Nordlaks is in a generational shift and Inge Berg is committed to ensuring that the company becomes a family business.
The entrepreneur, who has the largest privately owned salmon farm in Norway, confirmed this to Finansavisen on Wednesday.
Nordlaks is currently developing Havfarmen, a 385-meter-long salmon farm grow-out that can hold up to two million fish. The farm is currently being built in China and will be delivered in 2020.
Berg was talking to the publication about Nordlaks being one of the ten finalists for the Export Price 2019, which is awarded to innovative companies with have a high export share, value creation in Norway and have success over time.
Berg said that his children have entered the ownership side and that it is healthy that other leaders come into the transition between generations. Eirik Welde took over as head of the Nordlaks Group on 1 January.
“I’m not going to hide the fact that the company has grown too big for me, both in terms of expertise and interest. I do not quite have the motivation to follow up as closely as one should. It has become a very large company in need of expertise in everything from robotization and data, market and language, to cultures,” said Berg, continuing:
“The development is only faster, and it is becoming increasingly demanding to keep up with developments in all of these areas.”
According to Berg, it is not relevant for Nordlaks to go to the stock exchange yet. This is partly due to the fact that the company does not have large expansion plans internationally.
Berg also stated that the annual accounts from 2018 are not clear, but that the figures are not far from what the company landed in 2017. In 2017, the company had sales of EUR 288 million and had a pre-tax profit of EUR 113 million.
