Aquaculture technology provider Akva group has released details of a restructuring process targeting $4 million in savings.
Akva’s downsizing includes the elimination of 50 jobs across the group.
The redundancies come following the freeze on investments by many salmon producers as a consequence of Norway’s salmon tax introduced earlier this year.
The company released its financial results for the third quarter on Friday, revealing both challenges and improvements in its performance.
“The introduction of the resource tax had a negative impact on the activity level both in land-based and parts of the sea-based business, and the market outlook is challenging and uncertain,” said wrote the group.
Akva Group’s revenue for Q3 amounted to NOK 817 million ($73 million), marking a 3% decrease compared to the same period in 2022. However, the EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) increased significantly, rising from NOK 25 million ($2.3 million) in Q3 2022 to NOK 78 million ($7.2 million) in Q3 2023.
While the sea based business segment has maintained an acceptable level of profitability, benefiting from a healthy product mix and the successful commercialization of deep farming concepts, the group’s land based business segment continues to grapple with a high cost base relative to its current activity level and lower profitability.
