Strong results from Lighthouse Caledonia
Year to date results show EBIT of £12.7m on Turnover of £61.9m, highlighting the Company's continual progress towards delivering back-to-back results in line with analyst and shareholder expectations. Lighthouse Caledonia, Scotland's largest independent salmon farming business, has announced record profits for the last quarter of 2009, following a restructure of the company last year. The company made £4.2m profit before tax for Q4 2009 against a £768,600 loss for the same period the previous year.
Turnover during the period increased to £21.4m against £9m in the previous year with sales volumes doubled to 6,990 tonnes compared to Q4 in the previous year, despite poor weather pushing 1,400 tonnes for harvesting into 2010. This fourth quarter performance increased 2009 year to date profit to £10.4m before tax compared to £0.6m at the end of 2008. This resulted in a cash position of £11.9m at the end of 2009 compared with £2.2m in 2008.
The market remained strong throughout the quarter and the Company said its solid performance was due to the excellent health and low mortality of stock and also as a result of its policy of strict fallowing, stocking regimes and bio-security measures. During the quarter, a new harvest station has been commissioned at Lochinver to serve the company's northern sites.
Lighthouse Caledonia, a principal player in the Scottish aquaculture industry producing approximately 20% of Scottish salmon and is making further plans to is making further plans to position itself as Scottish and a supporter of the rural communities in which it operates.
The company expects to increase its harvest volumes to 24,500 tonnes during 2010. Going forward, it will maintain the emphasis on cost management and cash flow while developing the strategic focus to become the industry leader in Scotland.
A voluntary buy-back, followed by a compulsory buy-back of shares in January and February 2010 marked the first phase of a process designed to create a corporate entity that best suits the group's future stability and growth.
Photo: CEO Oddgeir Oddsen
