Integrated fishing industry company Austevoll Seafood ASA (OSE: AUSS) is happy with the start of the year. Total fish catch and purchase of 355 000 tonnes, with around two thirds of that from Norway. Operating income was just below 3 billion NOK. Comparable increase in turnover is around 17%. Austevoll Fisk group merger into associated company Norway Pelagic (OSE: NPEL) affected comparisons. EBIT of 270 million is down from 486 million, including 50 million in shutdown costs and 33 million in impairment. Lower salmon prices affected that. Profit before tax came in at 315 million NOK (vs. 525 million). EPS excluding fair value adjustments is 0.67 NOK and reported EPS 0.86 NOK.
Anchovy catches in Peru were on lower during Q1. The new quota for Centre-NOrth was set at 2.7 million MT and the season started on May 2nd. Yields and production have been good at the start, with 25% of the company quota now caught. Jack Mackerel quota has already been caught, and Austevoll had its share of it (26,000 tonnes). Fishing season in Peru started later than last year, which will have some impact for Q2.
In Chile the company made some arrangements where it leased some licenses to get more production in its factories, particularly frozen products, to utilize economies of scale. Horse mackerel fisheries have delivered good catches in Q1 and the group already caught two thirds of its share of the total quota of 315,000 tonnes.
The lower sand eel quota affects fishmeal production volumes in Norway. Consolidated company Leroy Seafood ASA now has over 11% of Norwegian seafood export value. It is the second largest salmon producer in the world. Salmon spot price was down 34.6% on the year while harvest volumes were strong. The group is positive about salmon price outlook going forward. Equity ratio remains strong at 49%. The company is proposing a dividend of 1 NOK per share. It is scheduled to trade ex-dividend from May 25th. Austevoll Seafood expects strong markets going forward.
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