October 18, 2007

UK seafood firm honoured by HSBC bank

UK's Hull seafood and fishing support company, Andrew Marr International Ltd, has been named by the HSBC Bank as one of the Top Track 250 private mid-market companies for the second year running.

Sales at the company, which has been averaging a yearly profit of GBP 4 million (US$8.15 million) , climbed 47 percent this year from GBP 160 million (US$326.3 million ) last year to GBP235.6 million (US$480.5 million) this year.

The stellar result was even more impressive considering growing concerns over wild fish stocks, the bank said, adding that few people know the fishing industry as well as the Marr family.

The history of Andrew Marr International goes back to the 1870s. The company eventually came to own one of the largest deep sea trawler fleets in the country during the 1970s.

The company has extensive interests in seafood, fish trading, fishing vessel management and temperature controlled food storage businesses. Despite the decline of the fishing industry, the company has managed to successfully diversify within fishing.

The company buys frozen pelagic fish species from the North Western and Southern African waters, the North Atlantic, the East Coast of the USA, South America and the South Pacific Ocean. Main markets include the countries in West Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the Caribbean.