Huge improvement in Q1 performance for Scottish Sea Farms

Scottish Sea Farms achieved a tremendous turnaround in its fortunes during the first three months of this year, according to figures today from SalMar, one of its co-owners.

The business (also known as Norskott Havbruk), which is also co-owned by the Lerøy Seafood Group, saw its operating revenues increase by more than 60% to NOK 848 million (£62m) against NOK 506 (£37m) million a year ago.

The operational EBIT or operational profit soared from just NOK 8 million (£588,000) in Q1 2023 to NOK 138 million (around £10m) this quarter.

SalMar’s share of the net profits was NOK 33 million (£2.4m) against a loss of NOK 17 million (£1.25m) 12 months earlier.

The harvest was up too. Scottish Sea Farms harvested 7,300 tonnes in the first quarter of 2024, compared with 5,200 tonnes in Q1 last year.

The EBIT per kg gutted weight was NOK 18.9 in the period, an increase from NOK 1.7 per kg in the corresponding period last year.

The SalMar report suggests that Scottish Sea Farms is putting biological issues, which have dogged the business in recent quarters, behind it.

The report said: “After the several challenging quarters the results improved significantly, due to improved biological conditions in all regions.

The outlook is equally promising with the SalMar report saying that SSF expects continued good biological situation going forward with lower costs in the second quarter 2024.

The volume guidance for the Scottish operation 2024 is kept unchanged at 37,000 tonnes, against 25,000 tonnes in 2023.