Aquafeed group BioMar has overcome strong competition in Norway and a warm European summer to deliver strong third-quarter results, almost outperforming the accumulated results of the previous two quarters.
With all markets except Norway performing above expectations, the company has raised its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the full year.
Aarhus, Denmark-headquartered BioMar sold 367,000 metric tons (MT) of feed in the last quarter, representing an increase of two percent year-on-year. While the salmon units in Northern Europe reported the expected decline in revenue, the remaining units increased revenue by 16 percent compared to Q3 2017. Consequently, its revenues for the three-month period totaled DKK 3.5 billion (USD 527.3 million, EUR 469.1 million), up from less than DKK 3.1 billion (USD 467 million, EUR 415.5 million) in Q3 2017.
It said that this development brings BioMar in shape to raise the EBITDA guidance for the year from the range of DKK 665-705 million (USD 100.2-106.2 million, EUR 89.1-94.5 million) to the range of DKK 690-715 million (USD 103.9-107.7 million, EUR 92.5-95.8 million).
“We knew that Q3 was going to be another challenging quarter for the salmon division due to the tough competition, especially in Norway. However, we clearly see light ahead in terms of recovering volumes and results,” BioMar CEO Carlos Diaz said. “We have taken several measures improving our long-term financial performance, striving to increase efficiency while at the same time leveraging on our core strength being locally agile with a strong focus on innovation and collaboration. I believe that we in a short time will see our performance in Norway back on track.”
BioMar’s 2018 year-to-date results with volumes sales of 879,000 MT, revenues of DKK 7.5 billion (USD 1.1 billion, EUR 1 billion) and an EBITDA of DKK 500 million (USD 75.3 million, EUR 67 million) are ahead of last year, mainly due to a strong performance in the new business units in Ecuador, Turkey, and China. Its associated companies and join ventures have so far contributed DKK 42 million (USD 6.3 million, EUR 5.6 million), compared with DKK 16 million (USD 2.4 million, EUR 2.1 million) in the corresponding period of 2017.
