Bildudalur, Iceland-based salmon-farming firm Icelandic Salmon struggled with biological issues throughout 2024, but the company was able to stabilize conditions and improve its harvest volumes and weights during the year’s closing quarter, according to CEO Bjørn Hembre.
While announcing the firm’s Q4 2024 results, Hembre said the group, which is the sole owner and parent company of farming and processing company Arnarlax and its subsidiaries, worked its way through a challenging period that featured heavy bouts of sea lice, and the results of its mitigation efforts were finally seen in the fourth quarter.
“We have been able to control the sea lice situation and increase the harvesting volumes quite significantly compared to Q3,” he said. “But, we still have quite a way to go before we return to normal harvest volumes. This is likely to be in the second half of this year.”
For Q4 2024, Icelandic Salmon recorded a total harvest of 6,455 metric tons (MT), compared with 7,219 MT harvested in Q4 2023. Though the total harvest was lower year over year, the firm achieved an average harvest weight of 5.2 kilograms gutted weight tonnage (GWT), with a “satisfying superior share of 94 percent,” strong prices, and high demand, Hembre said.
He also noted that the weight was “well above the Norwegian market average” of 3.9 kilograms GWT and that this underscored Icelandic Salmon’s strong market position.
Icelandic Salmon’s operating income for the three-month period was EUR 49.9 million (USD 52.1 million), versus EUR 51.6 million (USD 53.8 million) in Q4 2023, with the year-over-year decline mainly attributed to the lower harvest volume.
Its operational EBIT for the quarter amounted to EUR 1.4 million (USD 1.5 million), down from EUR 2 million (USD 2.1 million) in Q4 2023, with the decline driven by lower volumes and the cost levels on harvested fish being affected by the biological challenges from the 2023-2024 winter, according to the firm...
