Marine Harvest on Wednesday said it expects to produce about 340,000 metric tons of salmon and trout (head-on gutted) in 2011, which would be up about 15 percent from 2010’s 295,000-metric-ton total and up about 4 percent from 2009’s 327,000-metric-ton total.
The announcement came as the world’s largest salmon producer released its fourth-quarter results, which continue to be strong thanks to historically high salmon prices. The Norwegian company’s fourth-quarter operational EBIT more than doubled to nearly NOK 1.1 billion, while its operating revenues increased 20.5 percent to almost NOK 4.6 billion.
“We are satisfied with the good result and the improvements made in the quarter. Overall performance is good, specifically in Norway,” said Marine Harvest CEO Alf-Helge Aarskog. “We are very well positioned to benefit from the expected strong market in 2011 and 2012.”
In the fourth quarter, Marine Harvest Norway achieved a per-kilogram operational EBIT of NOK 13.08, up from NOK 4.40 during the same period last year, while Marine Harvest Canada and Marine Harvest Scotland reported a per-kilogram operational EBIT of NOK 3.96 and NOK 8.99, respectively, up from NOK 2.51 and NOK 5.09.
“The market outlook remains very strong, and we now have a higher contract share for 2011 than at the same time last year, at prices higher than achieved prices in the second part of 2010,” said Aarskog.
Aarskog also pointed out that the company’s Chilean operations are well on the road to recovery. “In Chile, we have succeeded in adapting our operations to the current low activity level, with a healthy profit,” he said.
Of the approximately 340,000 metric tons of salmon and trout Marine Harvest expects to yield this year, 73,000 metric tons is forecasted to come in the first quarter.
Marine Harvest also announced on Wednesday that it is offering to buy out all investors who hold fewer than 1,000 shares, in an effort to reduce the number of shareholders and administrative costs.
