Morpol CEO Jerzy Malek says he expects demand for farmed salmon to pick up as retail prices comes down, giving the Poland-based processor “a better platform to enter 2012” than in 2011.
On Friday, the company delivered its third-quarter results, including a significant increase in operating income, to EUR 14.8 million, after breaking even in the third quarter of 2010. Morpol’s third-quarter operating revenues also jumped significantly, to EUR 103.4 million, up from EUR 93.3 million in 2010.
“The third-quarter results brought a big improvement in processing margins achieved, despite a challenging market,” said Malek. “In general, we saw a reduction in the sales of some of our products during the third quarter, though sales of the main product category of cold smoked salmon was stable and specialty products showed a strong increase.”
Morpol’s processing division posted third-quarter revenues of EUR 83.9 million, down slightly from EUR 86.5 million in 2010, while its farming division managed third-quarter revenues of EUR 29 million, up from EUR 7.5 million in 2010, due to Morpol acquiring the majority of its farming operations at the end of the third quarter 2010 and in the first quarter 2011.
