Pes Camanchaca

What it is

Camanchaca is Chile’s most diversified seafood company: it catches and processes wild pelagic fish — mainly jack mackerel and anchoveta — along the full length of Chile’s coastline, farms Atlantic and coho salmon in the lakes and fjords of Patagonia, and cultivates mussels and abalone in the south. It ships to roughly 50 countries, with the United States, Mexico, Asia, and Europe as its main markets.

The company began operations in 1965, initially focused on catching and processing shrimp and langostino lobster. A strategic turn in 1980 pushed it into aquaculture and a broader range of seafood, driving steady growth over the following decades.

Who owns it

The Fernández García family controls 62.9% of the company, with a further 10.1% held by co-founder Francisco Cifuentes. Institutional investors hold another ~32% (EODHD), leaving a free float of roughly 38%.

Cifuentes — a co-founder and board member for several decades — formally stepped down from the board at the April 2026 annual general meeting.

Board chairman Jorge Fernández García, who presided over the meeting, noted that his father Jorge Fernández Valdés and Cifuentes together had “the impulse, the vision, and the capacity to build and develop this great company.” The Fernández family’s grip on the company is exercised through a chain of private holding vehicles, and has never been diluted by a controlling-stake sale.

Who runs it

Ricardo García Holtz is CEO (Gerente General) of Camanchaca. An economist trained at Chile’s Universidad Católica and UCLA, he has built his career connecting financial rigour with the development of productive industries.

In 2024 he was named to the Seafood Power 100, a global list of the most influential executives in the seafood sector.

The board chair is Jorge Fernández García (son of founder Jorge Fernández Valdés). A CFO is not separately disclosed in available public filings.

The money, in plain words

Revenue has grown every year for three years — from US$762 m in 2023 to US$854 m in 2025, a rise of 12.2% (our calculation). The profit recovery is even sharper: net income went from US$5.4 m in 2023 to US$41.7 m in 2025, meaning the company keeps about 5 cents of profit from every dollar of sales — a net profit margin of 4.9% (our calculation), thin by consumer-goods standards but typical for high-volume industrial fishing operations.

For every dollar of shareholders’ equity, Camanchaca earned about 11 cents last year — a return on equity of 11.4%, recovering well from near-zero in 2023. Full-year 2025 net profit rose 90% against 2024, while the cash operating surplus (EBITDA) grew 29%.

The stock trades at 8.2 times earnings (price-to-earnings of 8.2×), a low multiple that implies the market prices in meaningful regulatory risk — it pays no dividend currently.

What it is doing now

The profit jump in 2025 was led by the fishing division: higher volumes of fishmeal, fish oil, and frozen jack mackerel, aided by greater availability of wild pelagic fish. In parallel, the salmon subsidiary completed a strategic refinancing with DNB Bank, Rabobank, and Banco Santander-Chile, securing up to US$140 m in committed credit facilities.

The company has also filed a lawsuit against the Chilean state, seeking CLP 90 bn (~US$99 m at current rates) in compensation after a 2025 fishing law cut its industrial quotas. The new law reduces Camanchaca’s rights to anchoveta, sardine, and jack mackerel from January 2026, and the company estimates annual catch losses of nearly 90,000 tonnes.

What to watch

• Quota law fallout. The 2025 fishing law is the single largest financial risk; its full impact on revenue will first appear in 2026 results.
• Salmon prices. Prices were under pressure in 2025 from higher Norwegian and Chilean salmon supply, compounded by U.S. tariffs. A sustained price recovery would sharply lift margins.
• Debt trajectory. Net financial debt fell by US$20 m in the first half of 2025 and the net-debt-to-EBITDA ratio improved to 1.7× from 2.7× a year earlier — continued deleveraging would support a dividend restart.
• Ownership transition. Cifuentes’s board exit in April 2026 closes a founding chapter; any shift in family strategy or a secondary placement by insiders would move the stock.

This is news, not investment advice.