Leroy Seafood Group (LSG) reported operating profit before fair value adjustments of NOK 1 billion (USD 119.5 million, EUR 103.1 million) for the second-quarter of this year, up 25 percent from NOK 801 million (USD 95.7 million, EUR 82.6 million) in the corresponding period of 2017.
The Norwegian fish farming and fishing company cited the higher harvest volume of salmon and trout as the main driver of the increased profits in the three-month period. Some 37,800 metric tons (MT) gutted weight of these salmonids were harvested, up from 26,200 MT in Q2 2017.
LSG’s revenue for the last quarter increased by 19 percent to more than NOK 5 billion (USD 597.8 million, EUR 515.6 million).
For the first-half of 2018, its revenue totaled a record NOK 10 billion (USD 1.2 billion, EUR 1 billion), up 4 percent year-on-year, while its operating profit dropped slightly to less than NOK 2 billion (USD 239.1 million, EUR 206.2 million).
Following the acquisitions of Havfisk and Norway Seafoods in 2016, LSG is also Norway’s largest whitefish corporation. These two businesses make up LSG’s Wild Catch segment, with Norway Seafoods being renamed Leroy Norway Seafoods AS (LNWS).
Havfisk's total catch volume in Q2 2017 was 18,190 MT, compared with 16,769 MT in Q2 2017. Landings comprised 3,817 MT of cod, 441 MT of haddock, 5,401 MT of saithe and 3,279 MT of shrimp.
Compared with Q2 2017, prices for cod were up 15 percent and prices for haddock were up 48 percent, while prices for saithe were down 6 percent.
LNWS’s primary business is processing wild-caught whitefish. The company has use of 12 processing plants in Norway, five of which are leased from Havfisk.
LSG’s Q2 2018 results statement highlighted that within the capture fisheries sector, as a result of high demand for seafood and lower quotas, the raw material prices increased throughout the first half of 2018, which represented a challenge for processing operations.
A number of measures within both production and marketing to improve earnings have been implemented, but these are long-term initiatives and will take time before significant improvements are evident, it said.
The total contribution to operating profit made by these two companies in Q2 2018 was NOK 116 million (USD 13.9 million, EUR 12 million), up from NOK 86 million (USD 10.3 million, EUR 8.9 million) in the same period of last year.
LSG currently estimates a total harvest volume of 179,000 GWT salmon and trout for 2018, including LSG’s volume from associates and a wild catch volume in excess of approximately 65,000 MT.
