Solid quarter for AKVA
International aquaculture supplier AKVA group brought in more revenue in the third quarter of this year than in the same period in 2019 but was slightly less profitable.
The Norwegian company, which has a branch in Inverness, had a revenue of NOK 806 million (£66.8m) in Q3, a 4% increase on the NOK 771m made in Q3 2019.
However, EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) decreased from NOK 115m in Q3 2019 to NOK 105m in the third quarter of this year.
NOK 1.63bn order book
Net profit dropped from NOK 42m in Q3 last year, when the numbers were boosted by a net gain of NOK 18m from the sale of software company Wise, to NOK 36m in the same period this year.
AKVA secured orders worth NOK 647m in Q3 and had an order book worth NOK1.63 billion at the end of September. It signed engineering and design contracts for full grow-out on-land facilities in the quarter.
There was a solid increase in AKVA’s cage-based business in the Nordic region, although the caged-based division experienced lower order intakes in Chile and Canada than in both Q2 2020 and Q3 2019.
In terms of revenue, the Nordic cage-based business saw an increase of 6% compared to Q3 2019 and caged-based revenue from the Americas was up 32% on the same period the year before.
Tubenet
Operational highlights for Q3 included the continued delivery of a NOK 100m Tubenet contract to Mowi. The Tubenet is a type of snorkel cage system which keeps fish below the lice layer but allows them access to the surface through a wide, impermeable “tube” so they can refill their swim bladders. It is already on trial at Mowi Scotland’s Port na Cro farm, Argyll and Bute and is being supplied to seven Mowi farms in Norway.
AKVA is maintaining its focus on supplying full grow-out on-land farms, committing NOK 5.5m to initial financing of Norwegian company AquaCon’s plan to produce 45,000 tonnes of salmon annually in Maryland on the eastern coast of the United States.
The potential contract for AKVA for the 15,000-tonne first phase is worth NOK 1.3bn.
China RAS
AKVA is also committing NOK 650,000 to plans by Danish company Nordic Aqua Partners for an on-land farm in Ningbo, China, which would have a capacity of 9,600 tonnes.
The contract for the first phase of 4,800 tonnes would be worth NOK 500m.
The group has also signed a cooperation and engineering contract with Viking Investment Holding Ltd for the 5,000-tonne first phase of a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) in the Middle East, and an engineering contract with Ecofisk AS, which has a licence to grow 40,000 tonnes of salmon in a RAS in Tysvaer, Rogaland, Norway. AKVA has invested NOK 5.5m in the project’s financing.
