Arctic Fish Holding AS (AFISH) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Arctic Fish Q4 2024 Presentation. My name is Stein Tveiten. I'm the CEO of Arctic Fish. And as always, I'm joined by our CFO, Baldur Smári Einarsson. Today, we will take you through the highlights of the quarter, key financials and our outlook going forward. Before we begin, I just want to highlight that this presentation includes forward-looking statements. This reflects our current expectation, but of course, like always, are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from the projections. Arctic Fish is a leading salmon farming company in Iceland, listed on Euronext Growth in Oslo. We operate a fully integrated value chain from smolt production to harvesting and sales. This is ensuring both quality and also the sustainability and the buildup of the company. Our total production capacity is 29,800 tonnes MAB, covering 10 farming areas across 5 fjords in the Westfjords of Iceland. So then going over to the highlights. 2024 marked our highest operational EBIT in the company's history and also a profitable bottom line. We harvested 3,456 tonnes in Q4 compared to 2,529 tonnes last year at the same quarter, showing strong growth. Operational EBIT was EUR 0.61 per kilo. This is compared to the EUR 1.65 last year and is mainly related to market conditions. Our long-term target plan remains firm with a volume target of 25,000 tonnes by 2029, and this is also then supported by secured smolt capacity. And by that, I want to hand this over to you, Baldur, who will take you through some of the key points regarding our financial performance in the quarter.

Thank you, Stein. My name is Baldur Smári Einarsson, and I am the Chief Financial Officer of Arctic Fish. As always, we will begin with a summary of the profit and loss. In the fourth quarter of 2024, we saw positive developments in our financial performance compared to the same period last year. Let's take a look at the highlights. First, our total revenues for the quarter reached EUR 24.5 million, representing a significant increase from EUR 19 million in quarter 4 in 2023. This improvement is largely attributed to 2 key factors: a 1,000 tonne increase in volume and price achievements variance during the period. Looking at profitability, our operational EBIT stood at EUR 2.1 million, which is a decrease from last year's EUR 4.2 million. It's worth noting that our overall EBIT increased to EUR 4.5 million compared to EUR 4 million in the same quarter last year, showing improved bottom line performance. When it comes to financial items, net financial losses were EUR 2.7 million in the quarter compared to EUR 2.3 million in the same period last year. Next, we look at the financial position. At the end of the year, our total assets stood at EUR 250 million, an increase of EUR 12 million from the end of quarter 3. This growth was mainly due to an increase in biological assets. In terms of net interest-bearing debt, we achieved a slight improvement, reducing debt from EUR 134 million at the end of September to EUR 133 million at the end of December 2024. This reflects our continued efforts to manage debt levels effectively, and we'll break this further down in the next slide. Turning to equity. Our total equity increased to EUR 88.4 million, up by EUR 1.2 million from the previous quarter. However, the equity ratio has decreased slightly, now standing at 35.4%. This is something we are monitoring as we continue to balance our growth initiatives with debt management. Let's now move on to the cash flow and net interest-bearing debt. In quarter 4 2024, net interest-bearing debt decreased slightly from EUR 133.9 million to EUR 132.7 million, mainly due to positive operational cash flow. This improvement is largely related to working capital release since quarter 4 has a lower buildup of biomass as a result of biological seasonality. Capital expenditure have had a minimal impact on debt level in quarter 4 this year as we have invested less this year compared to the previous years. Key contributors to cash flow this quarter include an operational EBITDA of EUR 4.4 million, complemented by EUR 3.5 million from working capital changes, which together resulted in a total cash flow from operation of EUR 5.8 million. However, these gains were partly offset by net interest and financial items of EUR 2.5 million, along with currency effects and other adjustments. In summary, reduced investments and strong operational cash flow supported the improvement in net interest-bearing debt this quarter. That's all from my side for now. Over to you, Stein.

Thank you, Baldur, for this overview. Showing some key points from our CapEx this quarter. The CapEx was minimal as planned, and we focused on minor farming and production improvements, optimizing the efficiency in the operations. Going forward, investments will, of course, align with our growth strategy. Heading into the outlook in Q4, as mentioned, we harvested 3,500 tonnes and surpassing last year's 2,500 tonnes. For 2025, we have set the target and the guiding at 15,000 tonnes, reflecting a 40% increase year-over-year. By 2029, we aim to reach 25,000 tonnes. This is done by organic growth, more sites, more smolt into sea and utilizing our existing license capacity. Our total production capacity now is 29,800 tonnes, covering 10 farming areas in 5 different fields. We also hold a land-based smolt production license in Norðurbotn with an annual capacity of 1,000 tonnes. We are currently in an application process to expand this capacity to 2,400 tonnes. To summarize, Arctic Fish have had a strong Q4 with record high operational EBIT and a continued growth in volumes compared to last quarter. Our financial position remains stable, and we are well positioned for sustained growth towards our 25,000 tonne target in 2029. And by that, I want to thank you all for joining our presentation today. We truly appreciate your continued support and interest in Arctic Fish. And we also look forward to seeing you again at our next Q1 presentation on May 14. Again, thank you, and we look forward to sharing our progress with you next time.