United Fisheries Company of Kuwait (UFK), part of Kuwait Projects Company (Kipco), has posted a net profit of KD4.3 million ($14.7 million) for the first six months of 2005, compared with KD426,000 for the same period in 2004.

The company generated a profit of KD 4.2 million from selling 9 per cent of its equity stake in Saudi Arabia Dairy and Foodstuff Company (Sadafco). The stake has now been reduced to 40 per cent.
Chairman Amir Theyab Al Tamimi said financial indicators for the second quarter were in line with the steady and consistent growth of the company’s performance in various lines of its business. He commented that UFK would maintain its expansion policy to enhance its market-leading position and offer the highest level of client service.
The company was committed to implementing its business strategy in accordance with a carefully studied plan that took into account market developments, growth opportunities and future expansion potentials, Al Tamimi remarked. 
UFK is a producer of high-quality seafood products and one of the top foodstuffs companies of Kuwait and the Arabian Gulf. A subsidiary of Kipco’s United Industries Company (UIC), UFK owns and operates a fleet of modern fishing vessels, which supplies seafood catches for processing at its new high-tech Doha plant in Kuwait. The company’s range of shrimp and fish products, produced to the highest international quality standards, is distributed throughout Kuwait and exported to other countries of the Arab world.
As a vertically integrated seafood company, UFK is involved in a wide variety of activities, ranging from fishing operations to seafood processing, marketing and distribution. Its primary activity in fishing is carried out from the strategic location of Mina Al Shuwaiba in Kuwait by a fishing fleet that is continuously updated and modernised in line with technological developments in the industry.
On the sales front, Al Tamimi said UFK continued to focus on the local market, offering best products and services to its customers with particular attention to product excellence. In doing so, the company was implementing a plan aimed at securing leadership in the seafood market sector, while strengthening its competitive position and increasing its share of local and foreign markets.
To this end, UFK supplied large quantities of locally-produced fresh and frozen fish  to local supermarkets. To cover shortfalls in local availability, the company imported stocks, including several new varieties of fish and shrimp from the Far East, to cover the shortage in local production and maintain price levels, he said.  
“UFK has also intensified efforts to increase exports to foreign markets, and has resumed exports to Japan after a disruption of three years. Fish shipments have also been exported to China and dedicated efforts have been made to penetrate other foreign markets. These moves come within the framework of a strategy seeking to achieve consistent and targeted business development to increase sales and create more balance and growth of the company’s income and profits,” he added.
Al Tamimi said that due to the stipulations imposed by the European and American markets, the company was in the process of negotiating with government bodies a ratification of its Doha processing plant’s recently-awarded HACCP quality certification to enable penetration of their markets and to increase UFK’s share and also to open those markets for exports of other national companies, which would positively reflect on the Kuwaiti economy.
He said the Doha plant was posting improved performance and producing attractive packaging in various sizes to satisfy the needs of various market segments, while meeting the highest international standards of quality. He also expected more improvement in the plant’s performance after securing a technically skilled labour force.
In 2004 UFK achieved a net profit of KD1 million versus KD3.6 million in the previous year. The 2003 figure included a onetime profit from the sale of investments and certain assets.
The company continued to focus on the local market and added several new supermarkets, restaurants and catering companies to its list of customers. With the creation of a new marketing department, focus is turning to identifying new avenues for sales of high value-added products from the Doha plant.
Last year exports amounted to KD263,385 versus KD435,960 in 2003 due to a decline in sales to Saudi Arabia. However, the company continued to make efforts to strengthen its presence in selected international markets and to build on the good reputation and high quality of Gulf shrimps. As a result, the company was successful in penetrating new export markets in Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
During 2004, fresh fish was imported mainly from Iran to make up for the shortfall in local availability. But UFK has begun developing relations with suppliers in the Far East in order to ensure adequate supplies at competitive prices.