High salmon prices, as expected, resulted in a record first quarter for Marine Harvest ASA. The Norwegian company’s operating income reached NOK 963 million (USD 177.6 million, EUR 123.5 million) in the first quarter of 2011, up from NOK 608 million in the first quarter of 2010.
Marine Harvest’s operating revenues totaled NOK 3.94 billion in the first quarter of 2011, up from NOK 3.45 billion in the first quarter of 2010, while its net earnings amounted to NOK 606 million in the first quarter of 2011, down from NOK 626 million.
Despite strong results at the company’s two largest farming divisions (Marine Harvest Norway and Marine Harvest Scotland), Marine Harvest CEO Alf-Helge Aarskog said he’s “not satisfied” with the prices in Norway and the margins in Canada and its value-added division in Europe (including Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, Spain and Iceland).
“The establishment of a new global sales and marketing organization should improve our overall price achievement and an on-going operational review will address the challenges we have in Canada,” said Aarskog.
As for production, Marine Harvest is on track to increase its harvest by approximately 15 percent, to 341,000 metric tons, this year. The company produced 76,088 metric tons in the first quarter of 2011, up from 73,090 metric tons in the first quarter of 2010, and expects to yield 81,500 metric tons in the second quarter of 2011.
