Shrimp and Aussie salmon markets help BioMar to new Q1 sales record
But biological issues reduced demand in Scotland and Norway
The volume of aquafeed sold by BioMar in the first quarter of 2026 increased by 7% compared to the same period last year, the company said today.
The 315,000 tonnes of feed sold is a first-quarter record for the Denmark-based multi-national, primarily attributable to positive developments in Ecuador (shrimp) and Australia (salmon), while biological conditions had an adverse impact on volumes in Scotland and Norway (salmon).
“The volume growth in Australia was primarily driven by favourable biological growing conditions and lower-than-average water temperatures across Tasmania and New Zealand during the local summer period,” BioMar stated in its interim Q1 2026 report.
“Volumes in Scotland and Norway were to some extent affected by biological conditions at individual customers, fish treatments, and weather. The biomass in Norway was at a high level, but slightly lower than in Q1 2025, where high water temperatures were providing favourable growing conditions, more feeding and higher earnings.”
First-quarter revenue of DKK 3.202 billion and operating profit (EBIT) of DKK 110 million were a little lower than in Q1 2025, when BioMar made revenue of DKK 3.399bn and EBIT of DKK 117m.
BioMar said a strong increase in EBIT in the feed side of its business was offset by reduced earnings in Tech Solutions, reflecting tech sales being temporarily softened during business transformation towards more direct sales, restructuring the relation with key distributors and investing in building recurring SaaS (software as a service) revenue.
EBITDA, another measure of operating profit that is calculated differently, increased from DKK 206m in Q1 2025 to DKK 212m.
Return on invested capital (ROIC) was 23.5%.
The financial results are in line with our expectations, despite parts of the business being challenged by environmental and biological conditions.
Geopolitical turbulence
“In a first quarter characterised by significant geopolitical turbulence, we delivered strong results across our feed segments with growth in volumes as well as in earnings per tonne of feed sold, while minimising the negative effects of the turbulence for our customers,” said chief executive Carlos Diaz.
“The financial results are in line with our expectations, despite parts of the business being challenged by environmental and biological conditions.
“Our business model for feed is further being fortified by an increase in long-term contracts, where we create mutual value together with our customers, promoting better visibility on volumes, revenue and margins. Combined with strong operational excellence and cash discipline, this allows us to achieve a remarkably strong ROIC compared to many other industries.”
Diaz said BioMar transforming the business model for aquaculture technology solutions, and preparing for further organic growth with new capacity in Ecuador and China, building long-time partnerships with core customers as well as addressing new business opportunities.
Stock market flotation
BioMar’s owner, Schouw & Co, has announced its intention to float the feed company on the stock market.
“The preparation for a potential IPO (initial public offering) of BioMar has now entered its next phase with an intention to float announced,” said the company’s president and chief executive, Jens Bjerg Sørensen, in the Schouw Q1 report published today.
“BioMar is ready to be listed and has reached a level of maturity, scale and operational excellence that supports independent access to the capital markets. Importantly, the purpose of the IPO remains unchanged: to create value for Schouw & Co. shareholders. We will proceed only on terms that we believe create long‑term value.”
