Trout farmer concern over taxes despite healthy performance

Leading Norwegian trout farmer Firda Seafood says it enjoyed a satisfactory trading year in 2023, but has expressed concerns over the high level of taxes and other outside impositions on the aquaculture sector.

The company reported an increase in turnover to almost NOK 2.39bn (£173m) and an EBIT or operating margin of NOK 637.7m (£46m) for the year ending 21 December 2023. 2022 turnover was NOK 2.377 bn and the EBIT was NOK 636bn. The 2023 operating margin was 26.7% and the 2022 margin was 26.8%.

Firda was founded in 1984 and has grown rapidly to become Norway’s largest supplier of farmed trout.

Today it is a fully integrated trout company with control of its fish through their entire lifecycle and beyond. It was originally involved in salmon farming, but is now totally involved with producing trout.

The company CEO Lina Braanaas Utne said that while the performance was satisfactory, she warned that the profits that Firda and other companies had used for business development along the coast are constantly being reduced, among other things, by the authorities.

This included reductions in production capacity, wealth and dividend tax for non-listed companies and the ground rent tax (also known as “salmon tax”).

“At the same time, we see that operation and development of the farming industry will become more expensive in the future,” she said.

Utne, who is the daughter of the founder Ola Braanaas and who took over in February 2023, also believes the company can continue to improve fish welfare, further reduce mortality and increase the proportion of fish classed as “superior”, even if this is flat at 95%.

But the reductions, and the current tax policy, are uncertainty factors that affected the company’s faith in the future and willingness to invest, she said.

Lina Braanaas Utne, CEO, Firda