NRS sells off southern sites
ONE of Norway’s biggest salmon producers, Norway Royal Salmon (NRS), has sold its southern farming operations to a local cluster of farmers.
NRS agreed a deal with Tombre Fiskeanlegg, Lingalaks and Eidesvik Laks to sell its subsidiary, Sør Farming, for NOK 1.2 billion (nearly £108 million).
Sør Farming has six salmon licences amounting to a total biomass of 4,680 tonnes, but the region has had biological costs in the past year.
Norway Royal Salmon reported reported an operating profit of NOK 116 million (£10.5 million) in the second quarter compared to nok 181 million (£16.4 million) for q2 last year.
Biological issues such as the algae bloom outbreak last May hit the Northern region, the company’s main production area, and the harvest volume forecast for 2019 has been reduced by 2,500 tonnes to 35,000 tonnes.
Chief executive Charles Høstlund said: ‘The group’s biomass has increased by 26 per cent on the same quarter last year. To meet the growing demand for healthy Norwegian salmon, NRS continues to increase the activity in northern Norway.’
The company, which also owns Arctic Fish in Iceland, has started construction of a new smolt facility outside Tromsø.