Mowi almost doubled operating profit last year

The world’s biggest salmon farmer, Mowi, made an operating profit of approximately €1.005 billion in 2022, 92% more than the €522.6 million made in 2021, despite harvesting a slightly smaller volume of fish.

Mowi harvested 464,000 gutted weight tonnes of fish in 2022, it said in a market update today. That is marginally less than the 465,600 gwt harvested the year before.

Mowi harvested 130,500 gwt of Atlantic salmon globally in the fourth quarter of last year, slightly higher than the 127,000 gwt guided in its Q3 2022 report. Operational EBIT for the group in Q4 was approximately €239 m (€146 m in Q4 2021).

Q4 2022 harvest volumes were:

• Farming Norway 87,000 gwt

• Farming Scotland 10,500 gwt

• Farming Chile 18,500 gwt

• Farming Canada 11,000 gwt

• Farming Ireland 500 gwt

• Farming Faroes 3,000 gwt

• Total 130,500 gwt

Mowi Ireland made a loss of €500,000 in Q4 because of very low volumes and negative biology.

Every other region made an operating profit. Norway made €2.30 per kilo, and Scotland, which slashed its annual harvest guidance by 10,000 gwt due to biological difficulties in the second half of the year, made €0.70 per kilo. This was an improvement from Q3 2022, when the Scottish operation made an operating profit of €0.29 per kilo.

Total operational EBIT per kg through the value chain was approximately as follows:

• Norway €2.30

• Scotland € 0.70

• Chile €1.10

• Canada €1.50 (Canada West €2.15)

• Faroes €1.75

Operational EBIT in Consumer Products, which includes Mowi’s secondary processing unit in Rosyth, Scotland, was €42 m (€26 m in Q4 2021) and the Feed division, which has factories in Norway and Scotland, made an operating profit of €17 m (€8 m).

Mowi’s full Q4 2022 report will be released on 15 February.