Bluefin tuna producer Umami Sustainable Seafood on Monday announced its results for the first half of this year, including a 125 percent increase in revenue to USD 57 million.
The San Diego-based company said the increase is mainly due to the acquisition of the Baja tuna-farming operations in Mexico, which added USD 28.2 million in sales. Umami also had higher sales at its Kali tuna-farming operation in Croatia, with a year-over-year increase of 66 percent.
Gross profit amounted to USD 13.8 million in the first half of 2011, compared to USD 5.3 million in 2010. The increase was a result of improved business conditions for the company’s products in Japan. Additionally, since most of Umami’s sales are in Japanese yen, the appreciation of the yen against the dollar helped improve gross margin.
Combined inventory for the period came to 3,418 metric tons, compared to 1,720 metric tons last year. The increase is attributable to organic growth of livestock and the acquisition of the Baja operations.
“This year’s performance was marked by solid growth in our inventory, sales and revenues as a result of improvements in our operations as well as the acquisition of the Baja operations during the year. We spent a great deal of time during the year focusing on building a strong management team, improving our overall operational processes and assimilating the Baja operations into Umami,” said Oli Steindorsson, Umami chairman and CEO. “We are happy to report that our hard work is starting to pay off. A comparison of sales and inventory for 2011 and 2010 shows that we are growing at a pace that exceeds the expectations we had at this time last year. We are now more confident than ever that we have set the stage for continued success moving forward, and that we will carry this new momentum into fiscal 2012.”
