Invertec Pesquera Mar de Chiloé S.A.

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What it is

Invermar started as a family business in 1987 and was an early large-scale Chilean salmon producer. From 1988 onward, the company oriented itself to develop, produce and process salmon products for the final consumer, targeting distribution channels such as supermarkets, restaurants and hotels in Europe, the United States and Asia.

Its business divides into two segments: Salmons — covering Atlantic salmon, trout and Coho salmon — and Oysters. The company operates aquaculture facilities including freshwater and seawater centres as well as processing plants, with a product range covering fillets, gutted, frozen and fresh fish, and portioned and packed formats.

Who owns it

Invermar is controlled by Alimentos Marinos S.A. — known as Alimar — a Chilean seafood holding company led by the Izquierdo Menéndez family. As of 31 December 2016, Alimentos Marinos S.A. held 1,206,012,689 shares, representing 82.74% of Invermar’s issued capital.

Alimentos Marinos acquired its position through a public tender offer in 2015, buying out the Montanari family and other shareholders; the Izquierdo family, through Alimar, has been in operational control since. The free float — shares held by the public — is a small minority, and the stock is thinly traded.

Who runs it

Cristián Fernández Jeria assumed the leadership position as CEO in early 2020. He is a mechanical civil engineer with an MBA from the Universidad de Chile and has held an executive position at Invermar since 2015.

The board is chaired by Roberto Izquierdo Menéndez, a member of the controlling Izquierdo family. A CFO is not separately disclosed in available public sources.

The money, in plain words

Revenue grew by 59% over two years — from CLP 145.0 bn (~US$157.8 m) in 2016 to CLP 229.9 bn (~US$250.2 m) in 2018 — a sharp recovery driven by higher salmon volumes and rising international prices (our calculation). But the profit story is more complicated: net income fell from CLP 36.1 bn (~US$39.3 m) in 2017 to CLP 20.8 bn (~US$22.7 m) in 2018, compressing the net profit margin — the share of every peso of sales that reaches the bottom line — from 16.5% to 9.1% (our calculation).

Return on equity — how many pesos of annual profit owners earn for every peso they have invested — stood at 9.9% in 2018, a meaningful step down from 2017’s 16.5% margin year (our calculation). The balance sheet is conservative: total liabilities of CLP 62.8 bn (~US$68.3 m) against total assets of CLP 272.2 bn (~US$296.2 m) give an equity-to-assets ratio above 76%, and no short- or long-term debt is disclosed in the available data (our calculation).

What it is doing now

Invermar has launched Aucha, Chile’s first recirculating aquaculture system designed specifically for Coho salmon, at its Colaco facility near Puerto Montt. The facility features 20 tanks with dedicated biofiltration and advanced automation, and Invermar is introducing its first full batch of 1.6 million Coho smolts — growing them from seven grams to 70–80 grams before sea transfer.

The company has also implemented remote feeding and artificial intelligence in the seawater growth phase, steps it links to animal welfare and fish quality. Invermar’s aim by 2027 is to eliminate night shifts entirely, anticipating upcoming labour laws.

What to watch

• Margin recovery. The 2016–2018 profit squeeze — net margin falling from 16.5% to 9.1% — needs watching to see whether the automation and technology investments restore it. (Our calculation.)
• Delisting risk. The previous CEO had overseen the company’s wish to delist from the Santiago Stock Exchange; the question of public-market status remains unresolved for minority holders.
• Parent strategy. Alimar’s stated goal is to produce and market more than 30,000 tonnes a year and to be a leading company in the salmon industry through continuous improvement toward sustainable production. How much capital it directs to Invermar versus other subsidiaries will shape growth.
• Regulatory environment. Chilean aquaculture licensing and environmental rules are tightening; Invermar’s spread of 30 concessions distributed across 16 sanitary management zones between the Tenth and Eleventh regions buffers, but does not eliminate, that risk.

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This is news, not investment advice.