The salmon giant has no intention of giving up without a fight.
The Norwegian government’s proposal for resource rent tax, at a whopping 40 per cent, destroyed NOK 55.9 billion ($5,14 billion) in share values on the Oslo Stock Exchange Wednesday.
“This is the biggest shock the industry has ever been exposed to. It is so limitlessly upredictable,” comments Ole-Eirik Lerøy, chairman of Mowi, to DN’s paper edition.
Also read: Was it insider information involved when $5,2B was wiped off the valuation of listed salmon companies?
The Norwegian fish farms are by far the most important ones for Mowi.
“We are an international company. We operate in 25 countries and have salmon farming in six countries. So if this proposal is put in action, we will be forced to look at where to invest in the future. But there will be plan B. Plan A is to explain to people and the authorities why this is a particularly bad proposal,” says CEO Ivan Vindheim to Bergens Tidende.
The consultation deadline for the tax proposal is set for January next year. Vindheim is not sure if the proposal will be adopted by the parliament.
“It remains to see whether there is a parliamentary majority for it. I don’t think the support for the resource rent tax is there. So we will focus on going forward, working to ensure that the proposal does not become a reality,” he says.
