The announcement today represents one of these. We have strong businesses and management teams in the UK and with the continued support of our existing customers, our people and our suppliers are confident that we can become stronger as a result of the merger of the 2 businesses on a new, large, well invested site. We look forward to grow in both our existing retail and food service markets and within this increasing the opportunities for Icelandic products in the UK market.’
Peter Hawkins, Managing Director of Iceland Seafood UK Ltd said ‘today’s announcement represents a very significant investment and vote of confidence by Iceland Seafood in the UK market and our team. We look forward to taking the best of our Bradford businesses sourcing expertise and Havelok’s manufacturing excellence to deliver outstanding quality and value to our existing retail and food service customers. The move represents a significant opportunity for all of our people to be part of what we anticipate becoming a leading UK fish and seafood manufacturing site.’
Danny Burton, Director of Iceland Seafood UK Ltd. said “When we set Havelok up it was important to have the correct partners to allow us to reach our ambitions of becoming a leading supplier of seafood delivering excellent service, quality and innovation to the market and the support of Iceland Seafood through our journey has allowed us to meet our goal.
This significant investment underlines Iceland Seafood’s commitment to Havelok and the UK seafood market and gives us the opportunity to build on the outstanding values of the Havelok team and offer a level of service and supply that is second to none”.
About Iceland Seafood
Iceland Seafood International is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange in Iceland with annual revenue of €450m, a market capitalization of €166m with 7 value added factories and 12 businesses across 8 countries.
For further information, please contact
Bjarni Ármannsson:
