Mowi projects EUR 37 million earnings drop in Q3 2023

Mowi has announced via a Q3 2023 trading update that it expects its earnings to drop compared to last year. 

In its trading update, posted to the Oslo Børs, the salmon-farming company said it expects its operational earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to be approximately EUR 203 million (USD 213 million) in Q3 2023, which is down from its EBIT of EUR 240 million (USD 252.8 million) in the same period last year.

The earnings drop came despite a record-high quarterly harvest volume, which reached 135,000 metric tons (MT) gutted-weight, compared to the 134,000 MT harvest it achieved in Q3 2022.

Between the various farming regions, the Norwegian region was by far the largest harvest area for Mowi, with 86,000 MT of gutted-weight salmon. That total was down slightly from the 87,500 MT it harvested in the region in Q3 2022.

Its second-largest region by volume in Q3 2023 was Chile, with 17,500 MT of gutted-weight salmon, a slight increase of 500 MT from its 17,000 MT total in Q3 2022.

The third largest was Scotland, which achieved 15,000 MT gutted-weight in Q3 2023 – up from 14,500 MT in Q3 2022.

Salmon farming in Canada, meanwhile, dropped heavily from Q3 2022 – going from 11,000 MT in 2022 to 7,500 MT in Q3 2023.

Ireland remained flat at 2,000 MT of salmon harvested, while harvests in the Faroe Islands improved slightly to 2,500 MT compared to 2,000 MT in Q3 2022. 

The final total, Iceland, stemmed from Arctic Fish, in which Mowi bought a controlling stake in November 2022. The company announced its Icelandic location harvested 4,500 MT of salmon in the quarter.

The company’s EBIT per kilogram in Q3 2023, meanwhile, fell across most divisions. Mowi’s Norwegian division posted an EBIT per kilogram of EUR 2.15 (USD 2.26), down from EUR 2.55 (USD 2.68) it posted in Q3 2022. The company’s EBIT per kilogram in Chile also fell, reaching EUR 0.50 (USD 0.52), down from EUR 1.25 (USD 1.31) in Q3 2022. 

Other regions fared slightly better. The EBIT per kilogram in the Faroe Islands increased to EUR 1.90 (USD 2.00) in Q3 2023, up from EUR 1.05 (USD 1.10) per kilogram in Q3 2022. Scotland, as well, saw a slight increase to EUR 0.65 (USD 0.68) per kilogram, compared to EUR 0.30 (USD 0.31) in Q3 2022. Ireland, meanwhile, saw a big increase from a loss of EUR 1.20 (USD 1.26) per kilogram in Q3 2022 to a gain of EUR 0.80 (USD 0.84) in Q3 2023.

Canada continued to perform worse per kilogram. The region lost EUR 0.60 (USD 0.63) per kilogram in Q3 2023, a drop from the EUR 0.35 (USD 0.36) it lost in Q3 2022. 

In its update, Mowi announced that its complete Q3 2023 report will be released on 8 November. 

Photo courtesy of Mowi