Grieg shines as Q1 volumes and sales jump
GRIEG Seafood beat all earnings forecasts for the first quarter of 2018 on the back of considerably higher output, recent figures show.
The company harvested 11,433 tonnes in Q1 2018, up 34 per cent on the 2017 Q1 figure of 8,522 tonnes.
While the average industry spot price was down NOK 5.36 per kg on 2017, for Grieg Seafood the price achieved was only down by NOK 2.70 per kg.
This, said the company, was mainly due to high harvest volumes towards the end of the quarter, when the spot price was at its highest.
The resulting operating revenues for the first quarter of 2018 were NOK 1,493 million, a five per cent increase on last year.
Operating costs/kg were down by NOK 1.00 in the quarter, mainly as a result of higher harvest volumes, in addition to a more stable biological situation.
The lower costs, combined with strong price achievement in the quarter, resulted in an EBIT/kg of NOK 14.20, down compared to NOK 15.40/ kg in Q1 2017.
The company’s EBIT (operating income) before fair value adjustments was NOK 162.1 million in Q1 2018, up from NOK 131.5 million in Q1 2017.
In Shetland, which has faced biological challenges for some time, EBIT was -7.1 million NOK, a significant improvement on the same quarter last year (-14.4 million NOK).
The industry is collaborating to mitigate the challenges and Grieg Seafood is cooperating closely with the other farmers in the region. Extended fallowing time, the use of cleaner fish and the monitoring of algae are measures to be prioritised going forward, said the company.
Overall, Grieg said its goal was to maintain an annual production growth of a minimum of 10 per cent until 2020. Furthermore, the company aims to keep production costs at or below the industry average.
Grieg expects to harvest approximately 21,400 tonnes in Q2 2018. For 2018 as a whole, the company expects to harvest approximately 80,000 tonnes, which corresponds to a 28 per cent increase over 2017.