Marine Harvest salmon farming centre. (Photo Credit: Marine Harvest)
NORWAY
Thursday, August 28, 2014, 01:40 (GMT + 9)
Marine Harvest achieved a strong second quarter this year, with record high profit and harvest volume.
The aquaculture company reported an operational EBIT of NOK 1,220 million (USD 197.5 million) in the second quarter of 2014, compared to NOK 901 million (USD 145.9 million) in the corresponding quarter of 2013. Its operational revenues and other income amounted to NOK 6,563 million (USD 1,062 million) versus NOK 4,445 million (USD 719.8 million) a year ago.
In the analysed period, total harvest volumes were 114,176 tonnes compared to 79,438 tonnes in the same quarter last year.
“The second quarter marked a milestone for Marine Harvest. In June we made the first deliveries of our own feed, produced at our new feed factory at Bjugn, to sites in Norway. The factory will at full capacity serve 60 per cent of the Norwegian production, and is a vital step towards becoming a fully integrated protein producer with complete control from feed to plate,” pointed out the firm’s CEO Alf-Helge Aarskog.
As regards global market situation, Marine Harvest informed that worldwide harvest of Atlantic salmon amounted to 487,000 tonnes in the second quarter, an increase of 16 per cent compared to same quarter of 2013. There were increases in Norway (15 per cent), in Chile (27 per cent) and in Scotland (18 per cent) but a decline was experienced in North America (15 per cent) due to the impact from planned reductions resulting from previous biological issues.
In the Norwegian operations, Marine Harvest achieved an operational EBIT per kilo of salmon of NOK 12.16 in the second quarter (NOK 12.33 in Q2 2013). While salmon of Scottish and Canadian origin reported operational EBIT per kilo of NOK 12.19 and NOK 11.01, respectively (NOK 13.55 and NOK 14.55 last year).
Marine Harvest VAP Europe recorded an operational EBIT of NOK -4 million (USD -647,000) in the analysed quarter compared to a positive result of NOK 7 million (USD 1.1 million) in the corresponding period second of 2013.
And for Morpol Processing, meanwhile, the operational EBIT was NOK 24 million (USD 3.8 million).
The firm considers that sanctions imposed by Russia over the Ukrane event are anticipated to impact the traditional trade patterns for producing regions.
“I'm confident that Marine Harvest is well positioned to optimize under the short term challenges arising from the Russian sanctions, due to our global presence, sales contract hedging and high degree of financial flexibility,” Aarskog highlighted.
The firm says that the warm summer in Norway negatively affected the salmon and thus it is expected harvests will be reduced and costs will somewhat increased in the coming periods.
On the other hand, it considers that in Chile, Marine Harvest remains concerned about the underlying sea lice and SRS issues and expects supply growth to be inhibited by biological constraints in the coming years.