The work to turn around Benchmark continues, but new losses last quarter

CEO Trond Williksen aiming at ambitious cost-cutting.

He’s still fresh in his position. Trond Williksen was hired as CEO of the British fish health company Benchmark Holding on 1 June. Today he presents the results for the third quarter. Benchmark has deviating financial years, and hereby reports the results until 30 June.

Here it appears that the company lost 8.5 million pounds before tax, an improvement from a loss of 11.7 million pounds in the same quarter last year. At the same time, the company’s net debt has been reduced from £ 78.3 million to £ 54.3 million, driven by the sale of assets outside what the company defines as its core area.

“We are very pleased with the significant progress made over the last few months towards the completion of the disposal of non-core assets and the cash proceeds generated. Following the restructuring we are well advanced to become a streamlined, financially strong business wholly focused on our core businesses: Genetics, Advanced Nutrition and Health. We continue to work on our restructuring programme which aims to deliver £10m in annual savings from 2021 taking us a step closer towards our goal of becoming sustainably profitable,” Williksen said. 

“While the shrimp market continues to experience challenges as a result of Covid-19 the salmon market which underpins our genetics and health businesses remains resilient and overall, we expect to deliver full year results in line with expectations.”

Septima Maguire, CFO, added: 

“The completion of our disposal programme generating up to £44m, together with our ongoing cash conservation plan puts us in a strong financial position to remain resilient through the Covid-19 pandemic and to invest selectively in our business to deliver future growth.”

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