Austevoll Seafood ASA (AUSS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

It's a pleasure for me to welcome you to Austevoll Seafood First Quarter Presentation. I will start this presentation by giving the highlights of the quarter. Thereafter, I will take you through the different segments. And Britt Kathrine Drivenes will take you more in detail through the numbers, and I will end this session by giving a view on the different markets we are operating in. So starting up, we have had a good first quarter with strong earnings, I would say, across the different segments. When it comes to farming, we have a strong biological performance in the quarter. We have increased the harvest volume with approximately 2,000 tonnes in the quarter. And we have also seen a reduction in prices in the quarter compared with the same quarter in 2025. Looking at the Whitefish segment, we went into the year with considerably lower quotas, but that has been uplifted by an extremely good price achievements, which has led into a better financial result from the Whitefish segment in first quarter 2026. In the Pelagic segment, we also came into the year with fishmeal and fish oil and frozen products on stock with increasing prices, which is also reflected in the earnings for this quarter. So all in all, we have 21% lower volumes, 528,000 tonnes in the quarter, revenue of just below NOK 10 billion and EBITDA 2% up from last quarter last year -- same quarter last year, just below NOK 2 billion. Net interest-bearing debt of NOK 7.8 billion, and we also propose a dividend per share on NOK 6.50. If we include 50% of our shares in Pelagia, our EBITDA is up with 2%, NOK 2.145 billion in the quarter, of which salmon and whitefish is down by 10%, NOK 150 million weaker, mainly as a consequence of lower price achievement. And we have a 32% better contribution from the Pelagic segment, mainly driven by NOK 100 million better contribution from Austral in Peru and NOK 175 million from Foodcorp. I would say Austevoll seafood is all about volume and is how we are able to create value of this volume. If you look at the right-hand side, you can see that we are aiming to catch between 400,000 to 500,000 tonnes on an annual basis with their own vessels on our own license. We are aiming to produce in our pelagic factories between 1.6 million to 2 million tonnes of raw material. We are aiming to catch and produce approximately 80,000 tonnes of whitefish this year. And the aim is also to slaughter 225,000 tonnes of salmon products in 2026. So starting up on the pelagic side, giving a view both on the quarter and also in the coming season. Starting up with the Peruvian entity, what's fair to say here is that quota was a bit lower than what we expected, and it's based on biomass, which were, I would say, lower also than in terms of what they detect in the season, biomass of 7 million tonnes, and the final quota was 1.9 million tonnes. And it's fair to say that the fishery has been more challenging also for the first three weeks of the season started up the 9th of April. And I would say the short summary is that it was too high inclusion of undersized fish in the catches. And there has been a stop in the fishery as a consequence of that. The stop was 1st of May, and we are trying to delay the fishery together with the ministry in terms of having fishing zones where you can have larger fish or zones without juveniles. Normally, there is juveniles in certain area or too high incidence of juveniles. In the start of this season, this has been, I would say, the matter all over the coast. And as a consequence, the fishery has now been reduced, and we are aiming that the fish is growing or the small fish is segregating for the bigger fish, so we are able to catch. Of course, this can affect the total catches of this year's quota and has also resulted in that prices both for fishmeal and fish oil has been increasing during the period. I would say the fishmeal and fish oil fisheries in the South has been quite good in the first quarter with okay oil yields and the performance there is on a normal level. Chile, as you can see, for the latest 15 years, we have been having an average increase of the quota on 12%, which has been quite good. In 2025, the increase was 22%, which also resulted in a lower increase of the 2026 quota of close to 8%. We came into the year with stocks, both for fishmeal and fish oil and also for frozen products and have had a quite decent fishery in the first two months. And in March and onwards, we have also seen the same as we are seeing in Peru that there has been too high inclusion of undersized fish for -- also for the horse mackerel, which has also led into a temporarily stop in Chile. And we are waiting and aiming for the conditions to change to continue the fishery there. North Atlantic quotas is down. It's marked by blue whiting quota down with 41%, mackerel quota down with 48%. We have North Sea quota down with 20%. North Sea quota is up by 70% next year. And I would say also this also affect the volume intake for Pelagia. And if you look at Pelagia, the quarter is a quite good quarter, also more or less in line with the same quarter last year. The contribution from the different segments is a bit different this year versus last year, and I will come back to that later. And of course, Pelagia will probably have a different development in '26, which they had in '25. In '25, the quota were reduced and also fishmeal and fish oil prices were dropping during the year. We are also seeing reduced quota for '26, but the aim is that fishmeal and fish oil prices is going in the other direction, which will benefit Pelagia. All in all, revenue of NOK 3.1 billion, EBITDA of NOK 319 million, whereas NOK 79 million is coming from the Food segment, NOK 162 million is coming from the Feed segment and approximately NOK 77 million is coming from the Health segment. So all in all, I would say volume is down by 22% in the quarter but -- for the Pelagia segment, but the earnings due to better price achievement is up with approximately [ 30% ] on the Pelagic segment. When it comes to salmon and whitefish, I suggest that you go in looking at the -- looking at Lerøy's presentation. Adjusted EBIT of NOK 858 million in the quarter, NOK 555 million is coming from the Farming segment, NOK 228 million coming from the Wild Catch segment, considerably higher than last year and NOK 160 million is coming from VAP sales and distribution. And the slaughter volume of 39,900 tonnes in the quarter, approximately 8,000 tonnes from the North, 16,000 tonnes from mid and 16,000 tonnes from Lerøy Sjøtroll. And prices is down -- spot prices is down by NOK 4 per kilo and the adjusted EBIT is also down to NOK 18 per kilo with NOK 24 EBIT per kilo in the value chain in Lerøy Aurora, NOK 23 in Lerøy Midt and approximately NOK 10 in Lerøy Sjøtroll. Whitefish, again, lower volumes, higher earnings and it's mainly driven by price achievement up 24% on cod, 32% on haddock and 54% on saithe. And on the other direction, fuel cost is up as a consequence of the war. And we are, on an annual basis, using approximately 38 million liters of diesel, which has an effect on earnings. But all in all, we are expecting a better year on whitefish in '26 versus '25. And I will give the floor to Britt Kathrine.

As normal, we start with this table, and that actually sums up what Arne has been taking you through in his part of the presentation. So I will not comment further on that. Here, you can see the key figures of the first quarter and also the changes in -- for the different segments in the first quarter this year compared with the same quarter last year. We move over to the income statement, and we have operating revenue and other income of NOK 9.8 billion, and that is more or less in line with the same quarter in 2025. EBITDA adjusted is also more or less in line. It's 2% up, close to NOK 2 billion, up from NOK 1.938 billion. Income from associates is down NOK 9 million this quarter compared to NOK 35 million in same quarter last year. The two largest associated companies is Norskott Havbruk, which owns Scottish Sea Farm and Pelagia. And Pelagia, they have earnings in the first quarter this year in line with the same quarter last year, as Arne showed you in his part of the presentation. But Scottish Sea Farm have a substantially lower earnings in first quarter this year compared to the same quarter last year. And that can be explained by a 36% lower harvested volumes and lower volumes is impacted by the challenging biological situation the company had in 2025. And of course, lower volume impacts cost, especially associated with the wellboats and processing. What I would like to mention is that the next generations are doing well in Scottish Sea Farm. And that gives us an EBIT, including income from associate of NOK 1.4 billion, down 1% from NOK 1.429 billion in same quarter last year. I have to mention this fair value adjustment related to biological assets. This is an accounting principle and does not have any cash effect. In first quarter this year, that was minus NOK 302 million. But first quarter last year, it was substantially higher. It was minus NOK 1.8 billion and of course, impact the operating profit. So first quarter last year, we had a negative operating profit of minus NOK 464 million. And in first quarter this year, we have a positive operating profit of just above NOK 1 billion. Net profit in the period is NOK 644 million, which gives earnings per share of NOK 2.5. In first quarter last year, we had a negative net profit of minus NOK 195 million and then earnings per share to the shareholders of Austevoll of NOK 0.10. Looking into Lerøy Seafood Group, the main value drivers here are, of course, the slaughtered volumes of salmon and trout. And they had slaughtered volumes of close to 40,000 tonnes, up 4% from same quarter last year. Price achievement has, however, declined. The spot prices are down NOK 4 per kilo. And we have higher average slaughter weights, but we have not had the same premium on the price for the larger fish in first quarter this year compared to what we had in first quarter last year. As expected, there is a quarter-on-quarter cost increase, and that is attributed to the lower volume from Lerøy Aurora. They had a quite substantial volume in fourth quarter. And there is a continued strong biology in the Farming segment in Lerøy. Wild catch have had a very strong performance in the first quarter, especially considering the quota. Catch volumes are down, but prices are significantly up. And we also see a clear operational and financial improvement in the land-based industry. However, this is still challenging for the land-based industry with the lower raw material available and also high raw material prices. VAP sales and distribution have continued growth in volumes and revenue. However, we see some negative impacts this quarter on gross margins in some units and increased logistic -- costs related to logistics are also giving pressure on margins to some high-margin markets. Revenue in the quarter was close to NOK 8.1 billion, and the EBIT was NOK 858 million, down from a little bit above NOK 1 billion in same quarter last year. As normal, we have had lower activity in Peru. The first -- or the second season 2025 finished in January, and Austral caught 20,600 tonnes in January related to this season versus 35,500 tonnes in first quarter 2025 related to second season in 2024. The season in the South started in January, and Austral has purchased a little bit above 52,000 tonnes, which are produced for fishmeal and fish oil at the Ilo plant. In first quarter last year, they purchased 60,000 tonnes. Sales volumes are down, but prices are up for fishmeal up 37% and for fishmeal (sic) [ fish oil ] up 11%. So revenue in first quarter was NOK 962 million and EBIT NOK 218 million, up from NOK 126 million in same quarter last year. And you can see we have also had an increase in the EBIT margin, which was 23% in first quarter this year versus 11% in same quarter last year. Foodcorp had a good activity in the quarter, very high activity in January and February, but reduced catch rates in March, which Arne explained also when he was talking about Foodcorp earlier. We had an own catch of mackerel horse mackerel of 38,500 tonnes with -- down from 54,700 tonnes in Q1 this year. We have also purchased 16,000 tonnes from the third party or the coastal fleet of sardine and anchovy, and that is down from 27,000 tonnes in the same quarter last year. But the reduced volume is mainly due to one month earlier start of the season in 2025. We see that we have higher yields from this raw material in 2026 versus 2025. We have a substantially higher volume of frozen products, and we have increased the yields for frozen production and the price achievements are also up year-on-year. Revenue in first quarter was NOK 628 million, up from NOK 425 million, and the EBIT adjusted was NOK 288 million, up from NOK 115 million. And you can see that the EBIT margin is substantially up 46% versus 27%. I would like to mention that we are guiding on a total of raw material of 135,000 tonnes and Foodcorp's own quota is 70,000 tonnes. So we purchased some raw material from third party, which we catch with our own vessels. So in first quarter, we have -- the production is from our own quota. Kobbevik og Furuholmen, that is a small farmer on the West Coast of Norway. We have harvested a little bit above 2,300 tonnes, which is up 24% versus the same quarter last year. They sell all their salmon in the spot market. And as I mentioned earlier, there is a reduction in prices year-on-year on salmon. But we have had a significantly lower cost on this volume than we had on the harvested volume in same quarter in 2025. So the EBIT per kilo here is NOK 23, down from NOK 27. And total revenue in the quarter is NOK 212 million and EBIT adjusted is NOK 54 million, more or less in line with the EBIT in the same period last year. The total assets for the group by the end of March is NOK 52.4 billion. That is down from NOK 53 billion in the end of March 2025 and also NOK 53 million (sic) [ NOK 53 billion ] by the end of last year. The net interest-bearing debt is NOK 7.9 billion. It's a little bit up from March in 2025, but down from NOK 8.7 billion by the end of 2025. Equity ratio at 54%, 1% down from March last year, but up from 52% by the end of 2025. We have some units with different functional currency. And of course, when we do the exchange into Norwegian kroners in the balance sheet, that will, of course, be impacted by the strengthening NOK. So that explains some of the reduction in the total balance sheet. Looking at the cash flow, there has been a good cash generation in first quarter. So cash from operation is a little bit above NOK 1.4 billion. Cash from investing activity is minus NOK 268 million. The CapEx is not like the same every quarter. So it's quite low in first quarter. And we know that Lerøy has a CapEx program of NOK 1.7 billion in 2026 and the other segments are more or less in line with their normal depreciations. So this will be higher as we go further in 2026. Cash from financing activity is minus NOK 891 million, and this gives us a net positive change in cash of NOK 261 million. And we end the quarter with a cash position of close to NOK 5.4 billion.

Then I will give the view on the different markets we are operating within, starting up with the fishmeal market and the fishmeal producer. If you look at the largest fishmeal producers, you can see that as of week 17, the production is down by 24%. And we also know that the quota in Peru is down by 36%. And of course, there's also uncertainties in terms of if the quota will be caught going forward. And that has led into an increase of prices. And in Peru, prices is close to $2,600 per tonne on super prime with a discount of $200 down to -- $250 down to lower quality fishmeal. I would say these prices will come into third quarter. The demand is from the third quarter onwards, and there still is China, which is the main market for fishmeal. If we look at the Chinese market, stock is down by 44% compared with same week in 2025. And you also see that weekly offtake is a bit lower than it was same period last year. Prices is a bit higher than the Peru prices, which also stimulates trade. And we also see that import in China is down by 12% in first quarter and Peru is 46% of that import. Fish oil, I would say it's less down, but down by 7%. It's also fair to say that Peru due to the inclusion of juvenile fish, we also see that the oil yields are lower than the normal yields we are seeing in this season, so just under 2%. And we also see that fish oil prices have increased during the quarter and are now approximately $4,100 per tonne, and it's a premium of $300 to $400 per tonne on omega-3 grade. Then looking at salmon, as you see in 2025, we had an increase of volume out of Norway and worldwide of approximately 12% this year. Out of Norway, it's an expectation of just over 2% increase. And it's also, I would say that so far this year, we have been slaughtered 30,000 tonnes more in Norway compared with the same period last year. And going forward, we are expecting the same growth that we had in 2025. So I would say the growth is already taken out according to Kontali. So the underlying growth, both in '26, '27, I would say, is giving a tight supply situation. Prices is, I would say, down versus same quarter last year and also starting up in second quarter this year. Prices is a bit lower than we expected in the beginning of year, and it's mainly explained by strengthening of NOK and also we have seen increasing logistics costs, particularly on the Asian market as a consequences of increasing fuel prices. Consumption has been very good and increase in the North -- in the EU market, up with 12%. And where you see the most increase is in the other markets, mainly driven by Asia and China, where we have had an increase of 28% versus same period last year. So summing up, I would say we have had a strong biological performance in Lerøy. Seal lice treatment is down. Mortality is down. We are expecting a harvest volume of 195,000 tonnes in '26. And we have also started this cost reduction program, which will gradually impact the cost during 2026, but also into 2027. Whitefish price development outweighed lower catch volumes. We are seeing significantly higher fuel prices going in, in the second quarter. But all in all, I would say that we are expecting a better year in the Whitefish segment for '26 versus '25. VAP sales and distribution, I would say lower salmon and trout prices are building markets. It's still strong demand, strict supply growth, but we're also seeing that higher logistic costs and reduced accessibility to certain high-margin markets and particularly in Asia is taking a bit prices down and the strengthening of NOK is also affecting the profitability. In Peru, as I said, a challenging start of the season. Quota is set on 1.9 million tonnes. At time being, there is a stop in the fishery in order to see if the mix between juveniles and larger-sized fish will change. And of course, if this will happen for a longer period, it will affect how much of the quota we are able to catch in the end. Same situation in Chile. We had a good start January and February. And from March and onwards, it's been also a mix of undersized fish, meaning that it's been a stop in the fishery. The fleet now is searching for other fishing zones to see if they find areas and fishing zones, which holds a better mix of fish sizes. So that was all. When it comes to the North Atlantic, again, an okay start of the season. And we're also seeing that the situation in Peru is going to increase prices also for our activity in Pelagia. So that was all. Thank you, and have a good day.