Iconic Lucky Star shooting the lights out in South Africa

Oceana reported that its Lucky Star brand has performed well over the past five months, with high demand for the canned fish product in South Africa.

The strong performance of this brand helped to offset weaker results from Oceana’s fishmeal and fish oil businesses, which suffered from lower global prices and reduced industrial fish landings in South Africa.

This was revealed in a trading update Oceana released on Monday, 23 March, for the five months ended 22 February 2026.

Oceana explained that its revenue was in line with the previous five-month period, while operating profit declined.

It said strong results from the Lucky Star foods and wild-caught seafood segments offset the weaker results from its fishmeal and fish oil businesses. 

“The performance of fishmeal and fish oil was adversely affected by reduced industrial fish landings in South Africa and lower global fish oil prices,” the company explained.

It specifically noted the standout contribution from Lucky Star, saying its strong performance was driven by high demand for canned fish and better margins.

This allowed Lucky Star to deliver a 6.7% increase in sales volumes, which the company attributed mainly to strong local demand for canned fish products.

Non-fish products made up 9% of total sales volume, with canned meat growing strongly.

However, Oceana noted that local canned fish production volumes declined by 77% due to the constrained global supply of frozen fish, resulting in an increased processing cost per unit. 

Despite this, Lucky Star Foods’ operating margins improved, primarily attributed to lower freight and inventory holding costs.

The company also noted the positive impact of a stronger rand on the cost of procuring fish, a favourable sales mix and higher volumes of locally caught pilchards.

“Inventory levels ended 59% below the prior period’s elevated levels, mainly due to lower frozen fish supply,” the company said. 

“Securing sufficient fish supply to service favourable market demand levels remains a key focus.”

In contrast, Oceana’s fishmeal and fish oil business in Africa suffered over the five-month period, reporting an 80% reduction in production volumes and an under-recovery of fixed costs.

This was due to a variety of reasons, with the company specifically noting the impact of lower landings of red-eye herring, no anchovy total allowable catch and reduced cannery trimming volumes. 

“The rise in production cost per unit, combined with lower sales volumes, resulted in a higher operating loss than the prior period,” the company said.

For its fishmeal and fish oil business in the United States, Oceana recorded similar issues, saying sales volumes increased by 7.7%, but the segment struggled due to materially lower sales prices and a stronger rand.

However, the company also noted that global prices for fishmeal and fish oil showed an upward trend, as the market awaits updates on Peru’s initial anchovy quota allocation.

Oceana’s wild-caught seafood segments posted a stronger performance, as struggles in the hake business were offset by improved performances in the horse mackerel business.

Oceana’s full interim results for the six months ending 31 March 2026 are expected to be released on or about 21 May 2026.