Volumes down, costs up in MH Scotland

MARINE Harvest announced a strong performance for the second quarter of this year, with an operating profit or EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) of €175 million.

But there was a ‘significant decrease’ in harvest volumes in Scotland and biological costs were up 33 per cent compared to the same period last year.

The overall results for the group are in line with forecasts and compare with an EBIT of €198 million for the corresponding period last year, when salmon prices were higher.

The company said this year’s second quarter figures were supported by good results, a strong market outlook, and a solid financial position. However, harvest volumes were lower than the corresponding period last year, at 78,346 tonnes in the quarter (78,612 tonnes in 2017).

In Scotland, harvest volumes declined from 18,515 tonnes gutted weight in Q2 2017 to 8,958 tonnes in Q2 2018. This was due to lower opening biomass as a consequence of timing of smolt stockings and lower performance on the fish harvested in 2018.

The decline was slightly more than expected but, in tonnage terms, Scottish harvest volumes developed more or less as expected.

The effects of higher achieved prices and increased margin from Consumer Products on salmon of Scottish origin were more than offset by lower harvest volume and cost increases.

Cost per kg was reduced in the second quarter compared to the first quarter; however, compared to the second quarter in 2017 costs increased.

Biological costs per kg in Scotland increased by 33 per cent in the second quarter of 2018 compared to the corresponding quarter of 2017, mainly due to increased feed and health costs and negative scale effects.

No incident based mortality was recognised in the second quarter and sea lice levels at the end of the quarter were lower than at the end of the comparable quarter of 2017. Production has been lower than in the second quarter of 2017 as a result of lower opening biomass.