October 15, 2010

Marine Harvest hints at strong Q3

Marine Harvest ASA on Wednesday (Oct 13) reported an operating income of approximately NOK750 million (US$128.7 million) and an operating income per kilogramme of fish for its Norwegian division of approximately NOK13.4 (US$2.30) in the third quarter of 2010.

The announcement comes three weeks before Marine Harvest is due to release its full third-quarter results on November 3.

During the same period last year, Marine Harvest posted an operating income of NOK625 million and operating revenues of nearly NOK3.6 million.

In addition, the world's largest salmon farmer said it produced 64,000 tonnes of fish in the third quarter this year, just shy of the company's 66,000-fish projection and down from 82,000 tonnes during the same period in 2009.

At 44,000 tonnes, Norway led the way, followed by Scotland at 9,000 tonnes and Canada at 6,000 tonnes. During the same period last year, Norway yielded 53,100 tonnes of fish, while Scotland and Canada tallied 10,200 tonnes and 4,400 tonnes, respectively.

As it continues to rebound from the highly publicized infectious salmon anemia outbreak, Chile managed only 1,000 tonnes of fish in the third quarter of 2010, down from 7,700 tonnes from during the same period last year.