Context: How Bolsa de Valores de Quito works, and what it makes issuers disclose · Ecuador on the LatAm Power Map
Ecuador is the world’s second-largest shrimp exporter, and Empagran — four decades old and entirely Ecuadorian — runs its own farms, its own larva laboratory and its own packing house to ship frozen shrimp to Europe, the United States and China. It is one of the few companies in the industry that controls every step from egg to export carton.
| Full name | Empacadora Grupo Granmar S.A. (Empagran) |
|---|---|
| Ticker / exchange | EMPAGRAN.EC — Bolsa de Valores de Guayaquil (BVG); fixed-income only |
| Headquarters | Km. 15.5 Vía a la Costa, Guayaquil, Ecuador |
| Sector | Aquaculture / frozen seafood processing & export |
| Employees | ~350 |
| Market value | Not disclosed in available sources (private equity structure; no traded shares) |
| Yearly sales (revenue) | $155.32M (FY 2024) |
| Net profit | ~$0.92M (FY 2024; our calculation: 155.32 × 0.59% net margin) |
| Net margin | 0.59% (FY 2024); 1.78% (FY 2023) |
| Operating margin | 9.32% (FY 2024), up from 4.81% in 2023 |
| Return on equity | Not disclosed in available sources for 2024 (ROE was 1–4% range, 2017–2020) |
| Price-to-earnings | N/A — no publicly traded shares |
| Dividend yield | N/A — no publicly traded shares |
| Credit rating | AAA– (Class International Rating, July 2025) |
| Website | www.empagran.com |
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What it is
Empagran is a 100% Ecuadorian aquaculture group — one of the most historically significant and experienced shrimp producers in the country — operating over 3,000 hectares of shrimp farms and its own biotechnology laboratory for larva development. Founded in 1982 and active across all phases of fishing and aquaculture — from capture and processing to domestic and export sales — the group is fully vertically integrated.
Its packing facility can process up to 90,000 pounds of shrimp per day, and the company markets frozen shrimp under four brands — Frescamar, Sea Sun, Seatouch and Imperial — selling into North America (USA and Canada), Europe (France, the UK, Spain, Italy and Portugal) and Asia (China, Japan and Taiwan). Exports — principally frozen shrimp — represent by far the largest revenue stream, accounting for about 81% of total income as of mid-2025.
Who owns it
Empagran is a 100% Ecuadorian private group. It is not a publicly listed equity company — its shares do not trade on any exchange — and the exact ownership breakdown among individual shareholders is not disclosed in available public sources.
Decisions on major financing programmes are made by the Junta General Extraordinaria y Universal de Accionistas (the full shareholders’ meeting), consistent with a closely held family or group structure. There are five companies in the broader Empagran corporate family.
Who runs it
According to the 2021 Bolsa de Quito SCRiesgo investor report, the board-level leadership listed Víctor Ernesto Estrada Santistevan as President and Julio Roberto Campozano Centeno as General Manager (Gerente General). The Ministry of Production registry lists José Antonio Juez Jairala as the company’s legal representative (Representante Legal).
Current executive appointments for 2024–2025 have not been re-confirmed in available public filings subsequent to 2021.
The money, in plain words
After a sharp 48% revenue collapse in 2023 — sales fell to $81.34M as global shrimp demand softened — revenues bounced back hard in 2024, reaching $155.32M, driven by a surge in frozen-shrimp exports. That is a revenue recovery of roughly 91% year-on-year (our calculation), restoring the top line to levels above 2022.
The operating margin — what the company keeps before financing costs and tax, from every dollar of sales — widened from 4.81% in 2023 to 9.32% in 2024. Despite this operational improvement, the net profit margin — what remains after all costs including debt interest and taxes — was thin at 0.59% of revenues in 2024, yielding approximately $0.92M in bottom-line profit (our calculation: $155.32M × 0.59%).
High financial costs on the company’s debt load are the main bridge between a healthy operating result and a slim net result.
Total assets stood at $470.79M at end-2024, of which liabilities financed 74.47% — meaning for every dollar of assets, roughly 75 cents was funded by creditors. That leverage ratio is elevated, though the company has maintained a current ratio — short-term assets versus short-term debts — above 1.0 throughout all periods analysed, showing it can cover its near-term obligations.
What it is doing now
In July 2025, Empagran’s shareholders authorised a Tenth Commercial Paper Programme of up to $14M, which was rated AAA– by Class International Rating on 21 July 2025 — the top tier, indicating excellent capacity to pay capital and interest. This is fresh short-term market debt to fund operations.
On the export strategy side, the company is actively reweighting its three main markets away from China (cutting from ~33% to 25% of exports) and towards the United States (raising to 38%) and Europe (37%), to reduce exposure to lower Chinese market prices. It is also buying shrimp from third-party local producers at competitive prices to boost volumes without expanding its own farms.
What to watch
- Net margin thin wire: Operating profits are recovering sharply, but the gap to the net line is wide — watch whether lower financial costs or higher sales volumes finally convert the operational turnaround into meaningful net earnings growth.
- Receivables risk: As of mid-2025, 49% of total client receivables were more than 360 days overdue — a significant potential impairment risk the rating agency flagged explicitly.
- Shrimp prices and regulation: Global shrimp price volatility, and any tightening of phytosanitary rules in export markets, can hit margins that are already thin at the net level.
- H1 2025 revenue drop: Revenues fell 70% in the first half of 2025 versus the same period of 2024 ($36.17M vs $119.40M), partly a seasonal and market-demand effect in frozen-shrimp exports — the trajectory in the second half of 2025 will determine whether 2024’s recovery holds.
Sources
- Class International Rating — Décimo Programa de Papel Comercial, Empagran, 21 July 2025 (Bolsa de Valores de Guayaquil filing)
- SCRiesgo / Bolsa de Valores de Quito — Informe Empagran, June 2021
- Bolsa de Valores de Guayaquil — Issuer page: Empacadora Grupo Granmar S.A. Empagran
- Ministerio de Producción del Ecuador — Registro Industrial: Empagran
- Market data: EODHD (no financials available for this issuer; all financial figures sourced directly from primary documents above).
This is news, not investment advice.
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