Marine Harvest’s 1Q hit by challenging market

Marine Harvest warned of a challenging salmon market ahead after reporting a drop in EBIT, revenue and earnings for the first quarter of 2012.

The company's operational EBIT dropped to NOK 276 million during the first quarter of 2012, compared to NOK 963 million during the same period in 2011. Operational revenues dropped to NOK 3.8 million compared to NOK 3.9 million last year. Earnings for the period were NOK 402 million, down from NOK 318 million.

The world’s largest farmed salmon producer increased its harvest volumes by 29 percent to 96.700 tons, up from 75.224 metric tons in the first quarter of 2011. 

For the year, Marine Harvest increased its estimate for global industry harvest volume for the year by 14 to 20 percent. The company expects to harvest 95,000 metric tons in the second quarter of the year, to reach its total 2012 harvest volume of 380,000 metric tons.

“The markets so far have been able to absorb a record high volume growth,” said Alf-Helge Aarskog, CEO. “We are none the less expecting a challenging market the coming quarters and continue our efforts to expand the market for Atlantic salmon. In our farming units we maintain our strong focus on capital efficiency and cost measures to preserve our financial strength.

Marine Harvest Norway saw EBIT per kilo of NOK 3.35 in the first quarter, down from NOK 13.56. The company’s Scotland and Canada operations saw EBIT per kilo of NOK 5.56 and NOK -0.02, respectively, down from NOK 12.89 and NOK 9.28. Chile achieved EBIT per kilogram of NOK 2.20, down from NOK 15.46.

“In a very demanding market we have improved our relative price achievement, maintained good cost control in our farming operations and strengthened our financial position,” said Aarskog. “I am particularly satisfied with our efforts to expand the market for Atlantic salmon and with the performance in Marine Harvest Scotland. The results from Marine Harvest VAP Europe were disappointing and underlines the need for significant improvements.”

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