It has been more than five years since Faroe Islands-headquartered salmon-farming firm Bakkafrost entered Scotland via the 2019 acquisition of The Scottish Salmon Company.
The Scottish Salmon Company was the second-largest salmon-farming firm in Scotland at the time, and through the deal, Bakkafrost gained exclusive rights to grow native Hebridean salmon.
“The Scottish Salmon Company represents an attractive acquisition at this juncture providing exposure to the attractive and premium Scottish salmon-farming region with potential for synergies and transfer of best practices,” Bakkafrost CEO Regin Jacobsen said in a press release at the time. “The entire Bakkafrost team is looking forward to working with the management team to continue to enhance performance of the business and drive value in the years ahead.”
That initial optimism soon wore off as economic woes during Covid-19 and biological challenges such as jellyfish blooms negatively affected Bakkafrost's Scottish operations – a trend the firm is just starting to turn around.
“What we bought in Scotland was a company that was underinvested. It takes time to build everything to the level we want it at,” Jacobsen told SeafoodSource. “The pandemic delayed construction of our facilities, and we also encountered some technical problems. But, we think that now we will be seeing improvements.”
In its most recent financial results, Jacobsen revealed that de-risking strategies his firm has taken in Scotland are beginning to pay off...
