ST. PETERSBURG RISKS BEING LEFT WITHOUT A BACKBONE FISHING ENTERPRISE

The oldest fish processing enterprise in St. Petersburg is one step away from ruin. Fish processing Plant No. 1 (ROCK-1) was left without raw materials and the ability to restructure debts to banks. The amount of debt at the moment exceeded 3.8 billion rubles.

According to Fontanka, the main creditor in the person of Sberbank did not meet the interests of the combine, having applied to the court in August 2022 with a statement of claim. Also, at the initiative of the bank, the accounts and property of ROCK-1 were arrested, which did not allow further operational activities.

Investments from specialized fishing companies or the state could be a way out of this situation.

However, at present, there were no industry players willing to close the company's debts and engage in fish processing. The authorities are also in no hurry to allocate funds from the budget (federal or regional) to save the backbone company.

The reason for the excessive creditworthiness of ROCK-1 was a pandemic and a special operation. At first, the plant lost its workforce, the demand of the population for the company's products fell. Then there was the destruction of logistics, foreign suppliers stopped interacting with the Russian enterprise, and bank lending rates turned out to be unaffordable.

The plant, founded in 1974, produced more than 400 types of goods in the amount of up to 30 thousand tons annually.

The company's trademarks ("Own Fish", "Sea Planet", etc.) were in demand among Russians.

In 2018, the situation began to change. The former owner of the company, Mikhail Soshnik, has died. Alexander Starobinsky, who became director, consolidated the company's assets and was able to increase revenue (in three years it increased from 6.5 billion to 7.2 billion rubles). However, the management failed to pay off the loans.

Experts suggest that in the near future the company will go into bankruptcy. Recently, many employees who were not paid a salary have left the company. Out of more than 1.5 thousand employees, soon there may not be a single one left at the enterprise.

The plant already has debts to pay for housing and communal services, since it cannot manage its own accounts. The shutdown of the enterprise will mean that the market will remain without fish products, and buyers will lose several popular brands.