Santiago, Chile-based salmon farmer Blumar plans to call an extraordinary shareholders meeting in the next month to vote on a proposed USD 40 million (EUR 36.5 million) capital increase via the issuance of new shares, according to a company statement submitted to the Santiago bourse.
The increase will serve to strengthen the company's financial position and help it better cope with the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Blumar General Manager Gerardo Balbontín told local media.
Blumar posted a net profit of USD 277,000 (EUR 252,000) during the first quarter of 2020, falling 87 percent from profits of USD 2.3 million (EUR 2.1 million) posted in the same period last year, according to the company’s latest earnings release. Total revenues increased 5.4 percent during the period to USD 115.8 million (EUR 105.5 million), while sales costs crept up 8.6 percent to USD 94 million (EUR 85.7 million).
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) came in at USD 17.1 million (EUR 15.6 million), down 17 percent from the year before. Income tax of USD 1.36 million (EUR 1.24 million) in the first quarter this year, compared to USD 180,000 (EUR 164,000) in 2019, further dragged on the firm’s bottom line.
Blumar said 59 percent of its sales came from Atlantic salmon (versus 60 percent in the same quarter one year ago), 15 percent from fishmeal and fish oil (flat from first quarter of 2019), 14 percent from frozen jack mackerel (versus 11 percent), 9 percent from whitefish (flat), and 3 percent from Coho salmon (versus 4 percent in Q1 2019).
In terms of volume, the company sold 12.5 metric tons (MT) of Atlantic salmon in the first quarter of 2020, up 13 percent year-on-year, while coho salmon was up 6 percent to 980 MT.
Regarding the construction of the USD 54 million (EUR 49 million) Entrevientos processing plant that Blumar is building in conjunction with fellow salmon farmer Multiexport, Salmonexpert quoted the plant manager Jerardo Ortuya as saying that operations are slated to kick off during the second half of June. The 8,700-square-meter plant in the southern city of Punta Arenas will have capacity to handle 50,000 metric tons (MT) of salmon and is expected to create about 300 jobs.
Photo courtesy of Blumar
