Lower prices and highest costs pushed Multi X into the red in Q4
Published
One of Chile’s biggest salmon farmers, Multi X, slipped into the red in the final quarter of last year despite harvesting more fish and increasing sales volumes and revenue.
In its results for Q4, Multi X reported that its Atlantic salmon harvest volume reached 31,188 tonnes (whole fish equivalent), a 10.7% increase compared to the same period in 2022.
Revenue was US $207.3 million, 13.5% more than in Q4 2022, due to an increase in sales volume from 24,536 tons WFE to 29,524 tons WFE. But the company achieved a lower average sales price, which dropped from $5.88/lb to $5.47/lb for fillets.
Operating profit amounted to $0.5 million, decreasing by 98.3%. The ex-cage cost rose by 14.2% to $4.89/Kg WFE, mainly due to the higher price of fish feed, as well as inflationary pressures that have affected the different inputs and services used in production.
$11.3m loss
Multi X’s earnings before interest and tax were -$9m in the quarter, a fall of almost $30m compared to the $20.9m in Q4 2022. The consolidated loss for the period, before fair value adjustment, was -$11.3m (Q4 2022: +$10m).
On February 11 this year, a fire occurred at the Entrevientos process plant located in Punta Arenas, a joint venture with Blumar. The causes of the blaze are still under investigation and the level of damage to the facilities is in the evaluation stage.
“To counteract the possible damage from damaged assets, Entrevientos maintains associated insurance for this type of events, which has been activated. From the point of view of Multi X's operational continuity, to date process capacity is being managed with third parties to continue the processing plan normally,” the company wrote.
