Cape Town, South Africa-based frozen fish supplier Sea Harvest Group has announced the resignation of its chief financial officer John Paul de Freitas and appointment of Muhammad Brey as his replacement on an interim basis.
The company said in a statement issued via the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on April 28 Mr Freitas had resigned to “pursue personal interests.”
The resignation of Freitas – who joined the company in 2014 to take charge of the company’s finance, IT, and procurement departments – and the assumption of the office by Brey will take effect on 1 May, 2020. Previously, Brey worked as chief investment officer and executive director in charge of acquisition and growth strategy.
“Mr. De Freitas has agreed to work his notice period of three months during which he will do a formal handover to Mr. Brey of his functions,” the company said. “The board of directors of the company extends its sincere thanks to Mr. De Freitas for his performance over the past six years and, in particular, his role in the successful listing of the company on the JSE and the subsequent integration of the various acquisitions within Sea Harvest and wishes him well.”
The resignation comes barely months after Sea Harvest announced its results for the year ended 31 December, in which its headline earnings rose 48 percent to ZAR 410 million (USD 22.2 million, EUR 20.3 million) up from the previous ZAR 278 million (USD 15 million, EUR 13.8 million) in 2018.
De Freitas also leaves at a time when Sea Harvest is still relishing its 35 percent jump in profit after tax for 2019 full year to ZAR 396 million (USD 21.5 million EUR 19.6 million) up from the previous year’s ZAR 293 million (USD 15.9 million EUR 14.5 million) and which the company attributed to a 54 percent increase in operating profit. In 2019, Sea Harvest revenues in South Africa operations rose to ZAR 2.47 billion (USD 134 million EUR 109 million), up from ZAR 2.01 billion (USD 109 million EUR 100 million). That was driven by a 10 percent increase in the hake total allowable catch and the annualized effect of the July 2018 acquisition of Viking Fishing.
Photo courtesy of Sea Harvest
