Agrosuper-owned Chilean salmon farmer hit by higher costs despite increase in sales.
In a financial statement, AquaChile posted a full year EBITDA of USD 127.9 million as of December 31, 2018, lower than the USD 141.9 million recorded in 2017.
“This lower EBITDA is mainly due to the decrease in the margin obtained in the sale of trout, explained by a lower export price and an increase in the cost of raw material due to environmental conditions that impaired production, and ii) the decrease in the sales margin of the coho, given the lower volumes sold, which is explained by a decrease in the volume of harvest at the end of 2018 compared to the same year of the previous year. As of December 31, 2018, the company presented a net profit from the value of biomass at a fair value of USD 11.9 million,” the company wrote.
EBIT per kilo for its salmon farming side of operations dropped 11 per-cent, from USD 1.24 per kilo to USD 1.11 per kilo. The company harvested 110,140 tonnes of salmon (coho, trout and Atlantic) – 71 thousand tonnes of which was Atlantic salmon – in 2018, a 33.7 per cent increase compared to 82,371 in 2017.
According to the report, the Atlantic salmon side of the business increased its revenues by 26 per cent with respect to 2017, due to the 29 per cent increase in volume sold – more than 13,528 tonnes, which was partially offset by a 3 per cent decrease in the average sale price.
The observed increase in total margins is mainly explained by an increase in the volume sold and a decrease in the cost of sales. The company said that it was important to note that the increase in the volume sold of this species is strongly influenced by the consolidation of Salmones Magallanes.
