United Fisheries Company of Kuwait (UFK) attributed a big surge in net profits to a development strategy it has put in place.

UFK also reported it was seeking an expansion in exports and had started sending consignments to China and resumed shipments to Japan.   
The company, part of the Kuwait Projects Company (Kipco) Group, posted a net profit of KD5.2 million ($17.6 million) for the first nine months of 2005, compared with KD937,000 for the same period of 2004.
Chairman Amer Theyab Al Tameemi said UFK was implementing a development plan covering all aspects of its business and aimed at reinforcing the company’s strong position in the seafood products market. The excellent results reflected the success of that strategy, focusing as it did on steady growth, improvements in the performance level and utilisation of advanced operating systems.
UFK is a leading producer of high-quality seafood products and one of the top foodstuff 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.
Al Tameemi said UFK was striving to maintain its sales leadership in the seafood products market, and had increased its local market share with supplies of large quantities of fresh and frozen fish to supermarkets, while also targeting other premium marketing outlets.
The company also imported various seafood products to provide hotels and restaurants with the highest quality of fish and shrimp as well as to cover a shortfall in local production and improve price levels.
Al Tameemi said UFK’s management had adopted more effective marketing policies and plans, as part of its efforts to grow sales and upgrade customer service.
In other remarks, he said UFK was seeking an expansion in foreign markets. Exports to Arab and European markets continued during the first nine months of 2005. “ It is noteworthy,” he said, “that the company had resumed exports to the Japanese market, and fish shipments had also been sent to China alongside efforts to expand into other markets.”  In doing so, the company was adopting a “balanced strategic marketing policy” ensuring consistent sales growth and further growth of income and profits.
Fishing operations for the new season began in August with full deployment of the company’s fleet. Al Tameemi said results were good compared with those of the same period of 2004, and catches were expected to increase during the coming months.
Touching on processing, he said the Doha plant was equipped with the latest-technology equipment for processing and packing of fish and shrimp. The plant produces shrimp in a variety of attractive packets of different sizes to meet the needs of various customer segments, while ensuring compliance with the highest international standards of quality. The plant is expected to cover the needs of the local market, and the surplus production will be exported to foreign markets. Al Tameemi said the plant was pivotal for the company’s strategy of expanding the packed products line for increasing income.
Kipco is Kuwait’s largest private sector investment company with more than $15 billion in Group assets and a portfolio of some 55 companies with major activities in financial services, media and telecommunications, real estate, industry, management advisory, medical services and aviation throughout the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region as well as substantial ownership interests in the US and Europe. Kipco employs more than 12,000 people internationally and its shares are among the most actively traded on the Kuwait Stock Exchange.