Faroe Islands-based Atlantic salmon farmer Bakkafrost delivered total operating earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of DKK 235 million (EUR 31.5 million; USD 35.5 million) in the first-quarter of this year, an increase of 27 percent year-on-year.
The fully integrated company’s strong results build upon the record annual EBIT it achieved in 2014 of DKK 833.8 million (EUR 111.7 million; USD 125.9 million), which was 31.1 percent more than in the previous year.
Bakkafrost harvested 9,726 metric tons (MT) of salmon in Q1 2015, an increase of 5 percent year-on-year, with its farming segment delivering an operational EBIT of DKK 195 million (EUR 26.1 million; USD 29.4 million).
In addition, the company’s value added product (VAP) segment, which produced 4,525 MT in the quarter, achieved an operational EBIT of DKK 22 million (EUR 2.9 million; USD 3.3 million), while its fishmeal, oil and feed (FOF) segment delivered an operational EBIT of DKK 55 million (EUR 7.4 million; USD 8.3 million).
"We are satisfied with the good result in Q1 2015 and the positive development in all our three segments, which all delivered good results. Bakkafrost started producing feed with cleaned fish oil, and the first farming site got its ASC (Aquaculture Stewardship Council) certification this quarter. These developments show that Bakkafrost continuously works to improve its operations,” said Regin Jacobsen, CEO of Bakkafrost.
The company is also “undertaking significant investments,” which are proceeding well, said Jacobsen. The new wellboat Hans á Bakka is expected to be delivered next month, while construction of the new harvest/VAP facility at Glyvrar is on schedule.
Bakkafrost expects a salmon harvest of between 49,000 and 51,000 MT gutted weight for 2015 as a whole, up from 44,013 MT last year and 41,268 MT in 2013.
It also released 2.2 million smolts in Q1 2015, which is in line with its smolt release plan of 10.4 million for the year.
Bakkafrost’s long-term strategy is to sell around 40 to 50 percent of its harvested salmon as VAP on fixed-price contracts. These contracts last for six to 12 months and the company has signed contracts covering around 80 percent of the VAP capacity for the rest of 2015.
Meanwhile, its FOF segment expects to sell between 83,000 and 87,000 MT of fish feed to external customers this year.
