2021 marked the completion of a successful restructuring of the ScaleAQ group, the company has announced.
International aquaculture supplier ScaleAQ recorded a positive EBIT in 2021 of NOK 130 million (€13.5 million), marking an increase from 2020, where the company had a negative operating profit of NOK 247 million (€25.6 million).
“ScaleAQ has had good growth over the past year, in total we increased our revenues by 12 percent to a total of NOK 2.8 billion (€289.5 million),” ScaleAQ CEO Geir Myklebust announced. “We also see a strong improvement…this is the result of a complete restructuring and alignment of the organisation,” Myklebust added.
Company expansion
During 2021, ScaleAQ launched a number of new products, including SmartSpreader, the FeedStation, a new subsea and water-based feeding system and a cloud-based version of its Mercatus software, helping to improve the company’s balance sheet.
As the company expanded to increase its operating income and EBIT, it bolstered the team in Scotland, opening a new product assembly area, as well as taking further steps to grow operations in Chile.
Looking to take advantage of growing opportunities in the sector, ScaleAQ is aiming to improve its efforts around closed facilities on land and at sea, including smolt, post-smolt and grown out fish.
Innovation and technology
ScaleAQ acknowledged the importance to continue “looking for ways to grow production in an even more sustainable way,” citing how “technology and experience-based innovation are important levers” for the company.
“The industry faces many fundamental and specific challenges. Production will move to new areas at sea and on land, requiring new production methods, such as closed aquaculture systems. Sea lice must be controlled, mortality reduced, and control and documentation improved. Other challenges are more generic: digitalisation, fish welfare, climate and environmental footprint, cost reduction and efficiency,” the company said in a press release.
ScaleAQ has identified a number of strategic growth areas, such as land based and sea based farming, which share a number of common technologies. “Equipment such as lights, feeding systems, cameras, CO2 degassers, particle removal and silage systems, all come with sensors which can be deployed to feed data to increasingly intelligent systems,” the company highlighted
“I am proud of my colleagues who have managed to achieve these results while maintaining the pace of innovation with launches of SmartSpreader, the cloud-based version of Mercatus and the water feeding solution,” Myklebust added.
Looking ahead to 2022
As ScaleAQ looks towards 2022, Myklebust was keen to highlight how the company is “robust” and keen to continue strengthening its position in Norway, which is its home base and main market.
Beyond that, the company is seeking to extend its international reach, having won “important contracts” in the UK and Iceland, as well as looking to the Chilean market, which ScaleAQ sees as being in “revival mode.” “Our operations there are well prepared to support. We are all ready to take new important steps,” Myklebust said.
“We are going to do a lot in the time to come, and spend a lot of energy on developing technology for closed farming at sea and on land. In addition, we have several exciting projects within sustainability, where we are particularly looking at the recycling of plastic from, among other things, cages and feed hoses,” Myklebust revealed.
| ScaleAQ | 2020 | 2021 |
| Operating income | 255.1 | 285.9 |
| Operating profit (EBIT) | -25.3 | 13.4 |
| Operating profit (EBIT) margin | -10 percent | 4.7 percent |
| Profit before tax | -28.8 | 9 |
| Total assets | 289 | 300 |
| Net interest-bearing debt | 46.2 | 47.2 |
| Equity ratio | 37 percent | 41 percent |
| Order backlog | 129.2 | 132.4 |
| All figures in millions of euros |
