Loch Duart profits up 126% for 2023

Independent salmon producer Loch Duart Ltd has reported profits of £3.4m for the 2023 financial year, up from £1.5m.

The company’s accounts for the year 31 March 2023 also show that turnover was £52.5m (2022: £40.6m).

Loch Duart farms salmon derived from a wild Scottish strain, in Sutherland and the Hebrides. The directors’ report for 2023 says that the company is “focused on addressing the increasing challenges created by rising water temperatures… the group’s approach to farming, particularly farm size, allows it to apply less intensive solutions.”

The report adds that “…efforts to explore the potential of reopening Canadian operations continue.”

Loch Duart holds licences in Nova Scotia but has not actively farmed there since 2012/13.

The company is also eyeing expansion in Scotland. Last year Loch Duart acquired five former Grieg sites on Skye from Scottish Sea Farms. The report says: “The group is working to increase production through new sites. Investments in infrastructure and the building of a pipeline of smolts for input began after the year end”.

The directors take a swipe at Scotland as an environment for fish farming, however, pointing out that reforms in the regulatory and consenting regime recommended in the Griggs Report have still not been implemented and arguing “Scotland is falling behind other jurisdictions in terms of growth opportunity and cost of compliance.”

The company also records that directors’ remuneration for the year was £513,722 (2022: £813,868).