Cermaq on Friday released its first-quarter results, which included a loss of NOK 65 million (USD 10 million, EUR 7.5 million), compared to a NOK 11 million (USD 1.7 million, EUR 1.3 million) loss during the same period last year. The majority of the negative impact is related to infectious salmon anemia (ISA) outbreaks in the group's Chilean salmon farming operations.
Operating revenues for the group totaled NOK 2.4 billion (USD 374 million, EUR 277 million), up from NOK 1.8 billion (USD 280 million, EUR 207 million) last year. The increase is mainly due to higher volumes and sales prices in Mainstream and the consolidation of Denofa.
"Despite the heavy losses in Chile, I believe the results are positive in the sense that the balance sheet is significantly improved, our equity ratio is increasing and we have activities in place in Chile to address the severe situation which will continue beyond 2009," said Cermaq CEO Geir Isaksen.
Heavily impacted by ISA costs in Chile, the Mainstream group reported a first-quarter loss of NOK 89.3 million (USD 14 million, EUR 10 million), compared to a NOK 15.8 million loss in 2008 (USD 2.5 million, EUR 1.8 million).
However, volumes increased by 31.1 percent due to higher sales volumes in Chile and in Canada. Mainstream Canada improved significantly from the first quarter 2008, from both higher volumes and favorable prices in the U.S. market. Mainstream Norway experienced reduced volumes and results, mainly due to pancreas disease (PD) problems in Finnmark. Mainstream Scotland reported a loss of NOK 12.1 million (USD 1.9 million, EUR 1.4 million).
Cermaq is an international group of companies with activities in fish farming, salmonid feed production and aquaculture research. Cermaq has operations in Norway, Scotland, Canada and Chile. Through its EWOS subsidiary, Cermaq ranks as the world's second largest fish-feed producer. The Mainstream subsidiary is the second biggest farmer of salmon and trout in the world. The group had sales of more than NOK 9.8 billion (USD 1.5 billion, EUR 1.1 billion) in 2008.
May 7, 2009
