Lerøy Seafood Group ASA

Preliminary financial figures 2020

PROFIT/LOSS FOURTH QUARTER AND 2020 IN TOTAL

In Q4 2020, Lerøy Seafood Group (LSG) reported revenue of NOK 5,170 million, compared with NOK 5,239 million in the same period of 2019. Operating profit before fair value adjustment related to biological assets was NOK 441 million in Q4 2020, compared with NOK 769 million in Q4 2019. The global COVID-19 pandemic has a negative impact on demand and has resulted in lower prices for both redfish and whitefish. The main factor behind the fall in earnings from Q4 2019 to Q4 2020 is the reduction in prices realised.

The Group reported annual revenue of NOK 19,960 million for 2020, compared with NOK 20,427 million in 2019. Annual operating profit before fair value adjustment related to biological assets in 2020 was NOK 1,950 million compared with NOK 2,734 million in 2019. Profit before tax and fair value adjustment related to biological assets for 2020 as a whole was NOK 1,869 million compared with NOK 2,718 million in 2019.

• “Lerøy’s focus is developing an efficient and sustainable value chain for seafood that meets the customers’ long-term demand. This not only provides cost-efficient solutions, but also quality, availability, a high level of service, traceability, and competitive climate-related and environmental solutions. Thanks to our robust and long-term focus on the customer, we feel that we have emerged all the stronger from a difficult year,” confirms CEO Henning Beltestad.
• “We have invested heavily in our value chain in recent years, in the form of assets, human resources and our approach to operational improvements. This is a long-term process but, as we enter 2021, we are starting to reap the results of our initiatives and we are confident that we have a strong position for the years to come,” confirms Henning Beltestad.

THE WILD CATCH SEGMENT

The wholly-owned subsidiary Lerøy Havfisk's primary business is wild catches of whitefish. Lerøy Havfisk has licence rights to harvest just above 10% of the total Norwegian cod quotas in the zone north of 62 degrees latitude, corresponding to around 30% of the total quota allocated to the trawler fleet. Lerøy Havfisk also owns several processing plants, which are mainly leased out to its sister company Lerøy Norway Seafoods (LNWS) on long-term contracts. Lerøy Havfisk’s trawler licences stipulate an operational obligation for these processing plants.