Depressed salmon market hits Lerøy profits in Q1

Publishing its first quarter results, the aquaculture and deep sea fishing giant announced a first quarter EBIT of NOK 858 million (£69m) against NOK 1,049 million (£84m) during the same period in Q1 2025.

Lerøy said the result reflects strong biological performance, but lower prices in farming, some margin pressure in VAP S&D (value added processing, sales and distribution), and a substantial improvement in the wild catch.

CEO Henning Beltestad added: “We are delivering in line with the direction we set at the Capital Markets Day in March 2026 - growth, cost, simplification and leadership.”

Operational EBIT in the fish farming segment came in at NOK 555 million (£43m) in the first quarter of 2026, compared to NOK 789 million (£63m) in the same period last year.

The harvest volume of salmon and trout grew by 4% to 39,943 GWT.

"We continued to see strong biological performance in the first quarter, with good growth and higher survival. Lower prices for salmon and trout explain much of the decline in earnings, but underlying operations are solid.

“The result in VAP S&D is weaker than the corresponding quarter last year. It has been a quarter with major changes in both currency and shipping costs. This temporarily affects gross margin in some units, but demand is good and the long-term potential has not changed,” said Beltestad.

There was a big improvement in the wild catch division even though catch volumes were down again due to continued quota reductions. The operational EBIT rose from NOK 148 million (£12m) to NOK 228 million (£18m).

The CEO added in his Q4 report: "We have a clear direction, one unified organisation and a plan we are delivering on. With strong biology and a cost programme that is working, we are well positioned to realise the full potential in Lerøy."