Sharp bottom line fall for Lerøy Seafood

Lerøy Seafood’s profit before tax ended the second quarter at NOK 569.4 million, down from NOK 946 million in the same period last year.

During the period, the company harvested 38.9 thousand tonnes of salmon and trout, up from 37.0 thousand tonnes in the second cartel in 2019. Operating profit per. kilo, excluding whitefish, ended at 7.8 kroner, a solid decrease from 19 kroner in the second quarter of last year.

Lerøy fished 19.7 thousand tonnes of whitefish in the second quarter, compared with 15.9 thousand tonnes in the same period last year.

– Earnings in the second quarter are significantly lower than what we expected at the beginning of the year. Lower salmon prices, as a result of demand effects from the Covid-19 pandemic, are the most important reason for this, says Lerøy CEO Henning Beltestad in a comment.

– It is uncertain how long Covid-19 will affect us, but we experience that the group’s model of close integration with our customers has overcome the challenges. We believe the long-term demand picture for healthy and sustainable quality seafood has not changed and will continue to be good, he points out.

At the end of June, Lerøy had a net interest-bearing debt of NOK 3,517 million and an equity ratio of 57.9 per cent.

The dividend for the period is NOK 1.50 per share. share, in addition to the fact that the board has been authorized to pay up to NOK 0.80 per share. share by the end of 2020.