Kats, The Netherlands-headquartered land-based yellowtail producer The Kingfish Company achieved a 92 percent increase in sales in the first quarter of 2021, alongside a production growth that was 19 percent higher than it was in the closing quarter of last year.
The company’s latest results build on a 2020 performance that it said was “ahead of expectations.”
“We are pleased with our first-quarter performance and appreciate the strong execution by our dedicated team. We produced 228 tons of high-value yellowtail kingfish in the first-quarter of 2021, setting another productivity record of 0.70 kilogram (biomass growth per cubic meter per day),” The Kingfish Company CEO and Co-Founder Ohad Maiman said. “On the sales and marketing front, we delivered several strategic retail launches in Europe and in the U.S., with more exciting developments in the pipeline.”
Last year’s results were driven by strong operational performance combined with sales volumes and price levels that remained in pre-COVID ranges throughout the year, as well as strict cost control, according to The Kingfish Company’s latest business update and annual report for 2020.
It reported that prices for its large fish averaged EUR 12.90 (USD 15.42) per kilogram in Q1 2021, while its smaller fish averaged EUR 9.20 (USD 11.00).
The report revealed that company’s site development in the U.S. state of Maine and its Phase 2 expansion in the Netherlands are advancing on track, while Phase 1B – which will bring the Netherlands’ total installed capacity to 1,250 metric tons (MT) – has commenced commissioning and is scheduled to complete stocking in the second quarter.
The Kingfish Company achieved revenues of almost EUR 5 million (USD 6 million) in 2020, which was in line with the previous year, while its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) was negative EUR 3.5 million (USD -4.2 million), with a net loss after tax of EUR 3.6 million (USD 4.3 million). This, it said, reflected the substantial scale-up of capacity that it is currently undertaking in its expansion of the Netherlands site and development of its first U.S. site.
Farming operations delivered a gross margin of EUR 1.60 (USD 1.91) per kilogram last year, produced on a unit economics basis, compared to EUR 0.40 (USD 0.48) per kilogram in 2019. The biomass harvested increased by 31.3 percent to 637 MT, with the biomass sold amounting to 461 MT.
The company expects its margins to continue to improve as scale-up continues.
When the company was founded in 2015, recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) technology was looked at with a healthy dose of skepticism, Maiman recalled in the report.
“Thanks to the hard work and endless dedication of our team, by 2020 we have been able to demonstrate that with our design and operational protocols, we have crossed the rubicon from an experimental to a proven and commercially-viable production method,” he said.
Photo courtesy of The Kingfish Company
