Strong quarter for MH Canada

Odd Grydeland

Marine Harvest Canada harvested 10,000 tonnes of dressed, head-on salmon from its farms in British Columbia during the first three months of 2015, up from the 6,819 tonnes harvested during Q4 2014, and just shy of its 10,500 guided volume as expressed in the parent company’s Q4 2014 report. That report also suggested that the total output of production in Canada this year will be about 39,000 tonnes, up from 27,000 tonnes last year. The company provides an estimate of a level of growth in the total production of farmed salmon in North America of between 16 and 22% in 2015 compared with the amount produced (harvested) last year.

The company’s EBIT per kilo fish harvested from its farms in British Columbia during Q1 2015 was NOK4.80 (~CAD$ 0.76), which was up from NOK 3.69 during the last quarter of 2014, which showed a positive result from the company’s strategy of delaying some harvesting from 2014 to 2015. For all of last year, Marine Harvest Canada had an EBIT of NOK 9.40 per kilo, which demonstrates the substantial drop in prices seen towards the end of 2014.

The financial performance of the Norwegian-based companies operating in Canada is also affected by the fluctuation in the value of different currencies, as most of their product is sold in US dollars, and the value of a Canadian dollar in this currency has changed considerably in recent years, just as the Canadian and the US dollars have changed in value compared with the Norwegian Krone. This table shows some of these variations;

Source: Oanda