Norway Royal Salmon reported an operation EBIT of €13 million for the first quarter of 2022 before depreciation of offshore equipment and an EBIT per KG of €2, beating the same quarter the previous year.
“Throughout the quarter we have seen all-time high prizes, providing a solid basis for profitability and a very positive market view for salmon in the future. Unfortunately, we have had biological challenges in both Norway and Iceland that significantly affected the results in this quarter. On the positive side, we now have full production at our new smolt plant, which is a very important step for NRS to manage the future growth plans,” interim CEO Charles Høstlund said.
At the end of the first quarter, NRS has a strong financial position of €135 million in unutilised credit facilities and €15.6 million in bank deposits. A positive EBITDA and reduced working capital explain the decrease in interest-bearing debt of €33 million to €218.8 million in the first quarter. The equity was €441 million at the end of the quarter, which equates an equity ratio of 55 percent.
Farming Norway posted an operational EBIT of €205 million in the quarter, compared with €751 million in the corresponding quarter last year. Operational EBIT per kg gutted weight was €2.47 compared with €0.6 in the corresponding quarter last year. Farming Norway harvested 10,137 tonnes gutted weight in the quarter, a decrease of 13 percent from the same quarter last year. Sold volume from the sales business in the quarter was 17,568 tonnes salmon, which is 18 percent lower than in the corresponding quarter last year.
Farming Iceland posted an operational EBIT of €841.8 million in the quarter, compared with €209.7 million in the corresponding quarter last year. Operational EBIT per kg gutted weight was €2 compared with €0.55 in the corresponding quarter last year. Farming Iceland harvested 4,221 tonnes gutted weight in the quarter, an increase of 11 percent from the corresponding quarter last year.
In the first quarter of 2022, Arctic Fish experienced big biological challenges with high mortality at two sites. Measures were taken to deal with this efficiently and to minimize the cost, among other things by accelerating the harvest of salmon at these two localities. The total mortality was 2 512 tonnes LW and resulted in a non-recurring cost of €125.8 million in the first quarter of 2022.
Artic Fish is 51.3 percent owned by NRS.
“NRS believes that sustainable salmon production is very important for our long-term economic value creation. The production of fish delivered from the new smolt facility and the phasing out of triploid fish are expected to lead to a decrease in production costs, increased profitability and fewer biological challenges,” Høstlund said.