Job cuts at Herde Kompositt and Ovum as sales of ‘The Egg’ fall through.
A significant number of employees are facing job losses at Norwegian technology company Ovum and industrial producer Herde Kompositt after plans to sell closed aquaculture facilities known as “The Egg” failed to materialize, reports Bergens Tidende.
The closed fish farming concept, created by Ovum and manufactured by Herde Kompositt, has attracted a significant amount of media attention, with two prototype units built and successfully producing smolt.
But despite positive operational results, both companies are forced to lay off employees and implement temporary layoffs due to the lack of regulatory support for closed facilities.
Herde Kompositt, based in Ølve, is bearing the brunt of the cuts, with layoffs affecting between 18 and 23 employees, and an additional 33 to 40 workers placed on furlough. Ovum, with its 21 employees, is dismissing eight staff members, though no temporary layoffs are planned at the Bergen-based firm.
“These measures are absolutely necessary,” Ovum founder and CEO Cato Lyngøy told Bergens Tidende, explaining that the companies had aimed to sell two 2,000-cubic-meter units of The Egg in 2024. “But we haven’t succeeded. Fish farmers and investors are hesitant.”
Lyngøy, formerly a senior executive at Pan Fish and Mowi, expressed regret for the impact on employees and their families. “This is incredibly sad. I feel a deep responsibility,” he told the paper.
