Chilean fishing and salmon-farming firm Camanchaca has announced that it will close its northern farming division, which is dedicated to the cultivation of abalone.
On 28 January, Camanchaca’s board of directors decided to shut down operations in the division after having suffered EBITDA losses of USD 9.3 million (EUR 9 million) between 2016 and September 2024, the company reported to Chile’s securities regulator CMF.
Camanchaca had explored different alternatives to recover profitability in the division but was unsuccessful, it said.
The existing larger portion of abalone biomass will be cultivated during the first half of this year for harvesting, processing, and sale during 2025, while the smaller biomass will be disposed of, Camanchaca CEO Ricardo García said in a letter to the CMF.
The company estimates that the impairment of assets in this move will generate an after-tax loss of USD 4.9 million (EUR 4.7 million), to be reflected in the financial statements as of 31 December 2024, with no expected material effects on cash flows.
The company has continued to work on restructuring its operations to place the main business areas of the Camanchaca group – pelagic fishing, crustacean fishing, salmon farming, and mussel farming – into separate companies: Camanchaca S.A., Crustaceos Sur, Salmones Camanchaca, and Camanchaca Cultivos Sur, respectively.
The new structure would consolidate the company’s pelagic fishing business, with the goal of streamlining operational and administrative tasks, optimizing fishing rights, and distributing sea and land fishing assets between different areas of Chile.
In Q3 2024, Camanchaca posted a net loss of USD 3.1 million (EUR 2.9 million), compared to a net profit of USD 2.9 million (EUR 2.8 million) in the same period a year prior. Revenues for the firm amounted to USD 160 million (EUR 152 million) – down 17.9 percent from the USD 195 million (EUR 185 million) it posted in the third quarter of 2023. Its EBITDA before fair value reached USD 11.9 million (EUR 11.3 million) in the quarter, falling 51.3 percent from the same period last year.
The firm will release its Q4 2024 results on 25 March.
