Mainstream makes money in Canada, Marine Harvest not so much
The financial picture for the Third Quarter of 2011 for Grieg Seafood BC Ltd. won’t be known until next week, but the numbers are out for the two largest salmon farmers in British Columbia. The big picture shows that Mainstream Canada made a profit (EBIT), while Marine Harvest lost money, despite a higher harvest volume. Staff lay-offs and reduced smolt stocking are some of the strategies being employed by the region’s largest producer of farmed salmon.
The numbers stack up as follows (values in NOK- 1NOK ~ €0.13):
|
| Marine Harvest Canada | Mainstream Canada |
| Harvest volume, Q3 2011, tonnes, gwe | 7,959 | 6,300 |
| Harvest volume, YTD ‘11 | 25,200 | 15,300 |
| EBIT pre fair value, Q3 2011 (mill) | -62.3 | 6.6 |
| EBIT pre fair value, YTD ’11 (mill) | 56.6 | 125.8 |
| EBIT per kilo, Q3 2011 | -7.83 | 1.1 |
| EBIT per kilo, YTD ‘11 | 2.24 | 10.9 |
| Forecast volume, 2011, tonnes | 33,200 | 21,100 |
Continued problems with the intramuscular parasite Kudoa Thyrsites seem to be a contributing factor for the somewhat disappointing results for Marine Harvest Canada, with claims and discards allocated to this problem recorded at a value of 48 million NOK so far this year. Fair value of biomass during the first nine months of 2011 also amounted to a negative 131 million NOK. The same value for Mainstream worldwide was NOK 339.1 million for this period, and based on the production from Canada during the first nine months of 2011, the Canadian portion of this write-down would be some NOK 77.5 million (22.85% of total sales).
Marine Harvest reports a plan to reduce its world wide stocking of smolts by some 3.8 million this year, and even more- 7.5 million- next year. Capital expenditures are also set to be slashed- from a previous estimate of NOK 1 billion to some NOK 400 million during the next fiscal year.
