Before joining Kaldvík, Roy-Tore Rikardsen was General Manager at Salten N950.
Photo: Salten Aqua.
Icelandic salmon producer Kaldvík - formerly Ice Fish Farm, renamed last year - announced today that its CEO, Roy-Tore Rikardsen, has stepped down with immediate effect, and his replacement has already been appointed. Vidar Aspehaug will take the helm of the company as interim CEO while the Board initiates the search to fill the position permanently.
In the stock exchange announcement about the resignation, Kaldvík said that, in order to ensure a smooth transition, Rikardsen will remain available to the company until the end of February 2026. The outgoing CEO has not quite completed a year in the role, having taken office at the beginning of September last year.
In the statement, the Board thanked Rikardsen for his contribution in leading and developing the company. "We are grateful for Roy-Tore's contribution to the company in the transitional period following the resignation of the former CEO and founder," said the Chair of the Board, Asle Rønning.
"I have been privileged to work with fantastic colleagues in Kaldvík AS, and both the company and the industry will have a great future in Icelandic business life in the coming years," Rikardsen commented, for his part.
As mentioned above, the stock exchange note announcing Roy-Tore Rikardsen's resignation also reported the appointment of the new CEO, Vidar Aspehaug, an insider who will fill the position on an interim basis. Of him, Kaldvík highlighted that he joined the company in 2022 and has been part of the executive management team for the last three years, responsible for the fish health and quality management teams.
With a doctor's degree in fish health from the University of Bergen, Vidar Aspehaug also has experience managing companies, as he is the founder and former CEO and CBDO of PatoGen AS, Norway's most renowned fish health laboratory.
Until the Board appoints a permanent CEO, Aspehaug will take charge of a company that has just closed a season of continuous announcements in which we have learned of appointments to the Board; the acquisition of key assets in the fish farming value chain; and, most recently, a private placement in which the Icelandic salmon producer raised approximately NOK 523 million (EUR 46.2 million). This fundraising will be used to repay a bridge loan, shareholder loans, and for general corporate purposes, as well as for biomass growth.
In January of this year, Iceland's largest salmon farming company had to reduce its 2025 harvest forecast by 14%. As Kaldvík reported at the time, the reasons behind this reduction were higher mortality caused by winter wounds in the 2023 generation, and less growth than expected due to lower-than-expected and normal temperatures for the period.