President and CEO
In any case, for success to be realized, the key drivers are the vision and approach of management, coupled with the collective team spirit of all employees to do their part in accomplishing fine performances. At the same time, the valued support of all shareholders, suppliers, partners, customers and stakeholders also significantly contributes towards future success for the company.
2015 was another successful year for Thai Union, as we delivered excellent performance and achieved new Thai Union sales and net profit records. This achievement reflects well on the management efficiency and competency under extensive challenges the Thai seafood industry is facing, including the volatile currency exchanges, the fluctuating tuna and shrimp prices, and the unpredictability of the world economy.
The outstanding performance is due to contributions from the strong performance of our leading brands in Europe, acquisition of MerAlliance, the leading chilled smoked salmon producer in Europe, King Oscar, the super-premium sardine brand and Orion Seafood, the leading lobster supplier in the US. Likewise, the recovering shrimp processing business in Thailand and the successful reorganization of the pet care unit in the US also contributed positively.
Our company continues to drive growth through our key strategies: 1) organic growth by means of adding value to products 2) food innovations, alongside 3) mergers and acquisitions. In 2015, we engaged in three new businesses: Orion International, a major lobster supplier in the US; a joint venture with Savola Foods Company, the largest consumer goods producer in the Middle East region and most recently, an investment in Rügen Fisch, Germany’s leading shelf-stable seafood company.
Focusing on emerging markets is one of our core strategies as we march towards our ambition of USD 8 billion by 2020. After a careful assessment, we have identified the markets of the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and China to be our core focus of emerging markets. Over the next few years, we plan to bring full breadth of Thai Union’s branded products into these emerging markets. The success of this move will be critical to the group’s future growth. The consumer fundamentals in these markets are promising as the markets in the Middle East, China, and Southeast Asia present a sizeable potential with over 2 billion population and seafood market of USD 150+ billion.
In 2015, Thai Union signed a joint venture in the Middle East to accelerate growth in the Arabian Peninsula as well as Egypt. The joint venture brings together Thai Union’s seafood brands and expertise with our partner’s regional capabilities and reach. In China, we have a joint venture for branded ambient seafood products, but we are also expanding our position to include others categories; particularly in lobster, salmon, shrimps, as well as premium brands such as King Oscar. We would like to take advantage of the trend that China has become a net importer of many of these categories, with increasing demand for premium, high quality seafood. Finally, in Southeast Asia, we continue to focus on our premium brand, King Oscar, in order to bring unique products to consumers who are already familiar with canned fish.
Last year, sustainability remained the key challenge for Thai Union. We, as a world leading seafood company, are determined to drive positive change in the Thai seafood industry and move the company forward. We have been proactively working with the government and non-government organizations both domestic and international, to ensure sustainable fishing becomes a reality. On the issue of labor, we have released a revised Business Ethics and Code of Conduct which will enhance our capacity to protect our workers’ rights. The Code of Conduct has been published into 19 different languages to cover our global operations. This is just one testament to our company’s commitment to conducting business with responsibility, transparency and traceability.
This year also holds another significant transformation when we signaled our readiness to becoming a world class company with our global corporate rebranding. We integrated Thai Union’s global operating units under a single corporate brand with new vision, mission and core values. For well almost four decades Thai Union has grown steadily in the seafood industry and will continue to expand. From this point onwards, our growth must come from strong global teamwork, as this corporate rebranding project is aimed to promote and instill unity and drive our organization forward under one common vision: to become the world’s most trusted seafood leader, caring for our resources for generations to come.
Thanks to the outstanding performance this year, we are confident that the 2020 target of USD 8 billion revenue is realistic. To guide our operations towards this target, we are now operating under the new 6-pillar strategy, comprising innovation, sustainable development, operational excellence, mergers & acquisitions, talent development and sourcing efficiency. We will continue to focus on organic growth as a key driver for sustainable development. Recently we founded three new business units, namely emerging markets, marine ingredients and food services. These three new business units will help drive the company to achieve our ambitious target.