Klepp, Norway-based aquaculture technology firm AKVA group achieved record revenues and EBIT in the second quarter of 2025, along with an order pipeline that allows it to maintain its growth projections for the rest of the year and beyond.
AKVA recorded 15 percent higher revenues in Q2 compared to the same period last year – posting a record NOK 1.17 billion (USD 114.1 million, EUR 97.9 million). The firm also recorded an all-time high in EBIT at NOK 89 million (USD 8.7 million, EUR 7.4 million).
CEO Knut Nesse, delivering AKVA’s Q2 2025 results at the Aqua Nor conference in Trondheim, Norway, said the quarter also resulted in an “acceptable” order intake of just over NOK 1 billion (USD 97.5 million, EUR 83.7 million) in the three-month period.
The report also stated that the group’s Q2 EBITDA increased by NOK 35 million (USD 3.4 million, EUR 2.9 million) to NOK 145 million (USD 14.1 million, EUR 12.1 million).
By business segment, Q2 revenues earned by AKVA’s Sea-Based (SB) arm totaled NOK 868 million (USD 84.6 million, EUR 72.6 million), up from NOK 842 million (USD 82.1 million, EUR 70.5 million) a year previously. Its EBITDA and EBIT ended at NOK 124 million (USD 12.1 million, EUR 10.4 million) and NOK 85 million (USD 8.3 million, EUR 7.1 million), respectively, up from NOK 106 million (USD 10.3 million, EUR 8.9 million) and NOK 68 million (USD 6.6 million, EUR 5.7 million).
The segment’s order intake totaled NOK 655 million (USD 63.9 million, EUR 54.8 million) in the period, representing a NOK 58 million (USD 5.7 million, EUR 4.9 million) decrease year over year. SB’s order backlog at the end of the quarter was NOK 895 million (USD 87.3 million, EUR 74.9 million), which was up NOK 79 million (USD 7.7 million, EUR 6.6 million) compared to the same period last year.
Land-Based’s (LB) revenues for the quarter amounted to NOK 264 million (USD 25.8 million, EUR 22.1 million), which was up NOK 127 million (USD 12.4 million, EUR 10.6 million) year over year. LB’s EBITDA and EBIT ended the period at NOK 13 million (USD 1.3 million, EUR 1.1 million) and NOK 9 million (USD 877,919, EUR 753,385), which were improvements on a loss of NOK 1 million (USD 98,000, EUR 84,000) and a loss of NOK 4 million (USD 390,000, EUR 335,000) in Q2 2024, respectively.
The segment’s order intake more than doubled to NOK 316 million (USD 30.8 million, EUR 26.4 million) from NOK 149 million (USD 14.5 million, EUR 12.5 million), while its order backlog ended at over NOK 1.6 billion (USD 156.1 million, EUR 133.9 million), compared to NOK 1.5 billion (USD 146.3 million, EUR 125.6 million) last year.
Revenues for AKVA’s Digital (DI) segment amounted to NOK 35 million (USD 3.4 million, EUR 2.9 million) – the same as in Q2 2024. Its EBITDA and EBIT were NOK 8 million (USD 780,368, EUR 669,603) and a loss of NOK 1 million, respectively, while its order intake climbed NOK 55 million (USD 5.4 million, EUR 4.6 million) to NOK 81 million (USD 7.9 million, EUR 6.8 million).
Nesse highlighted that the company’s main focus at the moment remains on the “deep-farming” sector of the salmon industry and the further rollout of its Nautilus solutions.
A particular “positive driver” in this area of operations has been submerged cages, which AKVA said have proven to reduce the number of sea lice treatments needed by fish-farming firms by around 85 percent.
“On top of the direct growth, we believe there is also indirect potential because some of the criticism aimed toward the industry has to do with mortality,” Nesse said. “So, when you solve that problem, we think [farmers] will have a better ‘agreement’ and a better social license and then have more possibilities to grow the industry.”
AKVA has expanded its deep-farming customer base to now include six salmon-farming firms, with Nesse stating there’s a strong business pipeline for the rest of 2025.
“We believe, going forward until the year 2030, it's roughly a NOK 6 billion [USD 585 million, EUR 502 million] total market opportunity,” he said. “That’s on the basis of there being roughly 600 active sites at this point in time in Norway. We also believe that – based on the depth required [for Nautilus] and other local conditions – 50 to 60 percent of these sites are suitable for this technology.”
In addition to the potential in deep farming, another AKVA focus is on post-smolt, according to Nesse, who said that the industry can achieve a further 30 percent to 35 percent in harvest volume, which amounts to around 1 million MT, through post-smolt technologies that improve biomass yield and also reduce mortality. At the same time, land-based grow-out operations are beginning to gain traction, with the long-term potential to also generate 500,000 MT of market-ready salmon through the practice, according to the firm.
With a continued focus on these areas, AKVA is aiming for a minimum revenue for 2025 of NOK 4 billion (USD 390.3 million, EUR 334.7 million) – which would be up from NOK 3.6 billion (USD 351.3 million, EUR 301.3 million) last year – and 2025 EBIT growth of 6 percent. For 2027, the target is to grow to NOK 5 billion (USD 488.1 million, EUR 418.4 million) in revenues and 9 percent EBIT growth.
“We have done the investments, we have the people we need, in principle, and that's why we expect to see much higher EBIT on the back of higher turnover into ’27,” Nesse said.
