Marine Harvest delivers record Q3 earnings

MARINE Harvest announced record earnings of € 194 million for the third quarter of this year, driven, it says, by high prices and a strong market outlook.

The figure compares with an EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) of € 180 million for the same period in 2016.

CEO Alf-Helge Aarskog said the good results were also supported by strong demand for salmon and improved results from its sales contracts.

‘It is encouraging to see that costs decreased for our farming operations in Norway, Chile and Canada in the quarter.

‘Marine Harvest continues to have the utmost focus on cost reduction throughout the organisation. I am also pleased to see that our value added production continues its improvement in a challenging quarter.’

Marine Harvest Group reported operational revenues of € 868 million (€850 million last year) in the third quarter.

Total harvest volume was 95,338 tonnes in the quarter (97,215 last year). Harvest guidance for all of 2017 has been reduced to 369,000 tonnes from 377,000 tonnes because of biological issues in Norway.

Salmon of Norwegian origin achieved an operational EBIT per kilo of € 2.24 (€1.98) , while salmon of Scottish and Canadian origin reported operational EBIT per kilo

€ of € 2.33 and € 1.73 respectively (€0.60 and € 2.63). The good results in Scotland, supported by higher contract prices, came against a background of improved costs. But these were expected to increase in the fourth quarter of 2017.