Norwegian land-based salmon farming company Salmon Evolution has reported a lower EBITDA in Q3 2024 as the company pushes its harvests for the quarter into Q4 in an effort to maximize the price it gets for its salmon.
Salmon Evolution reported a group EBITDA loss of NOK 7.3 million (USD 671,000, EUR 622,000) in Q3 2024, a drop from the NOK 45.4 million (USD 4.2 million, EUR 3.8 million) it earned in Q2 2024 – though it was still an improvement from the NOK 24 million (USD 2.2 million, EUR 2 million) loss it posted in Q3 2023. Those earnings were based on a farming EBITDA of NOK 2.2 million (USD 202,000, EUR 187,000) at an EBITDA per kilogram of NOK 3.3 (USD 0.30, EUR 0.28).
Those lower earnings were partially related to the company pushing its harvest volumes into Q4 2024 to maximize prices, as it expects to see price increases for its salmon in those months. Salmon Evolution said it still expects to be on track to meet its 5,000 MT harvest expectations for the years, and that its standing biomass levels were at “near record levels.”
The company said it saw steady improvements in its daily growth rates for its salmon in the quarter, and that it has also completed restocking smolts in its Indre Harøy facility. The company reported smolt quality issues in Q1 2024, which forced it to reduce its stocking volumes.
"We have used the third quarter well, restocking Indre Harøy and ensuring that we are in a strong position going into 2025, where we expect to increase production by about 40 percent," Salmon Evolution CEO Trond Håkon Schaug-Pettersen said. "Given our continued stable operations and strong operational KPIs, we have the answers we need and are very confident going into 2025.”
Salmon Evolution said its new batches of smolt are showing better performance, and that the poor quality smolt it stocked in May have normalized.
The company posted NOK 51.3 million (USD 4.7 million, EUR 4.3 million) in operating revenues in Q3 2024, up from NOK 15.8 million (USD 1.4 million, EUR 1.3 million) in Q3 2023. That total is down from the NOK 170.4 million (USD 15.6 million, EUR 14.5 million) it posted in Q2 2024, largely due to it pushing its harvests into Q4.
The company said that work on Phase 2 of its Indre Harøy facility is now making progress after the company completed the financing package for the investment in Q2 2024. Salmon Evolution said the second phase will add 10,100 MT of head-on gutted harvest annually, bringing the facility from a maximum capacity of 7,900 MT to 18,000 MT.
"The project is on track for first harvest during 2026, and we have gotten off to a very good start at the building site,” Schaug-Pettersen said. "With phase 2 online we will have an operational strength few in the industry can rival.”
