The Scottish Salmon Company harvested 6,382 metric tons (MT) of farmed salmon in the second-quarter of this year, down from 8,199 MT in Q2 2015, achieving revenues of GBP 28.5 million (USD 37.7 million, EUR 33.4 million), down 9 percent year-on-year. Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the last quarter amounted to almost GBP 5 million (USD 6.6 million, EUR 5.9 million), up from GBP 4.3 million (USD 5.7 million, EUR 5 million) a year previously.
The Edinburgh-headquartered company said that salmon prices had remained at record highs – on average 55 percent higher than the previous quarter – reflected in the higher revenue/kg price achieved in Q2 and that continued growth in consumer demand and contraction in supply were the main drivers of the “unprecedented” global price levels.
Its operating costs for the quarter were GBP 23.5 million (USD 31.1 million, EUR 27.5 million), down from GBP 26.8 million (USD 37.8 million, EUR 31.4 million) in Q2 2015, though the costs per kg increased to GBP 3.68 (USD 4.87, EUR 4.31) from GBP 3.27 (USD 4.33, EUR 3.83) 12 months previously.
The increased costs largely attributed to losses at a site in the Hebrides. While the average fish size was around 600 grams, this together with smaller losses at other sites, represented a loss in harvest volumes of around 1,800 MT, which will impact Q4 2016 and the start of 2017.
The Hebrides site, which is in a particularly remote location, was affected by unseasonably poor weather during the first part of the year and the company said it has undertaken a review of infrastructure, processes and configuration to mitigate the risk.
“Due to industry wide biological issues, harvests during Q2 for a specific group of southern sites were at a lower mean weight than expected. This contributed to the higher operating costs per kg than the previous cycle and prior year. Continued focus is on best practice with innovative and collaborative industry solutions to these issues, including developing the feeder fish stocking policy,” it said.
The company has adjusted its annual target for the current financial year to around 26,000 MT.
“This is a combination of the lower than expected harvest volumes in the year to date due to biological issues and the impact of the losses at our site in the Hebrides. We are also reviewing our strategy in relation to 2017 in response to these losses.”
