Strong results from Icelandic aquaculture and fishing giant

Announcing its 2025 results, the company saw its EBITDA rise by €12.5m (£10.7m) to €73.9m (£63m).

 

The company has declared an operating profit of (EBIT) of €50.4m (£43m) compared to €42.4m (£36.5m) the previous year, an increase of nearly 19%.

 

Samherji says the increase in profit is primarily attributable to high product prices in whitefish markets and solid core operations.

 

Assets at year-end amounted to €892.5m (£769m) , and equity amounted to €676.8m. The equity ratio at year-end was 75.8%.

 

Samherji CEO Baldvin Thorsteinsson, CEO of Samherji said: “Samherji’s financial statements show that the company’s operations are sound and its finances are strong.

 

This enables the company to pursue investments that strengthen its competitive position and that of the Icelandic fishing industry.”

 

Last year was an eventful one for the company. A turning point came when the company’s founders, Thorsteinn Már Baldvinsson and Kristján Vilhelmsson, retired after 42 years with the company.

 

It said that 2025 was a good year for all its main activities - fishing, processing, land-based farming, and product sales. Samherji operates a fleet of seven fishing vessels.

 

Markets for cod products were particularly favourable, with demand continuing to grow into 2026. At the same time, market conditions for farmed salmon and Arctic char were more challenging, although overall sales were good, Samherji said.

 

The group’s farming subsidiary Samherji Fiskeldis ehf saw new shareholders, both domestic and foreign investors, entering the company following the financing of Eldisgarður, a new land-based salmon farm, in Reykjanes.

 

After changes in the shareholder group at Samherji hf, the company’s share in Fiskeldis dropped from almost 100% to 61.5%.

 

Samherji has been successfully engaged in land-based aquaculture for almost a quarter of a century, The company operates three hatchery facilities, three land-based fish farms and two processing plants.

 

Samherji Fish Farm slaughtered 5,809 tons of whole fish last year. Of this, the company slaughtered 3,140 tons of whole char and 2,669 tons of whole salmon, and the company has never produced so much salmon in one year.

 

This is due to the increased production capacity in salmon due to the expansion of Silfurstjärn in Öxarfjörður, in north east Iceland.

 

New processing facilities commenced operation a year ago, in the final stage of major changes at the plant. This involved significant investments that included the expansion of the tanks, a new fry farm, as well as system improvements and computerisation.

 

This project was very successful, the company said, and has proved to be a good test for the technology and production methods that will be installed in Eldisgarður (the “Salmon Garden”) in Reykjanes.