Although full quarterly accounts won’t be released until mid-February, Mowi has given investors a taste of what’s to come.

According to the livestock giant, 130,500 tonnes of salmon were slaughtered in the fourth quarter, while the company expected 127,000 tonnes over the period.

Underlying operating profit was 239 million euros in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to 146 million euros in the fourth quarter of 2021. This means that for the year 2022 as a whole, Mowi achieved an operating operating profit of just more than one billion euros. , or about 10.7 billion crowns calculated according to the euro exchange rate on Monday.

In comparison, Mowi made an operating profit of 522 million euros in 2021.

According to the Infront consensus, analysts had expected an operating profit of 230 million euros in the fourth quarter.

In Norway the slaughter volume was 87,000 tonnes, while in Scotland and Canada it was 10,500 and 11,000 tonnes respectively. In Chile, the slaughter volume ended at 18,500 tonnes, while the slaughter volume in Ireland and the Faroe Islands ended at 500 and 3,000 tonnes respectively.

In total for the year, slaughter volume was 464,000 tonnes, compared to 460,000 tonnes the company forecast when publishing the third quarter report.

Norway is the driver

The Norwegian business contributed with an operating profit from operations across the value chain of around 2.30 euros per kilo.

In an update to clients, Fearnley Securities analyst Nils Thommesen writes that operating profit has been better than expected and says higher slaughter volumes in Norway are the reason the company delivered better than expected.

“Overall, it’s another strong quarter for Mowi and we don’t expect any particular changes in the 2023 consensus of 1.1 billion euros in operating profit. However, the slaughter model may indicate regional changes in reported slaughter volumes for 2023, all else being equal,” writes Thommesen.

Mowi had net interest-bearing debt of around 1.76 billion euros at the end of the year.