Despite Q4 results, Måsøval said in 2024 it grew as a company, optimizing its value chain, and adding harvesting capacity and its own sales department.
Photo: Måsøval AS / Daniel Skog - tidlos.no.
Losses in sales and processing in Q1, robust results despite volatile market in Q2, confirmation of the lowered harvest estimate and a profit warning in Q3, Norwegian salmon producer Måsøval closed an up-and-down year presenting its Q4 2024 results. "2024 was another important year in our growth as a company," summarized the Group's CEO, Helge Kvalvik.
If we talk about the volume of Måsøval alone, without commercial co-location agreements, compared to the 7,927 gutted weight tons (GWT) harvested in the same period last year, in Q4 2024 the company achieved 4,726 tonnes, which was a 40.38% decrease year-on-year.
However, the total harvest volume reported by the Group for the fourth quarter also included 1,076 tonnes harvested in commercial co-location arrangements, bringing the figure to a final 5,802 tonnes. Thus, for all of 2024, the Group's total harvest volume - including harvest in commercial co-location -, was 25,058 tonnes, up 2.27% from 24,500 tonnes in the previous year.
"Since 2017 we have managed to increase harvesting volume every single year," Helge Kvalvik highlighted. "Moreover 2024 was important in order to optimize our value chain and to add harvesting capacity and fully owned sales department. Looking into 2025 the Group expect to increase volumes further by maintaining its full year guidance of 29.000-31.000 GWT," Måsøval Group CEO added.
Financially, in the fourth quarter of 2024, operating revenue amounted to NOK 572 million, down 16.86% from NOK 688 million in the same quarter of the previous year. According to Måsøval's report, the decline could be attributed to a lower sales volume, 5,873 tons compared to 7,989 tons in Q4 2023.
Regarding operating EBIT, the central region reported negative margins of NOK -3.3, contrasting with the outstanding result obtained in the first half of the year. The company explained that the region experienced extraordinarily high sea lice pressure in the second half of the year.
Meanwhile, the Western region more than doubled its margins in Q4 2024, from NOK 8.2 per kilo in the same quarter of 2023 to NOK 17.6 per kilo this year. Thus, putting both results together, Måsøval closed Q4 2024 with a positive operating EBIT of NOK 3 million, and an operating EBIT per kilo of NOK 0.7.
CEO Helge Kvalvik summed it up by saying that region Mid was below what should be expected of this region, while Q4 was another stepping stone in the improvement of the West region.
Finally, the sales and processing segment had sales revenues of NOK 489 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to NOK 704 million in the same quarter of 2023. This is NOK -215 million or 30.53% less. In total, in Q4 2024, sales and processing reported a negative result of NOK -13.7 million.
As the CEO commented, the past year was important for optimizing Måsøval's value chain and adding harvesting capacity and its own sales department. However, this affected the results on a financial level. "The negative result reflects integration cost of establishing a fully owned and controlled sales department and ramp up cost at our new harvesting plant TL52," Helge Kvalvik said.
The Norwegian salmon farmer explained that the new harvesting facility TL52 at Hitra has been in a commissioning period with high maintenance activity in the quarter, resulting in a negative EBIT of NOK -10.6 million.
In addition, as of October 1, the sales department was purchased from and merged with the wholly owned and controlled subsidiary Pure Norwegian Seafood AS (PNS) and Måsøval Sales. The sales activities of Måsøval Sales AS resulted in a negative operating EBIT of NOK -8.2 million, mainly due to extraordinary integration costs.
