September 2, 2010

Norway's Morpol acquires third salmon farm

Poland-based Morpol on Tuesday announced that it acquired Rysa Salmon, a small organic salmon farm in Orkney, Scotland, for GBP1.96 million (US$3.02 million).

Rysa Salmon holds two farming licenses and is expected to produce approximately 450 tonnes of salmon this year, which Morpol plans to increase to 750 tonnes annually.

Morpol will merge Rysa Salmon's assets with Mainstream Scotland and Westray Salmon, both of which it purchased earlier this month.

The acquisition of Mainstream Scotland on August 18 for NOK350 million was Morpol's first leap into salmon farming. The company is already one of the world's largest salmon processors. A week later, Morpol landed Westray Scotland, an organic salmon farm also in Orkney, for GBP3.28 million.

Meanwhile, Morpol released its second-quarter results, including an operating loss of EUR2.1 million (US$2.7 million), compared to an operating profit of EUR11 million during the same period last year.

The company attributed its lacklustre results to high raw material costs, particularly gutted salmon from Norway, though it said it expects costs to drop from record levels in the second half of this year.

However, the company's operating revenues in the second quarter of 2010 were up 22% to EUR83.4 million (US$105.7 million).

Morpol added that it is expanding "rapidly" into new markets, including France, the United Kingdom and the US.