“The difference between good and poor fish health amounts to 20 percent in the market value of a company”

Tore A. Tønseth, analyst at Sparebank1 Markets, believes the salmon farmers who do well when it comes to fish welfare, get “a fantastic price” in the stock market.

It was during the fish health seminar, Pathos Forum, in Ålesund, Norway, that Tønseth told that fish health affects three factors from a stock market perspective.

“First the obvious,” said Tønseth and continued:

“Good fish health increases the earnings of the salmon farmer.”

However, according to Tønseth, good fish health also gives something more than short-term earnings, and which he believes is much more interesting.

“Good fish health reduces the risk for shareholders and the company. But it also affects the value of the company. These two are connected,” said Tønseth.

“Those who do well get fantastic pricing”
Tønseth said that companies can earn the same, but still have a different value. Then he pointed out that there is great variation in the stock exchange’s valuation of the various salmon farmers.

“All variation is of course not related to fish welfare, but can also be about liquidity, different regions and so on. But a large part of the variation can be linked to stability in earnings and production costs, and then we proceed to fish welfare,” Tønseth said.

He then presented SalMar and Bakkafrost, who are highly valued on the stock exchange, and at the same time have the lowest production cost compared to other salmon farmers. These also have stability when it comes to biology, according to Tønseth.

“Those who do well get fantastic pricing,” he concluded.

“Can represent 20 percent in market value”
According to Tønseth, the difference between good and poor fish health can be 20 percent of the market value of the company.

“It’s huge amounts. The difference between being good and bad on fish welfare can thus amount to 800 million Euros in value for a company that is valued at 4 billion Euros,” Tønseth said.

According to Tønseth, it is about the salmon farmers being accepted for what they are doing up in the system.

“Good fish health increases the value of a company, there is no doubt about it, and I believe there will be an increasing focus on this in the future.”

Tønseth told the audince that he has seen development in the last five to six years, where customers of his customers are not willing to put money into something unless it is operated in a sustainable manner.

“It’s a giant risk people take by not focusing on fish welfare,” he concluded.

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