Cooke sees Scottish profits fall to £34.2m in 2020

Turnover for Cooke’s Scottish fish farming business held steady during 2020, the year Covid-19 hit the industry, but pre-tax profits were down by just over 14%. Cooke Aquaculture Scotland reported turnover of £170.7m for the 12 months to 21 December 2020 (2019; £169.3m). Profit before tax was £34.2m, down from £39.9m the previous year. The…

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Bakkafrost profits warning after high mortality in Scotland

Bakkafrost warned last night that serious biological problems at its Scottish operation are continuing to generate increased mortality and financial losses into the final quarter of the year. The Faroese salmon farmer issued a profits warning on Sunday night stating that what it described as “extraordinary mortality” has led to a loss of 174.6 Danish…

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Grieg formally seals Shetland assets sale

Grieg Seafood last night formally completed the sale of its Shetland business to Scottish Sea Farms. The deal, reported to be worth £164m (NOK 1.9 bn), was cleared by the UK competition authorities a week ago. The sale assets include 21 salmon farms across Shetland and Skye, a freshwater facility along with a salmon processing…

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Investment fund takes controlling stake in Bio Marine

Seafood investor Bluefront Equity has invested an undisclosed amount in Bio Marine AS, a specialist in oxygen and lighting solutions for fish farming. Former Mowi Chief Executive Officer Alf-Helge Aarskog has been appointed as the new chairperson of Bio Marine. Bio Marine offers equipment and systems for environmental control in aquaculture, particularly for ocean-based pens.…

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Laxar Fiskeldi and Ice Fish Farm set to merge

Two of Iceland’s leading fish farming companies have announced they are to press ahead with merger plans. Ice Fish Farm has said it is buying Laxar Fiskeldi through a share deal. Both are financially linked through the majority shareholders Måsøval Eiendom, Skinney Þinganes and Eggjahvita. They have also worked together in a number of areas. In…

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Bakkafrost negotiates €700m credit facility

Bakkafrost has entered into a €700m (£597m) sustainability-linked multi-currency revolving credit facility. The Faroese salmon farming group, which has major operations in Scotland, said the purpose of the facility is to refinance its existing bank facilities as well as general corporate purposes – including acquisitions. It will serve as a robust and flexible financial framework…

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Russian Aquaculture reports strong growth and profit

Russian Aquaculture has seen significant growth in both revenue and profit for the first nine months of 2021. The company, which farms Atlantic salmon and trout in the Murmansk and Karelia regions, reported year on year revenue growth of 73% for the nine months to 30 September 2021, taking the figure to RUB 9.7bn (£99m).…

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Måsøval raises £33m to help fund Vartdal purchase

Norwegian fish farming company Måsøval has successfully raised NOK 400m  – around £33m – to help finance the purchase of the Vartdal Group, another family salmon business. Måsøval has made a private placement of 9,828 million shares at a price of NOK 40.7 each, which netted NOK 400m. Its share price rose to NOK 42…

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Salmones Camanchaca in ‘green’ bank deal

Chilean salmon farming company Salmones Camanchaca has signed a US $135m (£101m) refinancing agreement linked to sustainability. It is thought to be one of the first, if not the first deals of this type for a fish farming business and involves DNB Bank, Santander and Labbank. In return Salmones Camanchaca has pledged to reduce greenhouse…

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Salmon Evolution reports revenue surge

Land-based fish farming company Salmon Evolution has announced much improved 2021 third quarter results. Salmon Evolution, which is involved in a major RAS project in South Korea, succeeded in halving losses and increasing revenues several time. Operating revenue increased from NOK 700,000 (£58,490) last year to NOK 12.2m (£1.02m) this time and losses were cut…

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