Russian Aquaculture, Russia’s largest commercial fish farmer, has published its financial results based onunaudited management accounts for the first half of 2017.
Good results from the Company’s core business confirmed the effectiveness of its newbusiness model focusing on high-margin aquaculture.
In July, the company bought a smolt mill in Norway, which was an important step towards building an efficient vertically integrated aquaculture holding using advanced Norwegian
technology.
Commercial fish production volumes increased more than seven-fold year-on-year, reaching 8.4 thousand tonnes of biomass. Biomass in water amounted to 3.3 thousand tonnes as of 30 June 2017, 38 percent lower than the same period last year, due to fishing at the Company’s farms.
Revenue for first half of 2017 larger than whole of 2016
Consolidated revenue amounted to RUB 3,343 million, driven by continued extraction
and sale of marketable products from the Company’s farms at Ura Guba and continued
high prices for finished products.
Operating EBITDA reached RUB 1,481 million, compared to a loss of RUB 10.3 million a
year earlier. The EBITDA margin was 44 percent.
Ilya Sosnov, CEO of Russia Aquaculture, said:
“The Company’s positive operating and financial results for the first half of 2017 demonstrate the effectiveness of our chosen strategy, focusing on high-margin aquaculture and increasing operational efficiency. Revenue for the first half of 2017 surpassed that for the whole of 2016,while our EBITDA margin was 44 percent.”
Invaluable experience from Norwegian specialists
Mr. Sosnov furthermore outlined the ambitions for the company.
“The company continues to move towards its goal of creating the largest vertically integrated player in the aquaculture market. The next step in this direction was the purchase of a smolt plant, which will allow us to better control the health of the fish, as well as adopt technology and invaluable experience from Norwegian specialists with a successful ten year history.”
The Company currently owns salmon and trout cultivation rights for 29 sites.
