Royal Greenland invests in Quin-Sea Fisheries of Canada

Royal Greenland is pleased to announce its investment in Canadian seafood producer Quin-Sea Fisheries Limited.

Royal Greenland is a vertically integrated fishing, production and marketing company, which is focused on North Atlantic wild-caught fish and shellfish. With revenues of around 5bn DKK, Royal Greenland is the largest company in the world within coldwater prawns, Greenland halibut and lumpfish roe.

Quin-Sea Fisheries annually processes and sells more than 11.000 metric tons of primarily crab and coldwater prawns; supplemented by smaller volumes of whelk, sea cucumber, capelin and cod. The company operates six land-based factories and it generates annual revenues in excess of 60m CAD and employs around 700 people in the high season.

Quin-Sea Fisheries is owned and led by Fred Hopkins and Derrick Philpott, both of whom will remain with the company. Quin-Sea Fisheries is known for its strong management team and its close relationship to local fishermen in Newfoundland and Labrador. Both Derrick and Fred are excited about their partnership with such a well recognized market leader as Royal Greenland. Derrick and Fred comment “we see much opportunity to further develop the seafood industry in Newfoundland and Labrador through working with Royal Greenland. It is important for the ongoing growth of the business that the local seafood industry continues to prosper, and we are eager to join with Royal Greenland to achieve this objective.”

CEO of Royal Greenland, Mikael Thinghuus, says: “We have come to know Fred and Derrick and Quin-Sea very well over the last months, and we are convinced that the two companies are an excellent match. Both companies are founded on a deep knowledge of in-shore fishing and processing and a profound respect for the local communities in which our suppliers and employees live and work.”

“We foresee a great number of benefits from the transaction. While, on the one hand, the products from Quin-Sea will get access to the vast international sales organization of Royal Greenland, we, on the other hand, will benefit both from access to the products from Quin-Sea and from Quin-Sea’s knowledge of species, which are currently not harvested in Greenland, namely whelk and sea cucumber.”

Thinghuus continues: “We all tend to see other companies that harvest, produce and sell the same species as our main competitors. In my view, this is a big mistake; one that I openly admit that we at Royal Greenland have been as culpable of as anyone else. In reality, our main competition is other species of seafood – for example, consumers switching between cold- and warm-water shrimp – and entirely different sources of protein – chicken, pork, and beef”.

“Our industry is very fragmented. Even the larger companies are dwarfed by the buying power of large retail and wholesale customers. If we want to invest in developing existing markets and building new ones, it is imperative that we consolidate and cooperate within our core species. The consolidation and cooperation must be across national borders that are of little interest to both the fish and the consumers. We regard this investment in Quin-Sea Fisheries as a first, important step in that direction with regards to the core species of Royal Greenland”.

The investment by Royal Greenland is subject to the approval of the provincial government for the “change of operator” of the processing licenses held by Quin-Sea Fisheries Limited.

Nuuk, December 3rd, 2015

Mikael Thinghuus
CEO Royal Greenland