January 30, 2014

Marine Harvest has chosen "leading the blue revolution" as its vision, as it wants to be a leader in cultivating and growing food from the ocean.

"Our vision is to be 'leading the blue revolution' - something similar to what happened 5,000 years ago with the agriculture revolution when people move from hunting and fishing to agriculture. We want to elevate aquaculture to be comparable to agriculture and beyond," says Alf-Helge Aarskog, chief executive officer of Marine Harvest.

According to the UN, the world must increase its food production by 70% by 2050. As much as 70% of the globe is covered by water. Yet, only 6% of the world's protein supply is sourced from the oceans today. The potential is enormous, says Aarskog.

Meanwhile, Marine Harvest, the world's leading seafood company, is the first aquaculture company to be listed at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The company controls about 22% of the global production of farmed Atlantic salmon, the most industrialised and commercially developed aquaculture specie.

The company is the first vertically integrated aquaculture company to be listed on the NYSE. Aarskog sees a number of advantages of being listed at the NYSE, such as: the listing gives them exposure to a larger part of the US investment community, including those who are not mandated to invest in Norway. Marine Harvest should also benefit from being aligned to the land based protein companies listed in the US. These companies are generally larger than Marine Harvest, but they have some superior attributes in terms of margins and growth prospects which should be attractive to investors, says Aarskog.

Another advantage is it gives them access to a wider portion of the US investor base. It will also be beneficiary to have a currency that can be applied in future consolidation of the industry. They have a good starting point with a market cap of about US$5 billion and ownership of about 22% of the global production of farmed Atlantic salmon, Aarskog adds.

Marine Harvest is present in 22 countries, has a total of 10 400 employees worldwide and a market capitalisation of approximately US$5 billion. The company is headquartered in Norway, and is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.