Oceana on Lucky Star’s decline and canned chicken livers and noodles being on the cards

Oceana Group has reported operating profit increasing by 9.5% to R1.632 million, thanks mostly to Lucky Star.

Lucky Star falls under the Oceana Group, which is one of the leading fishing companies in South Africa. Lucky Star was established more than 60 years ago.

Although the total sales for Lucky Star’s products declined compared to 2023, the group said the segment continued to focus on affordability and availability.

They are also looking into introducing canned chicken livers in gravy and two-minutes noodles in 2025.

Oceana Group CEO, Neville Brink, said on Monday while fishing is unpredictable the group focuses on controlling what can be managed and preparing for the unexpected.

Lucky Star’s performance

In the group’s results for the year ended 30 September 2024, Lucky Star recorded total sales volumes of 9.3 million cartons, a decrease from last year’s record of 9.6 million cartons.

“The recent expansion into the canned meat and canned chicken segments gained traction, leveraging the brand’s strength and distribution reach,” reads the results.

Local canning production volumes went down by 22.8% to 4 million cartons, while in 2023 production volumes sat at 5.2 million cartons of raw fish volumes, being locally caught pilchards.

Reason for Lucky Star’s decline

The group said part of the reason for the decline was scheduled shutdowns to implement factory upgrades.

Other reasons included adverse weather conditions that disrupted fishing operations.

Following cannery upgrades, the group started to deliver benefits that contributed to an increase in operating profit margin to 9.3%, compared to 7.6% in 2023, despite the reduced throughput.

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Canned chicken and noodles

Lourens de Waal, Lucky Star’s managing director, told The Citizen that Lucky Star’s canned chicken livers are predominantly supplied to school feeding schemes in Gauteng and the Western Cape.

They are at the moment doing a trial outside school feeding schemes in selected markets to test consumer demand.

“We are positive and excited about the potential of this ready-to-eat product. This follows the launch of Lucky Star canned corned meat earlier this year.”

When it comes to the Lucky Star noodles, they are also in a trial period. “When the trial is complete, we can assess the full potential and consider further expansion, but thus far the feedback is positive.”

Why the trials?

Oceana is doing trials of Lucky Star’s canned chicken livers and the noodles to see consumers’ preference and whether people can afford the products. 

“Oceana believes it can leverage the Lucky Star brand and its wide distribution to increase its presence in canned foods and other adjacent and best-fit food categories.”

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Oceana’s fishmeal and fish oil

The group’s fishmeal and fish oil operation in the United States saw a 49% increase in dollar fish oil prices.

“This result was delivered despite a 21% decline in Gulf menhaden landings due to weather disruptions which resulted in fishmeal sales volumes declining for the year. Inventory levels closed higher than the previous year with more fish oil in the mix.”

In 2023, Gulf menhaden landings were 671 million fish. 

African fishmeal and fish oil

When it comes to the African fishmeal and fish oil segment, the group said it experienced some difficulties.

“The cannery shutdown resulted in fewer pilchard trimmings and harsh winter weather conditions affected anchovy landings, impacting production volumes.”

Oceana said for 2024 it focused on modernising the two South African facilities which will drive future throughput, efficiency gains and product-quality enhancements.

“Average US dollar selling prices increased for fish oil but declined for fishmeal, resulting in a marginal net overall increase. “The decline in sales volumes was the main contributor to the decreased performance.”

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