Nordlaks Products boss to chair Andfjord Salmon
Andfjord Salmon, which is developing a 12,600-tonne on-land salmon farm in Norway, is to appoint experienced industry executive Roger Brynjulf Mosand as its chairman, it said in a market announcement today.
Mosand is chief executive of Nordlaks Products, the processing division of salmon farmer Nordlaks.
Andfjord shareholders will vote on his appointment at an extraordinary general meeting on March 19.
Production and processing
The move follows the decision by co-founder and current chairman Roy Bernt Pettersen to step down from the chair now that the company is moving from a development phase towards an operational phase. He wants to continue as a board member.
“As the largest shareholder in Andfjord Salmon, both I, the board and the management of the company believe that it will be an advantage to have a chairman of the board with long experience from production and processing of salmon,” said Pettersen.
“I am glad that the nomination committee has found a candidate who has such experience from the phase Andfjord Salmon is about to enter.”
A very experienced CEO
Nordlaks Products, which employs about 360 people, operates a factory on Børøya in Hadsel and takes care of all harvested fish for Nordlaks, in addition to around 30,000 tonnes for other farmers - a total of around 70,000 tonnes annually in recent years.
“Brynjulf Mosand (born 1953) is a very experienced CEO from the Norwegian aquaculture industry. He has been CEO of Nordlaks Produkter AS since 2001 and has increased the company’s revenues by 15 times during this period,” Andfjord said in its stock exchange announcement.
Andfjord’s salmon farm on the shore at Kvalnes on the island of Andøya will have pools excavated into the bedrock and will use a patented system to pump filtered sea water from depth to avoid problems with lice or algal blooms.
The company holds a licence to produce 12 600 tonnes (HOG) for land-based farming of Atlantic salmon and has secured rights to land for a planned expansion of an additional 77,400 tonnes (HOG) production capacity. Further expansion is subject to the zoning of the land and granting of licences.
De-risked development
In its financial report for both the fourth quarter of 2020 and the full year, published today, Andfjord said the development had been significantly de-risked in Q4 and into 2021.
In Q4 2020, Andfjord made the decision to go from developing pools one by one at Kvalnes to a parallel development of the full Kvalnes area. The main purpose was to fast-track the development of the production capacity at Kvalnes from 1,260 tonnes (HOG) to 12,600 tonnes, while at the same time reducing overall project risk and biological risk for the start pool.
Private placement
“The decision we made in December to fast-track the development of the full Kvalnes area was smart as it reduces both overall project execution risk for the area development and biological risk for the start pool,” said chief executive Martin Rasmussen in a press release.
“This year’s successful hook-up of the first pool (to a seawater supply) has further de-risked the entire project. We are pleased with the progress we are making.”
Subsequent to the decision to fast-track work, Andfjord Salmon conducted a successful private placement where it raised NOK 88.2 million to fund blasting and excavation work.
At year-end 2020, Andfjord held cash or cash equivalents of NOK 148.8m. This figure does not include a NOK 50 million undrawn credit facility or NOK 15 million in available grants, said the company.
