Biomass build-up boosted Mowi Scotland’s earnings in 2021
Focus on stocking in 2020 paid dividends for salmon farmer the following year when prices were higher, newly published reports states
Salmon farmer Mowi Scotland increased turnover by almost 20% and more than doubled operating profit in 2021 compared to the year before, the company’s newly published annual report for 2021 shows.
Turnover was £427.3 million, up from £357.3 m in 2020, and operating profit increased by 104.5% to £54 m (2020: £26.4 m). Post-tax profit was £35.6 m (£19.3 m).
The highest proportion of turnover was from Europe (£205.8 m), followed by the UK (£193 m), North America (£21.9 m) and the rest of the world (£6.7 m).
The improvements in results were predominantly driven by an increase in achieved sales price and a build up of biomass in 2020 which facilitated a 21.1% increase in the volume of fish harvested in 2021, when Mowi Scotland produced 64,500 gutted weight tonnes.
£251,000 to charity
Mowi Scotland donated £250,913 to UK charities in 2021, down from £345,371 the year before.
The company employed 772 staff in 2021, down from 845 in 2020. The major difference was in the number of production staff, which fell from 780 to 710.
Wages, social security costs and other pension costs amounted to £36,157,000 (£36,901,000). Directors’ emoluments, including taxable benefits, totalled £895,000 (£925,000), with the highest [aid director earning £412,859 (£446,460).
The report reveals that in May 2021 lumpfish flavivirus, which has been associated with high mortality, was detected at Mowi Scotland’s cleaner fish subsidiary, Ocean Matters, leading to the entire stock being humanely culled on welfare grounds between June and July that year.
“The site was cleaned and disinfected and following a six-week fallow period, production began again in September 2021,” stated Mowi.
Wester Ross Fisheries
In a section on post-balance sheet events, directors also report on the June 2022 acquisition of Scottish salmon farmer Wester Ross Fisheries Ltd, which Mowi declined to talk about at the time.
Wester Ross operates three seawater sites and has biomass consent for 2,600 tonnes of salmon.
The directors also report the last June’s acquisition of the remaining 49% of the shares in subsidiary Dorset Cleanerfish, which can produce 950,000 lumpfish annually for use as a natural control of parasitic sea lice that prey on farmed salmon.
