138 NEWS REVIEW – PROCESSING
PROCESSING This year has seen seafood businesses on the acquisition trail, while many UK operators struggled with Covid-19 and Brexit
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N January, one of the UK’s leading traditional smoked salmon companies reported revenue growth of more than a third despite the challenges of the pandemic. Grants Oak Smoked Ltd – based in Maryport, Cumbria – increased turnover by 35% from £17.4m the previous year to £23.56m. Operating profit rose by 130% to £1.525m. The financial year also ended with Grants winning two gold medals at the Italian-based International Food Taste Awards. Also in January, Danish fish-processing equipment manufacturer KROMA AS acquired the fish and food industry element of its competitor, the Dansupply Automation Company. KROMA said its investment in Dansupply Automation would give it access to Dansupply’s new conveyor system, which was already being used by Kroma’s target customer base. Food-processing solutions business BAADER signed up as a key supplier for Quality Salmon, a major landbased fish farm and production site in Sweden.
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The park, operated by Quality Salmon Sotenäs AB, is under construction on the west coast of Sweden. When fully developed, it will operate on a 140-hectare land site producing up to 100,000 tonnes of Atlantic salmon per year, with a feed factory, salmon farm and processing facilities. It was the start of a busy year for BAADER. In February, the group acquired SEAC AB, a Swedish fish-processing manufacturer. Robert Focke, Managing Director BAADER Fish, said: “Looking into the future and the compatible processing solutions of BAADER, the SEAC technology is a perfect fit for BAADER to further extend our overall product portfolio also among small fish species.”
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