Marine Harvest posts record third-quarter
November 3, 2017
By Liza Mayer
Strong demand, high salmon prices and cost reduction gave Marine Harvest its strongest third-quarter so far, but harvest volume went down almost 2 percent due to biological issues in Norway.
Cost reduction The Norwegain salmon producer said it achieved an operational EBIT of €194 million ($225.5 million) in the third quarter of 2017, up 7.7 percent compared to €180 million ($209.3 million) in the corresponding quarter of 2016.
Supported by the good results, a strong market outlook, and a solid financial position, the Board has proposed a quarterly dividend of NOK 3.40 ($0.42) per share.
“Driven by high salmon prices on strong demand and improved contributions from our sales contracts, we achieved record high operational results in the third quarter,” says CEO Alf-Helge Aarskog.
“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 organization,” he says.
Marine Harvest Group’s operational revenues went up roughly 2 percent to € 868 million in the third quarter of 2017 from € 850 million in Q3 2016.
Total harvest volume was 95,338 tonnes in the quarter (97,215 tonnes). Harvest guidance for 2017 has been reduced to 369,000 tonnes because of biological issues in Norway, the company said.
“I am also pleased to see that our value-added production continues its improvements in a challenging quarter,” adds Aarskog.
