China Marine, the Shishi-based seafood snack group, had booked an 81.9% drop in fourth-quarter income as consumer confidence in seafood was hit by the radiation leak in Japan following last March’s earthquake.
The company said that net income plummeted to US$1.1m, down from $6.2m in the comparable period of last year. Profits were dented by an increased marketing spend as the group looked to reassure customers that its seafood-based snacks were not affected by the nuclear accident in Japan, chairman and CEO Pengfei Liu revealed.
“We have experienced a number of extraordinary challenges this year and we are working diligently to solidify our position in the market. As a result of our increased marketing support and food safety advertising for Mingxiang foods and the fact that none of our seafood sources were affected by the March 2011 radiation leak in Japan, we believe that our seafood sales will rebound once public concern subsides,” he suggested.
Fourth-quarter sales increased 21.8% to $64.3m. However, processed and packaged seafood snack food sales decreased 40% to $11.2m, the group revealed.
For the full year, net income was down 59.5% to $8.6m on sales that were up 17.3% to $143.9m.
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