€400,000 dividend at fish processing firm

Shareholders at the one of the country’s largest fish exporters, Sean Ward (Fish Exports) Ltd, shared a dividend windfall of €400,000 last year, figures show.

The Killybegs-based firm is co-owned by the Ward and O’Callaghan families and new figures show that the four shareholders, Sean Ward, Muriel Ward, Michael Callaghan and Brid Callaghan shared the €400,000 dividend payout through their ownership of parent firm Fimarex Ltd.

The accounts for Sean Ward (Fish Exports) Ltd show that pre-tax profits at the firm declined by 32% from €4.4m to €3m in spite of a very marginal increase in revenues from €41.64m to €41.9m in the 12 months to the end of July 31 last year.

The firm has been situated at Killybegs for over 20 years and specialises in the processing of pelagic fish: mackerel, herring, blue whiting and sprat with the company exporting to Europe, Africa, Russia and the Far East, including China.

According to the report, the directors “feel that the continuation to this level of turnover is materially dependent on national quotas of Pelagic species and the ability to purchase same”.

The firm has two state-of-the-art factories and has blast freezing capacity for 500 tons per day along with cold storage for 12,000 tonnes.