Scotland and Ireland are bright spots for Mowi

Scotland and Ireland were the two principal bright spots for fish farming giant Mowi during the final quarter of last year, the company’s trading update shows today.
The world’s largest salmon producer has reported a Q4 operating profit of €49m, compared with €166m for the same period in 2019. Analysts had expected an EBIT of at least €60m.
Mowi lost money in three of its global operating countries, Canada, Chile and the Faroe Islands.
But at an EBIT of €1.55 per kilo, Mowi Scotland produced one of the best performances in an otherwise lacklustre period for the group.
Although modest when set against its other operations, Mowi Ireland topped the list with an EBIT of €2.60 per kilo. The EBIT for Mowi Norway, where it has its largest farming base, was €0.75 per kilo.
Mowi Canada produced a loss of (minus) €1 a kilo, Mowi Chile a loss of (minus) €0.50 a kilo and Mowi Faroes a loss of (minus) €0.75 a kilo.
Thanks to considerably higher output from Norway, Mowi’s total Q4 harvest is likely to be 127,000 tonnes, around 11,000 tonnes higher than a year ago.
The Scottish harvest was down by around 1,000 tonnes at 13,000 tonnes. Norway produced 78,500 tonnes, Canada 12,500 tonnes, Chile 20,500 tonnes and the Faroe islands 1,500 tonnes.
The operational EBIT in consumer products was €35m and in feed it was €14m in Q4 2020.
The reported financial net interest-bearing debt (NIBD) was approximately €1,460m at the end of the quarter (excluding IFRS 16 effects).
Mowi said it will present its full fourth quarter report on 17 February.