Aquaculture equipment company Akva Group completed the acquisition of Newfoundland Aqua Service (NAS).

Akva signed a deal in January with the majority shareholders of NAS to acquire 70 percent of its common shares, with a mutual option to an additional 29 percent of shares in 2023.

The deal is designed to strengthen Akva's presence in Newfoundland and Labrador, where NAS is the leading supplier of aquaculture services, and is part of its bigger strategy of capturing the Canadian market.

IntraFish previously reported that Akva is expecting to report negative earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) for the fourth quarter of 2019, due to particularly low revenues in the land-based segment.

The current estimate places EBIT for the fourth quarter in the range of negative NOK 25 million (€2.5 million/$2.8 million) to NOK 30 million (€3 million/$3.4 million), with the EBIT margin in the range of negative 4 to 5 percent.