SalMar and Lerøy Seafood Group join forces

SalMar has entered into an agreement with Lerøy Seafood Group ASA (Lerøy) where SalMar's InnovaMar facility at Frøya will provide harvesting and processing services related to salmon farmed in Lerøy's sea farms in Møre and Trøndelag. SalMar will at InnovaMar harvest a considerable quantity of fish from Lerøy of which a substantial share will be processed further at the InnovaMar facility.

The cooperation will start immediately, and the increased volumes that will go through the InnovaMar facility will provide synergies for both the harvesting and processing activities SalMar runs at the InnovaMar facility. In particular, the processing department will increase activity levels and utilization significantly from 2011 to 2012.

Also, SalMar Nord AS (wholly owned subsidiary of SalMar ASA) has entered into an agreement with Lerøy Aurora AS (wholly owned subsidiary of Lerøy Seafood Group ASA) located in Skjervøy in Troms. The agreement with Lerøy implies that SalMar Nord, with immediate effect, is to harvest all of its salmon at Lerøy Aurora's harvesting plant. This will increase activity and have positive effects on local communities in Troms County. SalMar also considers it desirable to reduce transport distances for its salmon farmed in Troms. SalMar expects that this change will result in reduced harvest costs and costs for well boat transportation, combined with better fish quality due to the fact that the fish now is both farmed and harvested in Troms.

"We have, over a long period of time, had good working relationships with Lerøy in a number of different areas, and we are very pleased to develop this cooperation further," says CEO of SalMar ASA Yngve Myhre. "We have built what we believe is the most efficient harvesting and processing facility in the world on Frøya, and we see it as a vote of confidence from Lerøy that they now want to cooperate with us. We set a world record by harvesting 80 million kilograms of salmon on the InnovaMar facility in 2011. With this agreement with Lerøy this volume is set to increase further in 2012 and in the coming years. It is fundamentally important to look for areas of greater industrial cooperation and synergies," Myhre adds.