Alliance Tuna International expands product line, changes name

MANILA, Philippines - Alliance Tuna International Inc. has drawn up aggressive plans for expanding its product range to include all other types of food aside from tuna and seafood.

 In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Alliance Tuna said its board approved the change of the   company’s corporate name to Alliance Select Foods International Inc. to reflect the firm’s new thrust. The name change will be submitted for approval by the company’s shareholders in their annual meeting set on July 1.

At the same time, Alliance Tuna said its board also approved a plan to raise its investment in its canned tuna subsidiary, Indonesia PT International Alliance Foods, from 79.92 percent to 89.98 percent for $4.5 million. The additional investment would be done by converting the outstanding cash advances from the company in the amount of $3.67 million into equity and applying the same as payment for the additional 3.67 million shares at a par value of $1. 

Alliance Tuna said its partner in the subsidiary, PT Wailan Pratama, will also convert part of its advances and increase its shareholdings from 206,400 shares to 500,000 shares with a par value of $1.

In the first quarter this year, Alliance Tuna’s earnings grew three-fold to $676,000 from $220,000 a year earlier on the back of increased consumer spending and improved margins.

Canned tuna accounted for 86 percent of Alliance Tuna’s sales while fishmeal contributed seven percent. The balance came from its New Zealand-based salmon subsidiary, Prime Foods New Zealand, which produces the Signature Range brand for Progressive Enterprises, New Zealand’s largest supermarket chain.

Alliance Tuna exports to Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and South America, and is a “private label manufacturer” of canned tuna and processes and tuna cans using its customers’ brands.

The primary product of the company is canned tuna in the institutional and retail can sizes. To enhance margins, Alliance Tuna also processes the by-products and scraps from its tuna processing operations into fishmeal, which it sells to Philippine feed millers.

The company has a marketing representative office in Bangkok, Thailand to tap the network of buyers and brokers who use Thailand as a base to buy canned tuna. Alliance Tuna also has a 40 percent stake in FDCP, Inc., a can-making company, which ensures the availability of quality cans at competitive prices and sustainable supply.