Promedicus co-founder Anthony Hall has tightened his grip on Clean Seas Seafood

Promedicus co-founder and avid aquaculture investor Anthony Hall has moved to a 19.8 per cent stake in kingfish farming outfit Clean Seas Seafood.

Yumbah Aquaculture director Anthony Hall.

Promedicus co-founder and avid aquaculture investor Anthony Hall has moved to a 19.8 per cent stake in South Australian kingfish farming outfit Clean Seas Seafood, with on-market purchases adding to a large stake he picked up in a capital raising late last year.

Companies associated with Mr Hall, who is also a major investor in the unlisted Yumbah Aquaculture, started buying on-market on March 1, documents lodged with the ASX show.

This moved his stake in the company from 13.18 per cent to 19.78 per cent, just below the threshold at which a takeover bid must be launched.

Fellow large holder, the Bonafide Global Fish Fund, moved from a 16.2 per cent to a 17.2 per cent holding late last month.

Documents lodged with the ASX show Mr Hall and his associated companies including the AgFood Opportunities Fund bought their first modest parcel of shares - worth just $9424 - back in August 2022.

The companies upped their stake significantly in December last year, tipping $4.3m into the company’s $9.5m share placement, for an extra 15.9 million shares.

Mr Hall has been an aquaculture investor for more than two decades, and co-founded Mornington-based mussel producer Bay Sea Farms.

This was restructured into Yumbah Aquaculture in 2016, with the latter producing more than 2600 tonnes of abalone annually per across four farms in Tasmania, Victoria and SA.

Yumbah also produces oysters and oyster spat across three states and in August last year bought Australia’s largest mussel farmer and processor – Eyre Peninsula Seafoods – in a transaction rumoured to be worth $15m to $20m.

Yumbah also has a 37.5 per cent holding in listed Sydney rock oyster producer East 33.

Funds raised in the recent Clean Seas share placement were to be used to for working capital and to aid in the execution of an operational review looking at “right-sizing’’ the business.

An investor presentation at the time of the raise said the kingfish producer had achieved full year profitability and positive cashflow milestones in FY23, through record sales revenue and reduced non-feed production costs.

But it was also facing a highly competitive trading environment and ongoing elevated feed prices.

Clean Seas was seeking to review its “entire business focusing on driving efficiencies and improvements’’, it told the ASX.

This would involve reassessing its sales volume growth strategy in light of the elevated feed costs, and developing an updated strategy to achieve its profitability and cash flow aims over the short and medium term.

The company’s first half results announcement released in February said the review was on track, and a targeted reduction of $5m in annualised costs was under way and also remained on track.

Clean Seas reported a modest operating profit of $166,000 in EBITDA on revenue of $34.1m, down marginally, for the first half, however its statutory loss came in at $25.9m driven by heavy impairments.

Last financial year the company posted a net profit of $5.9m, down from $8.7m the previous year, on revenue of $69.4m.

The Australian has attempted to contact Mr Hall.