Despite harvesting less salmon than in the corresponding three months of last year, Marine Harvest achieved operational earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of EUR 194 million (USD 225.4 million) in the third-quarter of 2017, up from EUR 180 million (USD 209.1 million) in Q3 2016.
“Driven by high salmon prices on strong demand and improved contributions from our sales contracts, we achieved record high operational results in the third-quarter,” said Alf-Helge Aarskog, CEO of Marine Harvest. “It is encouraging to see that costs decreased for our farming operations in Norway, Chile and Canada in the quarter. Marine Harvest continues to have the utmost focus on cost reduction throughout the organization.”
The company reported operational revenues of EUR 868 million (USD 1 billion) for the last quarter, up from EUR 850 million (USD 987.7 million) in Q3 2016. The total harvest volume in the quarter was 95,338 metric tons (MT), down from 97,215 in Q3 2016. And as a result of “biological issues” in Norway, it has reduced its harvest guidance for 2017 by a further 8,000 MT from the Q2 forecast to 369,000 MT.
Its estimated volume for 2018 is 410,000 MT.
In the third-quarter, salmon of Norwegian origin achieved an operational EBIT per kg of EUR 2.24 (USD 2.60), up from EUR 1.98 (USD 2.30) in Q3 2016. Salmon of Scottish and Canadian origin recorded operational EBIT per kg of EUR 2.33 (USD 2.71) and EUR 1.73 (USD 2.01) respectively, with the Scottish EBIT up from EUR 0.60 (USD 0.70) and Canada’s down from EUR 2.63 (USD 3.06) per kg. Salmon of Chilean origin recorded operational EBIT of EUR 1.30 (USD 1.51) per kg in the quarter, a decline from EUR 1.43 (USD 1.66) a year previously.
MH Consumer Products recorded an operational EBIT of EUR 10.4 million (USD 12.1 million), up from EUR 2.6 million (USD 3 million) in Q3 2016. In total, 28,515 MT of products were sold in the quarter, and while this was less than in Q3 2016, prices were higher.
Aarskog said that he was pleased Marine Harvest’s value-added production continued to improve in a challenging quarter.
MH Feed reported an operational EBIT of EUR 9.4 million (USD 10.9 million), down from EUR 12.4 million (USD 14.4 million). It sold 114,203 MT of feed in the last quarter, compared to 114,685 MT in Q3 2016. At the same time, feed prices have decreased year-on-year.
According to the company’s Q3 2017 results statement, salmon prices in all markets were lower in the last quarter than in Q3 2016 due to the expected seasonally higher volumes available. In local currencies, the prices in Europe, Miami and Seattle were down by 6.3 percent, 9.5 percent and 4.2 percent year-on-year respectively.
