Black-empowered investment group Brimstone would continue to examine potential complementary investment opportunities and would pursue those that provided the “right returns” at the “right price”, CEO Mustaq Brey said on Wednesday.

He pointed out, however, that the group, which expected its headline earnings for the 2012 full-year to be 20% higher than the R450-million in headline earnings recorded in 2011, was likely to shy away from certain sectors, as it maintained its focus on the healthcare, food and financial services industries.

FD Lawrie Brozin said the choice not to enter the alcohol-related, microfinancing or gambling industries was a “moral” decision.

Brey added that the group had also not performed well in the mining sector.

Brimstone, which held major shares in fisheries such as Sea Harvest and Oceana Group, had “cautiously” entered the mining sector through the acquisition of a 10% stake in Galaxy Gold Mining in 2011, but had lost about R50-million, he highlighted.

Meanwhile, Sea Harvest, in which Brimstone had a 58.1% stake, aimed to expand and grow its exports into other regions as economic woes dragged down demand in northern Europe.

Sea Harvest MD George Bezuidenhout, speaking during a Brimstone-organised tour of its operations, said the group would divert exports from the northern parts of Europe to the southern region, while examining other possible markets.

However, he noted that regions such as China and Brazil were not deemed viable markets, as these countries had their own established, cheaper hake markets.

Sea Harvest exported about 60% of its hake to Australia, Europe and North America, including Canada.

The hake-focused fishing group would also continue to diversify its offerings through its partnership with Switzerland-based food group Findus.

Last year, Sea Harvest and Findus launched a premium vegetable ready-mix range. Sea Harvest was also considering adding a frozen chips range.

Meanwhile Oceana increased the stockholding of its Lucky Star brand, after demand outstripped supply over the past year.

CEO Francois Kuttel said the 300-million-can-a-year operation would ensure a stockpile of two-million cases of the tinned food, with a value of R600-million, up from the R250-million stockpile in the prior year.

Oceana also aimed to increase its production to 350-million cans a year in an attempt to satisfy demand.

Kuttel said the operation would also, within a month, double its current imported frozen fish processing capacity locally to 200 t/d.

Canned fish and fishmeal contributed revenue of R2.58-billion during the year ended 2012.

Horse mackerel and hake generated revenue of R1.44-billion, followed by R350-million from the company's lobster, squid and french fries operations and R279-million from commercial cold storage operations.