Margin affected by low market prices.
On Tuesday morning Norway Royal Salmon (NRS) presented a Q4 2020 operational EBIT of EUR 0.17 million and an EBIT per kg of EUR 0.49. The corresponding figures from the same quarter the year before were EUR 13.3 million and EUR 1.74.
“The market price of salmon has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and has been low in the quarter. Our margins in this quarter are affected by this, even though production costs have been reduced slightly from the previous quarter. The biomass in the sea has increased during the quarter and is 15 per-cent higher than at the end of the same quarter last year. This leads to that NRS has almost fully utilized our licenses at the end of the quarter,” said CEO Charles Høstlund.
For the whole of 2020, NRS had revenues of EUR 501 million and achieved an operational EBIT of EUR 24 million. The board has proposed a dividend of NOK 3 per share for 2020.
Payments for the growth investments in Arctic Offshore Farming and the new smolt facility have resulted in an increase in net interest-bearing debt by EUR 57 million to EUR 150 million in the quarter.
NRS harvested 7,148 tonnes gutted weight in the quarter, which is 13 per-cent lower than in the same quarter last year. For 2020, the harvest volume was 30,509 tonnes gutted weight and for 2021 the harvest volume is estimated to 40,000 tonnes, which is an increase of 31 per-cent compared with 2020. Sold volume from the sales business in the quarter was 23,244 tonnes salmon, which is 6 per-cent lower than in the corresponding quarter last year.
“We are currently in the final phase of the listing process of Arctic Fish on Euronext Growth on the Oslo Stock Exchange, and as part of this process, NRS has increased its stake to 51.3 per-cent. Arctic Fish is an Icelandic salmon farming company that estimates to harvest 12,000 tonnes of salmon in 2021 and currently has a production cost in line with the average production cost of Norwegian salmon farming companies. Arctic Fish has a significant growth potential and estimates to harvest approximately 24,000 tonnes in 2025,” said Charles Høstlund.
