Charles Høstlund, CEO NRS. Photo: Therese Soltveit.

Many crowns for Norway Royal Salmon

Norway Royal Salmon has reported the second-highest earnings per kilo in its history for the second quarter of 2017, largely due to good results in the country's southern region.

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Operational EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) for the quarter was NOK 136 million (£13.4m) and the EBIT per kilo was NOK 30.17. Corresponding figures for the same quarter last year are NOK 168m and NOK 25.33 per kilo.

"The reason for the good quarterly result is high salmon prices, as well as the Southern Region and sales operations delivered strong results," said chief executive Charles Høstlund in a press statement.

The company said that the Northern Region achieved an operational EBIT of NOK 107.8m against NOK 165.6m in the corresponding quarter last year. Operational EBIT per kg gutted weight was NOK 29.68 against NOK 30.28  in the corresponding quarter last year.

Southern Region achieved an operational EBIT of NOK 50m against NOK 21.4m in Q2 2016. Operational EBIT per kg gutted weight was significantly improved to NOK 31.30  from NOK 11.18.

Harvesting volumes

The company said the harvested volume totalled 5,231 tonnes gutted weight in Q2 2017, a drop of 29 per cent compared to the corresponding quarter last year.

"The quarter's harvesting volumes are distributed with 3,633 tons in the Northern Region and 1,598 tonnes in the Southern Region. For 2017 the harvest volume is expected to be 34,000 tonnes, an increase of 27 per cent from 2016. The estimated smolt release for 2017 is 11.7 million fish."

NRS sold 17,318 tonnes of salmon in Q2 2017, an 11 per cent increase compared with the corresponding quarter last year.

"NRS has a strong focus on growth and utilisation of our production capacity and has 48 per cent more biomass in the sea compared to the end of the same quarter last year," said Høstlund.