Earnings Release • Feb 25, 2021
Earnings Release
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SalMar strengthens its strategic focus on offshore aquaculture and appoints a new CFO & Director of Strategy at SalMar Ocean
In its 30th anniversary year, SalMar is strengthening its substantial endeavours
in the field of offshore fish farming, and through this way contribute to
solving important environmental and area challenges the aquaculture industry
faces. To strengthen the team at SalMar Ocean, Group CFO & COO Trine Sæther
Romuld, in consultation with SalMar's CEO and board of directors, has announced
her decision to accept the role of CFO & Director of Strategy at SalMar Ocean,
when a new Group CFO in SalMar is recruited to SalMar. The recruitment process
for a new group CFO is already underway and the plan is for her to take up her
new post on 1 September 2021.
"SalMar's focus on the open ocean marked the start of a new era in the seafood
industry. Offshore fish farming opens vast new areas for sustainable food
production and helps to secure world's food supply in a long-term perspective.
By strengthening the team in SalMar Ocean with the appointment of Trine Sæther
Romuld, we are further reinforcing this important strategic effort for SalMar,"
says the Group's CEO Gustav Witzøe.
"I am looking forward to, together with the rest of the team in SalMar Ocean, to
further develop what is the start of a new industrial adventure for the seafood
and the supply industry," says Trine Sæther Romuld, CFO & COO at SalMar.
SalMar's focus on offshore fish farming is well known, and continues its
tradition of developing and exploiting new technologies and new solutions. This
endeavour is taking place under the SalMar's wholly owned subsidiary SalMar
Ocean, which is led by its CEO Olav Andreas Ervik.
Good biological results from Ocean Farm 1
Ocean Farm 1 - full scale pilot with offshore design - was put into operation in
the autumn of 2017. The unit has been in an exposed area of the ocean off the
coast of Frøya in Central Norway. Two whole production cycles have been carried
out and a combined total of 10,000 tonnes of superior quality salmon have
already been delivered to the market.
"We have been able to observe strong biological results, with strong growth, low
mortality, low sea lice levels and a production costs on par with the best
coastal locations," says SalMar Ocean's CEO Olav-Andreas Ervik.
Experience from the construction and operation of Ocean Farm 1 has made it
possible to develop even better and more cost-effective solutions as the company
now prepares to build new units for use in exposed areas and in the open ocean.
Fish farming in the open ocean
The next technological leap for SalMar's offshore development is Smart Fish
Farm, which is planned to be established in the open ocean outside of Central
Norway. SalMar has ambitions to build a series of these units for offshore
production, based on the experience gained, provided that the authorities open
up for locations and licenses in these areas.
"In the open ocean, the Gulf Stream supplies a continuous flow of high-quality
water at the right temperature. We have no need to add further energy or fresh
water. And the Gulf Stream gets its power from the sun, wind and other deep
ocean currents," Ervik explains.
He adds that with the technology and solutions that SalMar Ocean now makes
available, the challenge posed by the Norwegian authorities to develop equipment
suitable for solving important area and environmental challenges that the
industry faces are taken seriously. Nothing is then more natural than using even
more of the Norwegian coast and the areas on the Norwegian Continental shelf, in
the salmon's natural habitat.
Potential for significant ripple effects to the Norwegian supply industry
SalMar has conducted studies that offshore aquaculture will have significant
ripple effects in the form of value creation and jobs, on land as well.
"We are ready to place major orders for sea cages and equipment when the
necessary permits have been granted by the authorities," says Ervik.
Opportunities for international expansion
SalMar's focus on offshore fish farming will form the basis for a new era in
aquaculture with significant effects also for the supplier industry. By being at
the forefront with solutions and experience, suppliers can secure a competitive
edge in a new and potentially vast national and international market.
The technology and solutions currently being developed are not restricted to
Norwegian waters. It is not only off the Norwegian coast that nature offers good
conditions for the sustainable production of North Atlantic salmon
For more information, please contact:
CEO Gustav Witzøe, SalMar
Phone: +47 911 47 834
Email: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
CFO & COO Trine Sæther Romuld, SalMar
Phone: + 47 991 63 632
Email: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
CEO Olav Andreas Ervik, SalMar Ocean
Phone: + 47 918 68 100
Email: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
About SalMar
SalMar is one of the world's largest and most efficient producers of farmed
salmon. The Group has farming operations in Central Norway, Northern Norway and
Iceland, as well as substantial harvesting and secondary processing operations
in Norway, at InnovaMar in Frøya and Vikenco in Aukra. SalMar also owns 50 per
cent of the shares in Scottish Sea Farms Ltd.
See www.salmar.no (http://www.salmar.no) for more information about the company.
This information is subject to the disclosure requirements stipulated in section
5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
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