Kingfish Company names new finance chief
Dutch on-land fish farmer The Kingfish Company has appointed experienced financial leader Jean-Charles Valette as chief financial officer, effective September 1, it announced today.
“I am very pleased to welcome Jean-Charles as our new CFO,” said chief executive Ohad Maiman.
“He is a proven, experienced, and well-rounded CFO, having held a range of financial leadership positions. He has a wealth of experience working with international teams and has lived in various countries across the world. His broad background will enable him to play a key role in driving our financial strategy and reinforcing our strong market position in the land-based aquaculture sector.”
Leadership positions
Valette has held various financial leadership positions at food and production companies, both in listed and private environments. Most recently, he worked as the vice-president finance of Dott, a fast-growing Amsterdam-headquartered company that started in 2019 and now operates more than 30,000 shared electric scooters and electric bikes in 17 cities in Europe.
Prior to this role, he worked as senior vice-president finance for CEVA Logistics, where he was directly involved in raising US $1.2 billion through a successful initial public offering (IPO) on the SIX Swiss stock exchange.
The Kingfish Company, which produces yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi), said Valette brings great added value towards building, growing, and transforming companies, and strong expertise in corporate finance, process optimisation and transformation.
EBITDA positive
The Kingfish Company is expanding capacity its recirculating aquaculture system facility in Zeeland from 1,500 to 3,500 tonnes a year and plans an 8,500 tonnes per year RAS in Maine in the eastern United States.
In a business update last month, the fish farmer said it was “EBITDA positive” for the year to date, and that revenue had more than doubled from €2.3 m to €4.8 m for Q2 2022 compared to the same period the year before.
“I cannot imagine a more exciting time to join The Kingfish Company,” said Valette.
“With its strong growth trajectory, the quality of its people and management team, and the ongoing expansions, The Kingfish Company is well positioned to grow its market leadership. Through a combination of continued cost discipline and a focus on further expansions, I am looking forward to contributing to the success of the company in the next phase of its growth plans.”
