a fishy tale of clever crust -buy some and put in

A fishy tale of clever crust
By Chris Moriarty
03oct04
THERE are some weird little companies on the ASX that make money in the most incredible ways.

Take Clover Corporation - it pulls in around $17 million a year in the fish-oil business, making $1.2 million profit.

Clover Corporation's revenues jumped 51 per cent last year, producing a 168 per cent surge in profits.

This year, the unofficial, un-audited word is that revenues are up another 54per cent.

Andrew Fairfull is Clover's executive finance director. In fact, he's the only member of the executive team.

Clover is cashing in on the surge in demand for healthy foods, and one key ingredient is Omega 3 fatty acids.

Omega 3 is made from fish oil and is really good for you. It can reduce cholesterol, thin the blood, reduce blood pressure and, remarkably, treat schizophrenia.

Food companies like to add it to their food so they can advertise their product as being "rich in Omega 3 fatty acids". Think of some ads you have seen recently from some bakers.

The problem is fish oil-based Omega 3 fatty acids tend to taste and smell like fish. No one wants to buy a smelly loaf of bread, no matter how good it is for you.

Clover has developed a secret technology that strips out all the smell and taste, leaving a tasteless fine powder that retains all the Omega 3 goodness. It can then be added to any food.

"Twenty-foot containers arrive at our refinery full of black sludge, bones, blood and other things," Fairfull says, describing the crude tuna oil it buys from global food giant Heinz.

"Fine, white, tasteless and smell-free powder comes out the other end."

Fairfull says it's a truly unique technology that food companies around the world are interested in.

This refinery with the secret process is running at 30 per cent capacity.

"If we were to increase to 100 per cent, we would need to hire only seven or eight staff," Fairfull says. That means profits should grow rapidly as demand builds.

Having barely lifted the lid on a huge global market, Clover has great potential.