Sortland, Vesterålen, Norway-based Andfjord Salmon is advancing its plans for a salmon aquaculture facility using a patented flow-through system, shareholders were told at the company’s quarterly meeting on 3 September.
The company said it has completed its first pool at its Kvalnes, Norway-based facility, is continuing with an expansion plan to increase production volume from 12,600 metric tons (MT) to 19,000 MT head-on gutted Atlantic salmon, and has obtained a further NOK 50 million (USD 5.8 million, EUR 4.8 million) unsecured shareholder loan to fund extended testing of the first pool.
“Progress has been good throughout the second quarter and into the third quarter, and we remain on track with our current plan,” Andfjord Salmon CEO Martin Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen said that the first pool is nearly ready to be filled with water, with a few minor tasks to be completed post-fill. Once the water and flow conditions are tested, staff training is expected to take place in Q1 2022, with the first smolts anticipated on site in Q2 2022.
The second and third phases of construction, the company said, will add 16 pools to the facility. Fast-tracking the development for the next phases will bring economies of scale, reduce biological risk, and see the company’s potential earnings before interest and taxes increase from around NOK 350 million to NOK 500 million (USD 40 million to USD 57 million, EUR 34 million to EUR 48 million).
Each 30,000-cubic-meter pool is designed to recreate a natural ocean habitat on land through the continuous supply of oxygen-rich ocean water. The company said it anticipates that its technological approach "will produce healthy, robust salmon."
“Typical [recirculating aquaculture system] pools are just 5,000 cubic meters; ours are in a league of their own. They work on a low-energy, laminar-flow principle,” Rasmussen said.
Turning to the company’s financials, he outlined that its total assets at the end of the first half of 2021 were NOK 417.3 million (USD 48.2 million, EUR 40.5 million) compared with NOK 311 million (USD 36 million, EUR 30 million) in the same period in 2020. Total liabilities were NOK 74.5 million (USD 8.6 million, EUR 7.2 million), against NOK 28.2 million (USD 3.2 million, EUR 2.7 million) in 2020.
The company has no operating income, and the net loss for the H1 2021 was NOK 14 million (USD 1.6 million, EUR 1.3 million), mainly related to operating expenses.
“This autumn will be another very hectic period for Andfjord Salmon, testing the first pool and preparing for the phase-three build-out,” Rasmussen said. “A consequence of this was moving the first smolt release to 2022, but we believe that clearing the path to realize a potential 50 percent growth in production volume at Kvalnes is a highlyattractive proposition for all our shareholders.”
Photo courtesy of Andfjord Salmon
