In mid-January 2006. Robert Wight, vice-president (finance) and chief financial officer for Clearwater Seafoods Income Fund (Clearwater), a seafood exporting company based in Nova Scotia, Canada, was preparing for a conference call scheduled in about a week with the financial community on the results for the year ending December 31, 2005. | A Case Study In mid-January 2006. Robert Wight, vice-president (finance) and chief financial officer for Clearwater Seafoods Income Fund (Clearwater), a seafood exporting company based in Nova Scotia, Canada, was preparing for a conference call scheduled in about a week with the financial community on the results for the year ending December 31, 2005. The main reason for suspension — the first ever since the company’s conversion into an income trust in August 2002 — was that the currencies in which the company was earning income were losing value relative to the Canadian dollar in which the company was incurring expenses. The negative market reaction to the suspension of the distributions had been strong and swift The value of the units declined 35 per cent. Now, three months later, the firm’s major stakeholders were seeking assurances that the company had a strategy in place to deal with the exchange rate crisis and other operating challenges so that distributions could be reinstated. Wight wondered, “What is the best strategy with which to turn the tide and change investor sentiment? For many years, the company had benefited from a weak Canadian dollar which had allowed Clearwater to get more Canadian dollars for its export sales. But with the dramatic upswing of the Canadian dollar, Clearwater’s earnings from the sale of seafood around the world and from foreign exchange operations were both taking a hit. This was evident in the rapid decrease in EBITDA from 2003 to 2005. This had led to suspension of the distribution payments, forcing Clearwater, in turn, to revisit its short-term and long-term business priorities. Clearwater was founded in 1976 at Bedford, Nova Scotia as a local lobster distributor, and did an initial public offering (IPO) as an income trust in mid-2002. Clearwater was the largest publicly traded shellfish company in North America. Its business consisted of harvesting, processing and selling a variety of shellfish and ground . | A Case Study In mid-January 2006. Robert Wight, vice-president (finance) and chief financial officer for Clearwater Seafoods Income Fund (Clearwater), a seafood exporting company based in Nova Scotia, Canada, was preparing for a conference call scheduled in about a week with the financial community on the results for the year ending December 31, 2005. The main reason for suspension — the first ever since the company’s conversion into an income trust in August 2002 — was that the currencies in which the company was earning income were losing value relative to the Canadian dollar in which the company was incurring expenses. The negative market reaction to the suspension of the distributions had been strong and swift The value of the units declined 35 per cent. Now, three months later, the firm’s major stakeholders were seeking assurances that the company had a strategy in place to deal with the exchange rate crisis and other operating challenges so that distributions could be .
