Grieg Seafood purchases Shetland firm
Grieg Seafood has salmon farming operations in Norway, Canada and the UK, in the Shetland Islands. (Photo: Grieg Seafood ASA)
Norwegian Grieg Seafood ASA’s subsidiary Grieg Seafood Hjaltland UK Ltd has signed an agreement to acquire Shetland-based Northern Aquaculture Limited.
Grieg will acquire four production sites on the west coast of Shetland with a total combined discharge consent of 2,900 tonnes. The purchased production sites fit into Grieg Seafood Hjaltland’s current production areas.
There are several advantages to the transaction: higher volume and operational synergies will be secured, the venture will be beneficial from a bio security point of view and Grieg Seafood Hjaltland will be the only operator in the areas concerned.
Grieg Seafood Hjaltland currently has production on two of the acquired sites under a contract growing agreement. This contract growing agreement will be terminated upon completion of this transaction.
The acquisition price for Northern Aquaculture is GBP 1.11 million (EUR 1.3 million). Per the deal, Grieg Seafood Hjaltland is also taking power of the equipment leasing with a remaining liability of GBP 0.7 million (EUR 0.8 million).
The total enterprise value of the acquisition is GBP 1.8 million (EUR 2 million).
In 2009, Grieg Seafood achieved an operating profit before fair value adjustment of biological assets of NOK 154 million (EUR 19 million), in contrast with NOK -173 million (EUR -21.4 million) the year prior.
Profit before tax increased from NOK -442 million (EUR -54.8 million) to NOK 318 million (EUR 39.4 million).
In the fourth quarter of 2009, Grieg reached an operating profit before fair value adjustment of biological assets of NOK 63 million (EUR 7.8 million), compared to NOK -251 million (EUR -31.1 million) in the fourth quarter of 2008. This means an operating profit of NOK 3.94 (EUR 0.49) per kg in the fourth quarter of 2009, against an adjusted operating profit of NOK -4.19 (EUR 0.52) per kg in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Turnover grew by 32 per cent in Q4 2009 and volume by 23 per cent due to important improvements in Grieg’s operations in Norway and Shetland as well as a strong salmon market.
With headquarters in Bergen, Norway, Grieg specialises in farming salmon and trout and produces about 80,000 tonnes gutted weight annually. The Group is present in Norway, Canada’s British Columbia (BC) and in Shetland with some 410 employees.
Source: FIS United States
