Novel oils and new products boost BioMar

The three country units in the group’s salmon division – the UK, Norway and Chile – all performed better than in the first quarter of 2016, while product innovations also had a positive impact on the results.

Compared to Q1 2016 the group’s overall volume of feed sold increased to 205,000 tonnes, up from 166,000 tonnes the previous year, revenue grew to DKK 1,996 million (£228 million) from DKK 1,532 million (£175 million), while EBITDA rose to DKK 51.5 million (£5.8 million) from DKK 22 million (£2.51 million).

Margin management

Carlos Diaz, BioMar Group chief executive, said: “We have across the divisions seen very good results from our efficiency improvement programs and our margin management. But most important we have been able to be at the market at the right time with new product concepts targeted at strengthening the sustainability of the industry as well as the quality and health dimension of the products delivered to the end-consumer.”

At the Seafood Expo in Brussels last week, BioMar announced that a future cooperation with Lerøy Seafood Group and TerraVia is going to ensure that all salmon farmed by Lerøy Seafood will benefit from a sustainable high level of Omega 3-DHA in the feed partly deriving from the microalgae ingredient AlgaPrime.

Novel oils

“In BioMar Group we are continuously working to take the next steps in innovating aquaculture,” Diaz added. “To us novel oils and product with a measured sustainability profile is not a future vision. It is a reality. We have right now a range of salmon customers delivering new product value propositions based upon our feed concepts. We hope very soon other species could join this trend. We live our purpose, and our guiding principles are innovation, sustainability, cooperation and performance, so the initiatives launched with our customers around the globe are in line with our strategy. We are confident that we are well prepared for the enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of the industry.”

BioMar has also started the construction of a new feed factory in Australia.

“We have during 2016 and the first part of 2017 been cooperating across the company improving and developing our new units in Turkey and China,” Diaz added. “We will continue this effort while investing resources in building up a new business unit in Australia. These expansions are in line with our strategy into new species and markets.”