Profits at the fishing company which owns Hull-based trawler Kirkella took a hit last year, as the firm invested heavily in its fleet.
UK Fisheries, headquartered in Hessle, said a “restructuring of its fishing fleet” had reduced the number of days its vessels had been out catching fish throughout 2018.
The company reported profits were down over £6m compared to 2017, as turnover also slipped from £70.9m to £62.7m.
In 2018, UK Fisheries launched its Kirkella trawler. Operating out of the Port of Hull, the state-of-the-art vessel supplies around a twelfth of all fish and chip shops across the country.
Earlier this month, UK Fisheries CEO Jane Sandell warned a no-deal Brexit .
Directors at UK Fisheries wrote in recently-filed accounts: “Turnover has decreased by £8.2m in 2018, the principle reasons for this being due to the group restructuring of its fishing fleet, reducing the available operational days for certain group vessels.
“The continued investment in the group fleet; with further capital expenditure of £26.4m during the year, has resulted in the build completion of two new state-of-the-art vessels during 2018.
“Both of these vessels became operational during the year and has secured the future of the group.”
UK Fisheries currently operates fishing vessels out of the UK, France, Spain and Portugal.
Pre-tax profits at the company fell from £17.2m in 2017 to £11.2m last year.
The fishing firm’s Kirkella trawler was itself launched in 2018.
Catching its stock in the White Sea, north of Scandinavia around Svalbard, the 81-metre-long spends four to six weeks at time out at sea.
In September last year, Kirkella landed around 700 tonnes of cod and haddock in Hull for the first time, in what was a landmark moment for the fishing industry in the city.
UK Fisheries’ chief executive Jane Sandell said at the time the landmark was proof that the industry was “well and truly back” in Hull.
A year later, UK Fisheries faces an anxious wait for the outcome of Brexit.
Ms Sandell said leaving without a deal would remove a trade agreement which allows the Kirkella trawler to fish in Norwegian waters.
“There is the potential for us to be severely damaged,” she said.
“The agreements we currently have with Norway to fish in its waters would disappear. On day one of a no-deal Brexit, that would be gone.
“There isn’t really an alternative for us. If we cannot fish in those waters then we will stop fishing, and we have 150 people who work at UK Fisheries.”
