With regulatory and global trade uncertainties affecting the Canadian operations of Bergen, Norway-headquartered Grieg Seafood, the firm has announced plans to scale back in North America and, instead, hone in on growth in Norway.
In Grieg’s financial report for the fourth quarter of 2024, CEO Andreas Kvame acknowledged the “need for action” and confirmed the group would now focus its efforts on sustainable and profitable growth in its Norwegian operations while protecting the value of its Canadian assets.
“We have launched a transformation program to lay the financial and organizational foundation for profitable and sustainable growth going forward,” Kvame said. “This includes reallocating resources toward our strong Norwegian assets base while maintaining our position in Canada, making efforts to secure financial strength, and sharpening the operational initiatives we are running.”
To reflect these changes, the group has taken on impairment losses – reflected in its Q4 financials – in excess of NOK 1.7 billion (USD 153 million, EUR 146.7 million), with NOK 1 billion (USD 90 million, EUR 86.3 million) of that total relating to intangible assets and approximately NOK 700 million (USD 63 million, EUR 60.4 million) to property, plant, and equipment.
With the losses factored into its Q4 2024 report, Grieg reported lower profits for the period compared to the same three-month span in 2023.
Factoring in the Canadian impairments, Grieg reported a pre-tax loss for the quarter of NOK 1.59 billion (USD 143 million, EUR 137.1 million), compared to a profit of NOK 303 million (USD 27.3 million, EUR 26.1 million) in Q4 2023.
Its operational EBIT of NOK -74 (USD -6.7 million, EUR -6.4 million) in the quarter marked a decrease from NOK -67 million (USD -6 million, EUR -5.8 million) in the corresponding period of 2023.
Kvame also noted that the operational EBIT for the full year of 2024 was NOK 8 million (USD 719,914, EUR 690,055), compared with NOK 780 million (USD 70.2 million, EUR 67.3 million) in 2023...
