The calendar turning to 2024 marks 60 years in the salmon-farming business for Bergen, Norway-headquartered Mowi, which recently posted its best financial results to date.
Delivering its Q4 and full-year 2024 results in Oslo, Norway, on 14 February, Mowi CEO Ivan Vindheim said that though the company is celebrating a milestone anniversary, it has “more up its sleeve” and expects to see even stronger performance in the near future as its post-smolt investments start materializing.
Mowi’s total revenue for Q4 2023 reached a record level for the period at almost EUR 1.43 billion (USD 1.53 billion), compared with EUR 1.36 billion (USD 1.46 billion) in Q4 2022. Its operational earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) slipped 15 percent, or EUR 35.8 million (USD 38.3 million), to EUR 203.1 million (USD 217.3 million).
For the full year, the company’s revenues amounted to EUR 5.5 billion (USD 5.9 billion), which was up from 2022’s record EUR 4.9 billion (USD 5.2 billion). Mowi’s FY 2023 operational EBIT of EUR 1.03 billion (USD 1.11 billion) and its total harvest volume of 475,000 metric tons (MT) were also both all-time highs, with the latter achieved despite biological challenges the company’s Scottish operations experienced.
“I can’t think of a better way to start off Mowi’s 60-year jubilee than by rounding off another record-breaking year,” Vindheim said.
Vindheim said as recently as 2018, Mowi’s harvest volume was 375,000 MT, and that in the subsequent five years, it has added 125,000 MT. This is equivalent to annual growth of 4.9 percent, compared to a projected growth rate for the industry of 2.9 percent.
With the post-smolt program that Mowi launched at its Capital Markets Day in 2021 now starting to bear fruit, Vindheim said Mowi’s volume growth is likely to continue. By the end of 2024, Mowi’s post-smolt capacity will be almost 40 million post-smolt, equivalent to around 25 percent of the group’s total smolt. This, Vindheim said, would make it the largest post-smolt producer in the world.
“This marks a new era for us and will provide the basis for continued organic growth for Mowi Farming in the coming years, in addition to improved biological and financial metrics,” Vindheim said. “It’s also no secret that we have six other post-smolt projects in the pipeline in Norway, with framework conditions pending to enable them to be realized.”
Mowi's total harvest volume in the closing three months of 2023 slipped slightly on the corresponding period of 2022 at 129,234 MT gutted-weight, compared to 130,549 MT gutted-weight in Q4 2022.
Vindheim acknowledged this was lower than previous guidance. He said it was mainly due to a “biologically challenging quarter in Scotland,” with gill health issues, record seawater temperatures, and water-quality issues all taking their toll.
In Norway, Mowi’s largest farming region, the company produced 81,177 MT of salmon in Q4 2023, which was 5,888 MT less than in Q4 2022. However, for the full year, the region achieved a record harvest of 294,501 MT, thanks largely to a strong growth of fish at sea, according to Vindheim.
Mowi’s operations in Scotland contributed 10,568 MT in Q4 2023 and 54,950 MT for the year overall,. Its Chilean farms produced 27,163 MT in Q4 2023 and 69,199 MT for FY 2023. Mowi's Canadian farms accounted for 4,158 MT in Q4 2023 and 28,575 MT in FY 2023. And Mowi's Faroe Islands farms produced 3,526 MT in Q4 2023 and 11,027 MT for FY 2023, while its Ireland farms accounted for 112 MT in Q4 2023 and 4,534 MT in FY 2023.
Mowi has issued a total 2024 harvest volume guidance of 500,000 MT, which if achieved, will be the first time in its history it has reached what Vindheim called the “magic” milestone. This includes a record 305,000 MT guidance for Norway, following up 95,000 MT of additional regional production since 2017.
“If anything, we believe there is a downside risk to this estimate as we put a biologically challenging 2023 behind us – in the wake of El Niño – which has taken its toll on standing biomass,” he said.
Vindheim said Mowi had started the new year off on “a good note,” with strong prices for salmon of European origin and prices recovering for American-origin fish. Supply is also looking healthy from a price perspective, he said, with growth of 2 percent expected this year.
Photo courtesy of Ivan Vindheim/LinkedIn
