Kaldvik AS (KLDVK) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone. I'm Vidar Aspehaug, new Interim CEO of Kaldvik, and I'm pleased to welcome you to the presentation of our second quarter results for 2025. Joining me today is our CFO, Robert Robertsson, and together, we'll walk you through the key highlights and developments for the past quarter. After the presentation, we'll open the floor for questions. And as before, you're welcome to submit them by e-mail to [email protected]. But first, a short introduction of myself. I'm, as I say, Vidar Aspehaug, and I've been working with Kaldvik since November '21 and been in the executive management since August '22. I'm a fish health biologist with a PhD in virology, specialized in handling the ISA virus. I cofounded PatoGen, the major diagnostic laboratory for the aquaculture industry in 2005 and was the CEO there for 8 years until I moved into a position as Business Development Officer, focusing then on fish health challenges in Norway, Chile and Scotland. And I worked with PatoGen until we sold the company in 2021. In Kaldvik, I have had responsibility for fish health and quality, and my focus has been on several improvement projects throughout the value chain, starting in our land facilities as well as working closely with every department on improvements, including sea and harvest. So to the presentation, you know this disclaimer. So let's go to the agenda. We'll begin with some highlights from the last quarter, covering operational performance, financial results and strategic updates. Then we look ahead with a brief outlook and summary before wrapping up with a Q&A session. And if you have questions, please send them to [email protected]. So some highlights from this quarter. In the second quarter, we harvested 1,235 tonnes with a group operational EBIT of minus EUR 4.3 million. An important reason is naturally high cost due to the low utilization of our company capacity, a particularly challenging 2023 generation that I will comment on further a bit later and the challenging market situation. Concluding Q2, we've harvested a total of 7,618 tonnes so far this year. And looking ahead in 2025, we'll be lowering our full year harvest guidance from 21,500 tonnes to 18,000 tonnes, and I'll give more details on this later in the presentation. We expect to harvest around 2,300 tonnes in Q3, and we remain on track to meet our 2025 target of releasing 7.5 million smolt to support our future growth. Also, the smolt transfer has been going very well with the best survival we've had so far in Kaldvik, reflecting the improved robustness of the smolt resulting from our strategic investments in our land sites in the last 2 years. Also, smolt output will be finalized now in Q3, reducing risk further. Strategically, the refinancing process was completed in Q2, and we're expecting the new licenses in Seyðisfjörður to finally be granted this year. Robert will come back to this and the financial updates later. So as mentioned, the 2023 generation has been challenging and is also the primary cause for adjusting the harvest forecast for 2025. It has also resulted in a low superior share this quarter. This is the last generation that did not benefit from the new winter wound vaccine or from the improvements that we've done in the land sites the last 3 years. So starting up with the suboptimal smolt quality on top of the unusually low sea temperatures at the end of 2024, this fish was struggling from the start and was hit more than usual by algae during the summer, resulting in higher mortality, reduced growth and downgrading compared to the production plan. Consequently, the harvesting in Q2 '25 largely involves early harvest of smaller fish than anticipated. And we're now planning to finalize the harvest of the '23 generation this year. To our farming operations in land, we, as I say, remain on track to meet our '25 targets of releasing 7.5 million smolts and 70% is already at sea, showing very good performance and the best survival we have seen so far. We will finish the output in Q3, minimizing risk of any challenges. So we believe that the investments that we've done in our land sites the last 3 years are now paying off. The improvements include increased production capacity, including our new grow-out facility in Land North in Rifós that became operational earlier this year and is now showing good performance. Also, we have improved water quality at all sites, improved operational routines, implemented a proactive health and biosecurity management, including the new vaccination strategy. And we've improved operational efficiency through additional wellboat capacity. Overall, production performance in land remains strong with year-over-year mortality rates reduced by more than 30% in recent years, reflecting the improvements in fish health and operational efficiency. So looking at the graph on the left-hand side demonstrates the challenging marketing situation during this quarter, which stems mainly from significant production increase, both in Norway and Chile. The global supply growth is projected to reach 8.5% this year and 1% in '26. In Q2, we harvested 1,225 (sic) [ 1235 ] tonnes. And as mentioned earlier, the superior rate was low, mainly caused by the poor performing '23 generation. Despite the low superior share of 40%, 25% of our sales were secured through fixed price contracts, helping on the overall price achievement. Our newly formed sales and trading organization has been actively focusing on developing new markets and are currently in China marketing our premium salmon there. So with the limited volumes harvested this quarter, we have naturally had high cost -- unit cost per kilo harvest. But we have used the opportunity to make upgrades at the harvest station and have also started planning for further upgrades and expansion to support a growing biomass. So that concludes the operational update. Now I'll pass the word to Robert, who will walk you through the financial performance.

Thank you, Vidar. Good morning, everyone. I've prepared a few slides to walk you through the financial update for the second quarter. First off, you have the highlights from the quarter, which was marked by limited harvest volumes, suboptimal utilization of our harvesting capacity and difficult market situation. The limited harvest volume led to partial utilization of our harvesting facility in wellboats. Consequently, we experienced increased operational costs. The average price achieved was approximately EUR 6 per kilo. This outcome was driven by a lower share of superior quality fish and weaker market prices during the quarter. And as Vidar mentioned, the fixed price contracts with our customers in the U.S. helped to improve the overall price achievement, providing some stability in an otherwise challenging market. And over to the financial summary. Total assets increased by EUR 27 million during the quarter. This was primarily driven by investments in biological assets and higher cash balance resulting from the successful private placement, which improved the equity ratio that amounted to 57% at the end of the quarter. Total liabilities decreased by EUR 16 million, mainly reflecting the final payment for strategic investments on the East Coast in the new box factory and harvesting station Búlandstindur. And here, you can see high-level analysis of net interest-bearing debt, which decreased by EUR 4 million during the quarter. EBITDA of the quarter was negative and increased the net interest-bearing debt by EUR 1.3 million. Net investments in working capital amounted to EUR 29.5 million, primarily due to biomass buildup during the quarter and decreased trade payables. Total CapEx for 2025 is estimated at EUR 18.5 million. In second quarter, CapEx investment totaled at EUR 3.7 million, making the total CapEx investment for the first half of 2025, approximately EUR 8.3 million. Financial items amounted to EUR 4.9 million with finance costs being the main contributor. And as previously mentioned, Kaldvik strengthened its equity base by issuing 44.2 million new shares during the quarter. This was firstly through acquisition-related share issue in April and secondly, through significant private placement related to the refinancing in June. And furthermore, during the quarter, the Board announced plans for potential subsequent offering of up to 4.3 million new shares at NOK 14 per share, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals. The offering is expected to be completed before end of third quarter this year. On 4th of July, an extraordinary general meeting was held to consider proposal from a group of minority shareholders holding more than 10% of the shares in the company to initiate an investigation into agreements between Kaldvik, Heimstø, Osval related to the acquisition of the newly or recently acquired box factory and the 33% share in our harvesting facility, Bulandstindur. Subsequently, on 3rd of August, a group of minority shareholders submitted a formal request to a district court in Norway to open an investigation. This matter is expected to be resolved during the autumn of this year. And a brief status on strategic updates. The new license in Seyðisfjörður is expected to be issued during this year. The license includes total capacity of 10,000 tonnes MAB or maximum allowed biomass. This is divided into 6,500 tonnes fertile license and 3,500 tonnes sterile license. This new production area presents a significant strategic opportunity for us, increasing our overall capacity, allowing us to meet growing demand and provides us with increased flexibility in our operations. More importantly, the new area will help reduce biological risk at sea, contributing to the sustainability and health of our operations. Thank you. I'll now hand it back over to our CEO, Vidar Aspehaug.

Thank you, Robert. So a bit about what to expect going forward. For Q3 2025, we expect to harvest approximately 2,300 tonnes, continuing with the fall '23 generation and the spring '24 generation. For '24, we will be harvesting 8,000 -- sorry, for Q4, we'll be harvesting 8,100 tonnes, hopefully, at more favorable prices and will thus be utilizing the best growth period here in Iceland to the fall. As previously said, we're guiding a total harvest of 18,000 tonnes for 2025. We are on track with our goal to release 7.5 million smolt for the year, of which about 70% is already at sea, showing very promising performance, and we will finalize the transfer by the end of Q3. Thus, with the reduced mortality rate that we are seeing at transfer, we expect that our investments will continue to pay off now that we can start off with a smolt of improved robustness supporting our future production and long-term growth. It's also worth noting that we are presently seeing beneficial sea temperatures, improving wound healing and growth, which is also a positive sign for biological conditions going forward. And talking about future potential. During my time with Kaldvik, I have been part of ups and downs, but I also see the great potential that lies in Kaldvik. Kaldvik is uniquely positioned as the only salmon farmer on the east of Iceland, giving significant biosecurity advantages with a license volume of 44,000 tonnes, soon 54,000 tonnes. Even though we still have a way to go, we do not face the same challenges that other salmon-producing countries are facing. For example, we have no problems with sea lice, no PD, no AGD. But we've been through very educational ISA situation a few years back, improving all operational processes and biosecurity. I'm confident that we've already resolved the most pressing matters in our production and identified further improvements opportunities. Now that we're about to reach some of our key strategic goals, including 7.5 million smolt, record low output mortality and the most robust smolt that we have ever had, I believe that we will keep seeing significant improvements in performance going forward. So I feel confident that salmon farming in the Eastfjords of Iceland will succeed, and I feel confident stepping into the CEO role of the most exciting salmon company in the fastest-growing salmon region in the world. But apart from a good performing fish, volume is key to fully utilize our production capacity and to reach economy of scale. So in recent years, our strategy has been focused on investments in our land sites to support our rapid building of biomass, and we are now one united salmon producer in the East after the consolidation a few years ago, laying the foundation for further scaling and growth. Today, we see significant potential triggered by reaching milestone 1. We have enough robust smolt to support our planned growth, and we are fully invested to reach 30,000 tonnes run rate going forward. The Kaldvik team will continue to improve the smolt quality, and we're aiming at producing a larger smolt, which will shorten the production time in sea and reduce biological risk, though achieving a consistent 2-year cycle will require additional capital investment. Starting in 2027, we're planning to start utilizing our sterile licenses, which is expected to yield an annual production of 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes. We're also progressing toward a 10,000 tonne license in Seyðisfjörður that we hope will be finalized this year. In parallel, we're working on optimizing our production areas to maximize the use of our maximum allowed biomass. And altogether, these efforts point to a total production potential of up to 45,000 tonnes. So looking ahead, we see strong global demand for premium salmon with particularly promising opportunities in the U.S. and the Asian markets. Planned harvest for '25 is 18,000 tonnes with planned harvest for the next 2 quarters of 2,300 tonnes and 8,100 tonnes, respectively. Our future growth is supported by our planned output -- smolt output of 7.5 million in 2025, which is on track. We are currently going through a leadership change, but I feel confident to hit the ground running with my knowledge about the company and the Icelandic industry from my time with Kaldvik and to keep the momentum and ensure a smooth transition period. Strategically, we're expecting approval of the 10,000 tonne license in Seyðisfjörður this year. In addition, the refinancing process was finalized in Q2 with a loan facility of EUR 230 million and an equity increase of EUR 45 million. All in all, future looks bright, and we will conclude our presentation here, and we're now open for questions. And as mentioned initially, please send questions to e-mail [email protected].

Yes. We have had a couple of questions. The first question here is regarding the cost levels and our ability to balance cost related to activity and if there will be any increased focus on reduced cost when it comes to reduced income. So cost levels this quarter increased quarter-on-quarter due to difficulties in the '23 generation and suboptimal utilization of our harvesting facility, like we mentioned in the presentation. And -- we are constantly evaluating the cost structure of the company. And we will see the cost level go down again with better utilization of our harvesting capacity. But like I say, this is -- we are constantly evaluating the cost structure and coming up with cost-saving initiatives. Another question came in regarding the harvesting estimates for 2026.

Yes. We do not guide any of the harvesting estimates for '26 yet.

Then there's a question regarding the superior share in the remaining quarters, Q3 and Q4. Do we have any expectations for the superior share in Q3 and Q4?

Of course, we're not happy with the superior share that we had in Q2. That was related to challenges with the 2023 generation. We have good hope now with the good temperatures in the sea and seeing wound healing. So we are, of course, hoping for an improved superior share for the coming quarter. We will be harvesting -- the 2023 generation will be less than 50% of the harvesting for the rest of the year. So we are hoping for a higher superior share.

Then a question regarding the contract share for the Q3 and Q4. We are estimating the contract share for 2025 to be somewhere between 20% and 25%. So around that percentage in Q3 and Q4 as well. Yes. Yes. Any other questions? Let me see. You're reducing the guidance from 21,500 tonnes to 18,000 tonnes. Will this affect the volumes in '26?

Okay. As mentioned, the reason for lowering the guiding is related to the losses from the 2023 generation. So not that we are moving volume.

Question here. You mentioned an additional need for further capital to increase future production. How is that planned to be executed? So in the presentation, we mentioned that to take the production up from Milestone 1, 30,000 tonnes up to the future potential of 45,000 tonnes, we would need further investments in our infrastructure. This is something that we are evaluating. And -- but this is not something that will happen next year or the year after that. So the plant execution is not clear as of now. So yes. Any other questions? Yes. You're saying that you will finish the '23 generation this year. How much of the harvest in the third quarter and fourth quarter will be from the '23 generation?

Yes. I think we mentioned that already, but we will be harvesting 2,300 tonnes in Q3 and 8,100 tonnes in Q4, so a total of 10,400 tonnes. And the '23 generation will be less than 50% of the total volume.

Yes. I think this is then all the questions that we've received. Please feel free to reach out to me after the presentation if there are any additional questions that we did not answer during this session. Yes, thank you.

Thank you very much.