A tale of two Scotlands
Contrasting biological situations, with sites on Orkney and mainland Scotland facing fewer challenges than those in Shetland, were one of the key themes of the latest quarterly report on Scottish Sea Farms (SSF).
The report shows that SSF, which is jointly owned by Lerøy and Salmar, achieved a EBIT/kg of NOK 14.2 (£1.31) in the second quarter of the year – up from NOK 5.7 (£0.53) in Q2 2015.
Harvested volume rose to 7,155 tonnes, up from 6,556 tonnes in the corresponding quarter of 2015 while revenue rose to NOK 433 million, from NOK 344 million.
According to the Lerøy report, which was released last week, positives for the quarter included a good biological situation in the company’s sites in Orkney and the Scottish Mainland, investments in non-medicinal louse treatments (cleanerfish and mechanical treatments) and the backing for a new RAS facility at Barcaldine.
However, the report adds that the performance was negatively affected by the early harvest of one site, biological challenges in its Shetland operations, a “marginal cost increase y-o-y” and the fact that the 49% contract share had a “negative impact on price realisation”.
The company now expects to harvest a total of 26,000 tonnes (HOG) during 2016 – down from 31,000 in 2014 and a similar figure last year.
