NRS income drops as it focuses on building biomass
Norway Royal Salmon (NRS) today reported an operational EBIT of NOK 35 million (£3.2m) for the third quarter of 2018, a big drop compared to the NOK 192m (£17.6m) made in the corresponding period last year. This was due to harvest volumes 76% lower than in Q3 2017.
“During the quarter we have focused on building biomass and the biomass in the sea has increased by 71% from the end of the previous quarter,” explained chief executive Charles Høstlund in a market update.
“This has resulted in a low harvest volume for the quarter. We have had a positive development in production costs from the previous quarter in Region North.”
EBIT per kg increased to NOK 22.10 compared to NOK 19.29 in Q3 2017.
800 tonnes of extra allowance
Net interest-bearing debt increased in the quarter by NOK 87m to NOK 500m, after the purchase of 800 tonnes of extra biomass allowance and the increase in biomass of 11,927 tonnes.
Equity at the end of the quarter was NOK 2,243m, which equates to an equity ratio of 55%. Return on capital employed for the last four quarters is 30%.
NRS harvested 2,478 tonnes gutted weight in the quarter, 76% lower than in the same quarter last year. 2,379 tonnes of the total volume were harvested in Region North and 100 tonnes in Region South.
Annual harvests up
Estimated harvest volume is 36,000 tonnes for 2018, an increase of 13% from 2017.
Estimated harvest volume for 2019 is 40,000 tonnes for 2019, an increase of 11% from 2018.
A total of 10.8 million smolts were planned released in 2018.
The sales business sold 14,945 tonnes of salmon during the quarter, which is 33% lower than the corresponding quarter last year.
