Norwegian salmon giant Mowi reported a significant jump in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in the third quarter of the year, despite being dragged down by difficulties in its Canadian operations.
Mowi’s operational EBIT during the third quarter amounted to €131 million ($151 million), compared with €80 million ($93 million) during the same quarter last year.
The 64 percent increase in EBIT was despite the company experiencing a significant strain from its Canada operations, it said.
During the quarter, EBIT was negatively impacted by €11 million ($12.7 million) related to mortalities in its Canada operations, of which €6 million ($7 million) was caused by a plankton bloom incident in Canada West and €5 million in connection with a low oxygen incident in Canada East.
Total operational EBIT per kilogram varied across the group, with Ireland having the highest earnings of €1.80 ($2.10) per kilogram, followed by Norway at €1.40 ($1.60), and Canada having the lowest earnings of €0.00 ($0) per kilogram.
Operational EBIT for the group's consumer products division was €22 million ($25.5 million) and feed was €10 million ($11.6 million), compared with €21 million and €12 million ($13.9 million), respectively, during the same quarter last year.
The company posted slightly bigger harvest volumes in its third quarter trading update than it estimated in its Q2 report. Overall, the company reported a harvest of 117,000 metric tons for the quarter, a more than 6 percent increase over its guidance estimate of 110,000 metric tons.
The complete third quarter report will be released on Nov. 10.
