Young’s Seafood snatches up Aldi salmon processing contract from rival

Major global supermarket chain Aldi has awarded Young’s Seafood with its chilled salmon processing contract, formerly held by rival Marine Harvest.

Young’s Fraserburgh plant on Watermill Road will be in charge of most of the processing for the contract, while Marine Harvest’s Rosyth plant – the facility formerly responsible for Aldi processing duties – will focus on smoking and chilling salmon for retailer Sainsbury’s in light of the transfer. Aldi has already begun to move some of its production to Young’s locations, a spokesperson for the seafood processor told The Press and Journal.

The business transfer is nearly the complete inverse of a scenario seen last year, when Young’s lost its lucrative Sainsbury’s salmon contract to Marine Harvest, prompting the U.K. company to eliminate hundreds of jobs in Fraserburgh to keep the facility afloat. The spokesperson for Young’s declined to comment on what the contract means long-term for Fraserburgh.

The new contract is more good news for Young Seafood Limited, which just posted its financial results for the financial year ending in September 2015. The processor closed out the year with a six percent increase in operating profit – up to EUR 26.7 million (USD 30.03 million) from the EUR 25.2 million (USD 28.3 million) seen over the same period on 2014. The company also posted an increase in EBITDA, up to EUR 37.4 million (USD 42.1 million) over the EUR 36.5 million (USD 41.1 million) tallied in 2014.

“Young’s Seafood Limited’s results for the financial year ending 2015 demonstrate strong cost control and solid underlying UK trading performance. With the strategic focus on cost management, and the scope to exploit the opportunities that the new market dynamics present, we are optimistic for the future,” said Bill Showalter, CEO and CFO of Young’s Seafood International Holdings, the parent company of operating company Young’s Seafood Limited.

Aldi’s salmon business in the United Kingdom is split into two parts – natural portions and salmon and sauce products. Norwegian firm Hofseth International holds the contract for the other half of Aldi’s salmon business.

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