The fish health and farming company Benchmark Holdings has a different financial year, and reports the third quarter at the end of June. This showed sales growth of 28 percent, to £36.3 million. But the company did not make money in the quarter.
The company made an operating loss of £4m and a pre-tax profit of £11.2m.
“Increase in operating loss due to depreciation and amortization from CleanTreat units and leased ships, and first amortization of Ectosan Vet and CleanTreat development costs,” according to the quarterly report released Thursday morning.
“Increase in pre-tax loss due to a significant £5.9m increase in net finance costs due to:
▪ £3.1m foreign exchange loss mainly driven by USD loan balances
▪ £2.3m loss in fair value of financial instruments related to secure the company’s NOK bond.
▪ The YTD effect of these caused a negative movement of £10.7m which increased net finance costs to £10m.”
However, the company is enjoying strong growth in the top line.
“The third quarter represents a continuation of the operational and financial progress reported consistently by Benchmark over the quarters following the 2020 restructuring. We continue our dedicated work to realise the potential of the well-invested and well-positioned platform that Benchmark has become,” CEO Trond Williksen said.
“We are excited about the development of a new configuration and business model for CleanTreat, which, while reducing our growth rate for next year, increases our confidence in the solution and improves Benchmark’s long-term outlook.”
“Overall, we expect to continue to deliver further underlying progress in the coming quarters, with the aim of becoming a profitable company that supports the global aquaculture industry with sustainable solutions,” Williksen said.
Benchmark is aiming for a listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange in spring 2023. Now the company states that it is also considering dropping a listing in London in favor of Oslo Børs.
Benchmark Holdings is particularly known for owning the two fish farming companies SalmoBreed and Stofnfiskur.
