Progress on Salmon Evolution’s land-based salmon farm on the island of Indre Harøy, Norway, is on time and on budget, the company’s CEO, Håkon André Berg, announced during its third-quarter results presentation on 16 November.
Salmon Evolution is using a hybrid flowthrough system designed by Artec Aqua, with a 30 to 35 percent fresh sea-water intake, with a production goal of 31,500 metric tons (MT) of head-on, gutted (HOG) Atlantic salmon annually once the project is fully online.
The Romsdal, Norway-headquartered firm, which moved up to the Oslo Stock Exchange’s main board in July, is on track to receive its first smolt at the end of Q1 2022, according to Berg. Ten of the farm’s dozen fish tanks are already assembled, two water inlet pipes have been installed, and the smolt that will be transferred early next year are growing well, with an average weight of over 200 grams, he said. The smolts are coming from Kraft Laks AS, which Salmon Evolution acquired in August 2021. Berg said the acquisition had reduced the company’s risk by giving it full operational control over its smolt production, with Kraft Laks capable of producing around 1.8 million smolts per year, and holding a provisional license to produce up to five million smolts.
"The company is now putting a lot of focus and attention into planning for the start of production. During Q3 2021, several new employees were hired and we will continue to recruit highly qualified personnel in Q4 to ensure we are fully operational well ahead of March 2022,” Berg said.
To fund its growth, Salmon Evolution CFO Trond Håkon Schaug-Pettersen said the company had made its first draw-down under a NOK 625 million (USD 72 million, EUR 62 million) debt-financing package. Capital expenditure during Q3 was NOK 239 million (USD 27 million, EUR 24.1 million) and accumulated capex from project initiation in 2019 has been NOK 745 million (USD 85 million, EUR 75.4 million). As of 30 September, 2021, Salmon Evolution’s available liquidity was NOK 1.2 billion (USD 137 million, EUR 118 million), including cash and committed undrawn credit facilities.
In October, Salmon Evolution entered into a strategic aqua feed partnership with Cargill, which has committed to allocate significant resources and R&D capacity to develop sustainable feed solutions tailored to Salmon Evolution's operational targets. As part of the agreement, Cargill invested USD 5 million (EUR 4.3 million) in Salmon Evolution through a private placement.
In February 2021, Salmon Evolution entered into a joint venture with Dongwon Industries to develop, construct and operate a land-based salmon farming facility in South Korea with an annual production capacity of 16,800 MT HOG Atlantic salmon, using Salmon Evolution's land-based, flow-through farming technology. An initial feasibility study for the South Korean farm was delivered in October, and the joint venture, K Smart, is now in the process of fine-tuning the facility layout and production plans, Berg, said.
Photo courtesy of Salmon Evolution
