Benchmark Holdings PLC

LSE:BMK

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q2

[Trond Williksen, executive]

Good morning to all of you, and welcome to the [ quarterly ] presentation for Benchmark. I am Trond Williksen, and as usual, I'm here together with our CFO, Septima Maguire, and we are going to take you through our financial and operational results for the second quarter in our financial year '24.Normal program also today, taking you through the highlights and moving over to more granularity to give you a good understanding of the -- how we are doing in the business areas, before Septima is moving on, taking you through the financials. At the end of the presentation, we will share our view on the outlooks for the remainder of the year and, of course, there will be an opportunity for questions at the end.The focus of this presentation -- this does not work [ by the way ]. We have some technical issues here.Okay. The focus on this presentation will be on our Q2 performance, but for the benefit of our U.K. shareholders, which tends to focus more on the half year and the year end point, we'll also cover how we are doing, having now left for 6 months of the year behind us.But let's start off talking about the highlights of the quarter, which has as usual been a very busy quarter for the whole Benchmark organization. Besides running the business, besides optimizing the business, which, of course, is our main focus as management of Benchmark, we are also running a strategic review, as you all know. But for those of you who hoped that I was going to comment more on that, I will have to disappoint you. I will not comment further on the strategic review that we announced in January.So moving on to summarize the highlights in a quarter where we have been able to gain momentum compared to the last 3 quarters. Despite that, we have experienced significant ForEx headwinds and also had headwinds in some of our main markets. We have delivered well and to our expectations in the 2 main business areas, Genetics and Advanced Nutrition. While we have continued to transit to a less capital intensive business model in our third business area, the Health area.In terms of -- now it works -- in terms of the numbers, Q2 revenues ended at GBP 39.8 million, which in constant exchange rate adjusted for the ForEx is slightly down or more or less flat compared to what we delivered in Q2 a year ago.As just pointed out, the performance was driven by -- a very strong performance in Genetics and Advanced Nutrition, both areas experiencing growth, again, if you look at constant exchange rate. This was again offset by a reduction in the Health revenues, again a consequence of the transition of the business model that we are in the midst of doing, transiting it to a less capital intensive one. Thus, we have reduced exposure in one of the main elements of Health, Clean Treat, [ Ectosan ], with taking out one of the vessels in this quarter. So we have removed the revenues and exposure to one vessel compared to what we did 1 year ago.Looking at our adjusted EBITDA, excluding fair value movements, we are using that measure -- have used that [Audio Gap] of the company. We see a strong performance in the quarter, 9% growth year-over-year compared to last year in constant exchange rate. The strong overall performance in Q2 is also reflected in terms of earnings on the EBITDA margin ending at 25%, which is in line with the medium-term targets that we have been communicated a while ago.The [ group ] margin is of course built on very solid margins in all the 3 business areas. The strong operational performance in the quarter is also reflected in our adjusted operating profit for the quarter, which ended at GBP 5.9 million, which is a growth of 24% compared to Q2 last year. Our balance sheet remains strong with cash of GBP 20.8 million and a liquidity of GBP 40.5 million. For the granularity on the balance sheet, I will leave it up to Septima to go through that a little bit later in the presentation.On the bottom line, which seems to be a focus for some, we see an improvement year-over-year compared to last year, but it's still negative as we still are carrying the burden of large amortizations that started as a consequence of the M&A activity that was forming the group.The gap between the operational results and -- the bottom line and the operational results in terms of EBITDA has more than tripled, or tripled during the last 3, 4 years and the bottom line will eventually go away as these amortizations are ending in financial year '27. If you sum up the quarter, we think that the performance underpins our view that we are on track to deliver according to previously announced outlook for the full year.Moving on to give more granularity on the business areas, and starting with Genetics as usual, where we have landed a strong quarter with solid performance in the core business and good progress in our growth vectors. This is also reflected in the numbers. We have seen revenues growing. They are up both in terms of nominal numbers, but even more so in constant exchange rate if we take out the effect of the ForEx. This is driven by revenues from salmon egg sales, which is the core of our Genetics business, but also good progress in our growth vectors, especially Chile and increased harvest income.The adjusted EBITDA, again excluding fair value, ended significantly up compared to last year's second quarter, growing to GBP 3.1 million in this business area from GBP 2.2 million, and it was lifting adjusted EBITDA margin from 17% to 24% in the quarter. This is again a consequence of improved performance in our growth vectors, and I'll come back to that. Stronger harvest income as well as a good contribution from our joint venture with [ salmon ] genetics , it's now coming on track and we are starting to deliver normalized from that business. On top of that, we also see good effects of good cost control in the quarter.Looking at the first half -- and then we are back to the perspective of the first half, we still see that we are lagging a little bit behind where we were in the first half of last year. Again, this relates -- for this specific business area it relates back to the particular circumstance that we had back in the first quarter of last year when we benefited from the supply constraints in the market, from our main competitor within salmon genetics. And as I've stated repeatedly since then, that is not to be repeated, and it was not repeated this year. So the difference is related to this.While lagging behind on revenues on the top line for the first half of the year compared to last year, we are ahead when it comes to adjusted EBITDA in the same period. The adjusted EBITDA margin is significantly up from 18% to 23%, reflecting again a good performance in our growth vectors, a strong contribution -- or contribution from our joint venture with -- in [ salmon genetics ] and good cost control.Talking about the growth vectors, we are in particular happy with excellent progress we have been seeing in Chile which is delivering this quarter a positive EBITDA. This is a result of very good work by the team locally, of course, very much supported by Genetics teams in Benchmark also centrally and we are getting there in Chile step-by-step, continuing our work to take [ our ] [ place ] in this important market in a responsible way. We know and we have now demonstrated that we have a very competitive and relevant Genetics product that we offer the industry and we know that we have very competent team down there that [ relates ] and works well with the industry. So that's important in order to continue also the journey that we are on, in that important growth vector.A key element in our strategy -- in our Genetics business is to move towards differentiation of our products, building in traits that are of great importance for our customers, the farmers, of course, but using new and transformative technologies, making sure that we can differentiate more than we have done so far. So we can just justify a higher value in the Genetics than we have seen today.I repeatedly said that I think Genetics is not -- the pricing of Genetics is not fairly reflecting the value of Genetics in the salmon industry as of today. As I pointed out by having a deliberate strategy on this represents a huge value potential in the coming year and this is why we have this deliberate strategy in order to change this picture over time.A first step on the way, we have launched a new line of salmon genetics into the market. These lines are more tailored, more specialized with specific traits valuable for the customers. And even if they don't hold the new transformative technologies that we are on our way to develop, they represent steps on the way in order to introduce further specialized value of [ creative ] genetics into the market.We're also advancing our systematic effort on the more transformative genetics, and I talked about this at least in 2 quarter presentation before. Both in terms of diploid sterility and gene editing we are following our plans to -- and that will enable us to bring forward products with these technologies in the future.The [ nearest ] thing is that we have significantly advanced over program to launch products addressing complex gill health disease, a key challenge in many salmon regions. Scotland, you see it in Norway, but you also see it in other regions. This is a program that now has been bolstered by a major new partnership with -- that is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council in the U.K. And our plan where we are right now is to introduce products addressing complex gill health disease to the salmon industry during financial year '25.Finally, on the main points of -- in -- on Genetics, I just want to mention again the incident that we had early in Q2 when we reported an isolated incident with ISA on one fish in one tank in our facility in Salten. The tank that -- containing that affected one fish was an isolated unit with a unique fish group, with separate water systems and farming equipment. We have been working very close with Food and Safety Authority on the issue since the incident and we are happy to see the outcome.We have been able to isolate the incident with no further implication than stamping out the one tank that the isolated fish was found in. And this has no effect on our delivery capabilities. This speaks to the high quality of our team in Genetics that has been working with this, but it also speaks to the unique [ biosecure ] setup that we have in Salten, where the systems the way we have organized as a facility allows us to isolate incidents and by this taking down the risk and the consequences considerably.Moving over to give you the overview -- financial overview of different parts of the Genetics, and we have done this over quite a few quarters now, just to give you a transparent insight into how are different parts of Genetics performing and how it is all coming together.As you can see from this -- the financial figures for our core Genetics business which is over -- Genetics business towards the salmon industry out of Norway and Iceland, is reflecting a sale of eggs in the quarter that is slightly below the level that we saw in Q2 last year. But it's reflecting what -- how we see it, it's reflecting on normal fluctuation during the year and in between the period.You can also see the mentioned progress that we have had in Chile, nearly doubling our top line quarter-on-quarter compared to Q2 last year. And of course, this is a key to bringing the EBITDA to positive GBP 1.1 million in Chile for the quarter.Sale of shrimp, you see that it's slightly ahead of prior year at point GBP 0.5 million in the quarter. A key element in the actions that we have taken over the last quarter has been the integration of [ shrimp ] activities across Genetics and Advanced Nutrition, driving commercial synergies and cost savings.We have managed to execute on this in a successful way, taking decisive steps towards combining our unique commercial network that we have within -- in [ our ] Advanced Nutrition organization, with the capabilities we have within shrimp and Genetics.The immediate effect of this is, of course, cost synergies and you see that from the numbers, longer term, that this combination will enable better market penetration and ability to combine an offering of [ world ] leading Genetics with early stage nutrition that we have, [ INVE ], or Advanced Nutrition organization. This is an offering that nobody else has to the same magnitude that we have in the market.Finally, a few words on Genetic services which we are -- have been calling out now for the last 2, 3 quarters. And they do this because this is an area that we are focusing on growing and we expect it will generate more substantial numbers in the [ periods ] and years to come. This is a profitable business, where we now also have started to offering a very competitive genotyping services to clients around the world. The positive financial effect of this is not really showing in the numbers yet, but we expect this will add a new dimension in the periods and the years to come. The increased costs you see in this area is reflecting an increase, adding our resources to enable us to execute on the added new services.Then moving over to the second business area, Advanced Nutrition. It is actually our biggest business area. Here again, we are demonstrating this -- also this quarter a very strong performance in what is a soft market and we are keeping very well positioned for when the market again turns. I have repeatedly both internally, but also externally told how proud I am, how impressed I am with how our Advanced Nutrition organization or [ INVE ] have been able to perform this part. The soft shrimp markets that we have experienced for more than 1 year now.And it's no doubt market wise we've been through a tough period and the soft market conditions in the -- particularly in the shrimp market is continuing. Despite this, we have been able, and you see this also in the Q2 numbers, to uphold our performance in this business area. If you look at constant exchange rate, taking away the effects of ForEx, our topline has grown 10% if you compare it to the last quarter [ which was ] the first quarter in financial year '24, but 3% compared to the similar quarter last year, illustrating very clearly that we have kept the momentum in the business in the last month.And again, given the market conditions that we have seen for this business area, we know that this is a very strong performance. And those companies who are in the same landscape, this is a different landscape than the [ salmon ] landscape that we are used to here and they, for sure, will recognize.In terms of adjusted EBITDA for the quarter, we see a slight drop compared to Q2 last year. At the same time that we are upholding our adjusted EBITDA margin at 25%, which is in line with the long-term target that we have communicated for this business area.Looking at first half and then again with the scope of the first half of the year, you see that we are lagging slightly behind on the top line and adjusted [indiscernible] -- EBITDA for the first half. But if you again adjust for the ForEx headwinds that we have had and apply constant exchange rate, the performance is more flattish compared to what we experienced 1 year ago. This despite that if you look at last year, we came into the year with a strong market in Q1 and entered into difficult market in Q2. This year we came in with a difficult market in both Q1 and Q2. So that needs to be understood.Few more words on the market conditions for this business area. Albeit that we see some green spots of recovery in the market, which are opportunities that we are agile enough and in a position to take advantage of, the shrimp and marine fish markets are still soft with low demand.The fundamentals behind the situation in the shrimp market, which is our main market segment for this business area, remains the same. Its macroeconomic factors, depressed demand for shrimp in the end market. This again trickles down the supply chain and implies less production and stocking of shrimp, which again implies less demand for our products, so simple. As of now, this includes all the main markets that we find around the world. But it will eventually turn. When this will happen, it's very, very difficult to predict, but we know it will happen.And with the current organizational setup we have within [ INVE ], within our Advanced Nutrition business, we know that we are very well positioned to take advantage when the upturn is coming.A positive element in markets in shrimp being what they are at the moment, soft and challenging, is that the farmers, they tend to stick to what they know and to the relations that are well established. This is something that we see that we are benefiting from. [ INVE ] is a very well-known brand, and we are very well-established products and solutions towards this market. And the farmers stick to what they know in difficult times. And this is partly explaining why we are doing well, and I think better than most despite the challenging market conditions that we are in.It should also be mentioned on this business area that we continue our efforts to develop our product portfolio to make sure that technologies are added that strengthens the position as a provider of specialized products and solutions that commands high margins. This is a key to our strategy and has been that systematically over time.A clear example of this is that the sale of Artemia with [ added ] technologies, Artemia not only assist, but Artemia with [ added ] technologies has grown from 40% to 60% over the last years, bringing the business away from being a commodity business. We are trying to be away from commodity business. We used to sell commodity cysts. Now we are selling cyst with added technology, moving towards a highly specialized business, commanding entry barriers and commanding high margins, which is a key in the strategy of Benchmark overall.Finally, over to the last business area, which is Health. I started to comment that at the beginning of our presentation. This is an area where we have taken decisive actions to migrate the business model to become less capital intensive than it was, more right size in terms of both infrastructure and organization. The financial figures for the quarter also reflects this, both in terms of adjusted EBITDA and top line.A key part of the journey has been to migrate. And the main chunk of what we are doing in Health has been related to Ectosan Vet and CleanTreat, is to migrate the business model for that solution, from a PSV-based model for CleanTreat, which has been the starting point and the operational setup towards a model that is less capital intensive for us and less costly for our customers, the farmers.We do this because we see from the experience with the initial setup with PSV, when we have the CleanTreat system on the PSV, that while this was very well functioning operationally, it is not viable economically for us given the fluctuations in demand that we have seen throughout the years. The first step on that journey was to take out one of the PSVs with the CleanTreat on early in Q2, reducing the exposure to one operational PSV in the market. So that has been the situation that is reflected in our Q2 numbers.Given that we are now entering into what has been experienced as a low season for treatments, in the 2, 3 years we have been doing this, we see that the summer period is a period where very low demand, low utilization. We are also now taking out the last PSV from the market, reducing our exposure to the initial setup to [ none ]. As I've explained in earlier presentations, the ultimate business model we are seeking for this solution is no financial exposure to the CleanTreat system.The long-term solution, which we have told you about, is to get the CleanTreat system -- cleaning systems integrated into future well-boats owned and operated by customers or service providers. We have done the groundwork to make this happen and the design for such a system is in place through the partnership agreement that we have entered into with a leading well-boat equipment provider, MMC. And together with them, we are promoting this solution as part of the offering of new well-boats into the market.As we also have explained in a couple of presentations, we have also been working on an alternative solution that is less costly for the farmers, a barge solution, that will take down the cost for the users. The cost of our barge is significantly lower than the PSV and thus the infrastructure cost for such a solution will be significantly lower than the initial PSV setup that we are now migrating away from. The technical configuration of such a solution is now in place. And as we speak, we are reaching out into the market with this alternative solution.Also with this solution, our assumption is that the infrastructure investment and cost should be carried by the farmers, the customers, leaving us as a company with no exposure to the infrastructure cost and investments. We believe that the barge solution could be a good alternative to the farmers in Norway as we see other treatments also on sea lice are being configured, as we see now on similar barge platforms. We also believe that barge solution could be an opener on other markets as they are smaller than the markets in Norway and they need a configuration of the CleanTreat system that is less in size and less costly in order to be acceptable in these markets.Part of the actions that we took during Q1 and that we have taken during Q2 is to adjust the Health organization to reflect the migration to less intensive or capital-intensive business model. These actions are taken and will lower the operational cost of this business area in the periods to come. And we will, of course, continue to seek efficiencies in what we do also going forward in this business area.Finally, a few words on Salmosan, which is the other solution that we have within this business area. It keeps on getting new life as a very efficacious solution converting sea lice, also in combination with Ectosan Vet, the [ other ] medicine. Sales of Salmosan and Purisan, which is the name -- brand name in Chile, has continued to develop well in all regions. And our belief in Salmosan solution has grown over the last years and it continues to do now as we see new regions are also added to the use of that solution.With those words, Septima, I finished my initial comments and leave it up to you to dive into the financials.

[Septima Maguire, executive]

Thank you, Trond. So as you can see, we have both the quarterly numbers and also the half yearly numbers up on the screen. And I will, for the most part, talk to the quarterly numbers, given that we talked to the quarter 1 in -- a few months ago. The one thing I would note, as Trond referenced, is when you look at the half years, you also need to look at it with the backdrop that we had a very, very strong quarter 1 in the first quarter of the last -- previous financial year, whereas this year is a bit more normalized as we look at the numbers.One other point, and Trond has referenced it, is the fact that we did experience FX headwinds in our businesses, mainly in our dollar-based businesses, which is Nutrition, and that can be seen by the differences between the actual exchange rates and the constant exchange rates in terms of the percentage growth rates.So at a revenue level, we were slightly behind at a constant exchange rate at the minus 3%, but this was driven actually by positive growth within our Genetics and our Nutrition businesses with growth at 7% and 3%, respectively, and then, of course, offset by the negative growth that we saw within our Health business as we had less PSVs on the market.When we look at the gross profit level, the FX mix also causes GBP 1.5 million of the drop in terms of the gross profit. Within our Nutrition business, we had a slight negative mix effect of GBP 0.5 million, but we also then had a slight drop in terms of, of course, our Health business.When you look at our Genetics business, when we look at gross profit excluding fair value uplift, it actually was positive at GBP 0.4 million, but the fair value uplift, which is included within this number was negative. But overall, we are actually quite pleased with the gross margins that we've achieved during the period for the challenging quarters that we've had.When we look at R&D, it's flat on a quarter-to-quarter basis, but there's 2 stories within that. We still are continuing to progress our R&D initiatives. But throughout last year and into this year, we've been internalizing some of our R&D spend, ultimately getting much better cost efficiency out of what we're spending in terms of our R&D, and Trond talked to a number of the initiatives that we are progressing at this point in time.Our operating costs have reduced significantly quarter-on-quarter. This is driven in the main by Nutrition. As they have had challenging markets, they've exercised a really, really excellent cost control. But then also our Health business, we've been rightsizing the business once again. And that was just a little preview of the cash flow.We've been rightsizing the business to reflect the lower level of activity we have within our Health business area. When we look at our adjusted EBITDA, excluding our fair value movement, it has grown at 9%, which is very pleasing based on the progress that we've made in the business in the quarter. But more importantly, we're at our target adjusted EBITDA margin of 25% and our objective is always to maintain that for the group in totality.When we look at our exceptionals, we had high exceptionals in the quarter. As of course Trond referenced, we are in the midst of a strategic review, and we have been investing in that process. But additionally, there were also some small restructuring amounts as we also seek to rightsize the cost base within our Health business area. Our net finance costs of GBP 1.3 million are made up mainly by the cost of servicing our debt and interest on our leases of GBP 2.6 million, and then that's offset by movements on ForEx and then also gains and losses on the derivatives that we hold associated with our debt.But all in all, in the quarter, we have been able to shrink our loss before tax from GBP 1.7 million to GBP 0.7 million in the period. So we are making good progress when we look at that part of the business.Now moving on to the cash flow. So I'm going to show you the quarter 2 cash flow and then we're going to move on to the half year in totality. When we look at the cash flow, we had very good cash generation from operations. Quarter 2 is generally a cash generative quarter, and that is linked to payments within our [ take-or-pay ] contract in Nutrition.We have maintained very moderate CapEx during this period as we are in a relatively low activity level and we expect that this will probably continue as we progress through the remainder of this financial year.When we look at the interest and taxes, including the lease interest and also the lease additions, so of course, in terms of our interest and taxes, we have -- GBP 2.2 million of the interest is to service the debt that we have and the balance relates to the taxes that we pay. To refresh everybody's memory, we pay taxes in our profit-making core parts of the business, which are Norway, Iceland and Belgium and some of their territories as well.When we talk to the leases, Trond noted the fact that we are actually taking out the second PSV and that's a leased vessel. So what will happen is as a consequence of that, we will actually take our net debt, including leases down by approximately GBP 4 million as a result of actually taking that PSV off the water. So not only does it have operational benefits, but it also has leverage benefits from a business point of view. And ultimately, that brings us down to the net debt that we have at the end of this period of GBP 72.7 million.Now when we move on just quickly to look at the year-to-date cash flow. As I noted, the cash generated from operations is heavily influenced by the [ take-or-pay ] contract, and it was GBP 6.1 million in the second quarter. The first quarter had a significant cash outflow for the [ take-or-pay ] contract, which influences the half year, but ultimately does make -- does result in it being positive a little bit for the period.As I noted as well, the CapEx is very moderate for the half year that we can see. And of course, we have our interest and taxes and leases. But ultimately we ended the second quarter with cash of GBP 20.8 million. We're continuing a good trajectory, and we now have GBP 24.1 million of cash at the 20th of May and liquidity of GBP 41 million. So we have a very strong balance sheet as we move and continue to progress the business forward.So thank you, and back to you, Trond.

[Trond Williksen, executive]

Thank you, Septima. So then over to a few words about the outlooks for the rest of the year. As I started with saying in the highlights, we think we are on track to trade in line with expectations that we have been communicating throughout the year. We are in a very busy year, and we intend to continue our efforts to make sure that we take out the potential of the group as well as the different parts of it.In Genetics, we keep good visibility on the salmon egg deliveries over the full year. And as stated also specifically in my part of the presentation, we don't see any effect of the ISA incident on our delivery capability throughout the year. A year that will be normalized with normalized progression without the extraordinary effects that we saw back in '22 and '23 when we had a bump -- positive bump related to the [ piking ] constraint in the market by our competitor.We keep on our work to progress the growth vectors being Chile, shrimp, in order to make them and aiming to make them a sustainable, profitable part of the business -- a growing part of the business over time. And we are, as I've demonstrated, on track with, at least our expectations for how this business -- our growth vectors should develop over this year. Genetics services will continue to grow. Small numbers still, but we are very focused to grow this business from what is now a low starting base.In Advanced Nutrition, we still expect to continue to do well in what is a soft market. We do not bet on the market suddenly turning. That's not our style. But what we are doing, we are focusing on doing the best utmost out of the market being what it is at -- every time. And this is a recipe that has shown to be very effective so far, and we will continue with that approach to what we are doing. And of course, with the position that we have within Advanced Nutrition with the strength of that organization as it is now and it's strong, we think that we are very well positioned when the market eventually turns, and it will turn.In Health, as I told you, we are migrating now the business towards a business that is less capital intensive, less exposed for us and that will be a focus over the coming year. Focus will be to keep the cost as low as sensible in that transition period. And of course, Salmosan, which is the second offering within that business area, we are expecting that will continue to perform well also in the periods to come.So with those words on the 3 business areas in totality, and despite some technical challenges, we finish our presentation. So thank you.

[Unknown Executive]

Thank you. And then we can open for questions. We have already a few questions from your web audience. Lines are still open, so you can type in your questions on screen. But first, maybe check if there are any questions from the audience here in the room. I think while you're waiting for that, let's go to the online audience.

[Trond Williksen, executive]

Yes. First one is related to the ISA incident in February. You seem to be -- have handled the situation very well. But the question is, could you have done anything differently to prevent the incident, do you think? Have you changed the operation in any way in Salten as a reflection on that?

[Trond Williksen, executive]

I don't think we could have done much more to prevent the incident. The ISA is a mutation, it occurs. It has a tendency to occur more frequently if you stress the fish, like get more -- often more sick if you are stressed, [indiscernible] with fish. But we are handling the fish very gently and we are [indiscernible] the fish. So it has time to adjust to the conditions. So I don't think we could have done that much more elegantly. In terms of the [ Salten ] [indiscernible] facility, I think what the whole incident shows is that the [ setup ] of Salten, which is probably the -- it is the most modern and up-to-date breeding facility in the salmon world, the setup with the containment in sections with separate water systems, separate on all the tanks has shown very effective to isolate the incidents.So while ISA used to be something that was really wipe out of everything, we have shown it's possible with the right design of our biosecure facility and with the right people in place, we have been able to isolate the consequences of that. So I'm very happy with that. Of course, we will probably -- we could tweak some doors and things like that, but that's very small things. But overall, I think we've been -- I think it's demonstrated that we have done -- been right in what we have been doing over time there.

[Unknown Executive]

There is following up on other diseases, the gill health disease that you mentioned. You mentioned a major partnership. Who is the partner? And can you also elaborate on how much of an impact gill health disease have on the salmon industry, sort of more on the -- elaborate on that?

[Trond Williksen, executive]

Yes. The partner is the foundation that is bolstering the whole [ thing ] with helping us with financing and really putting it up to a different level. So it's a milestone in that program in order to have the resources enough in order to do the program the way we want to do it. Complex gill disease is an issue in all the regions. I think where it's been probably most visible is in Scotland, but you see it all over the place also in Norway, and you have effects of that.And we are at a point now where we think we are able to solve part of that challenge with Genetics that is more resistant towards that disease, which has cost, and you can look at the quarterly presentation from the [ salmon ] companies that are in those regions. They've had significant economic consequences of that disease. So we think that we can help the industry to a better place with -- coming with genetics that is more resistant towards that. That's the idea about genetics, you can use it to solve the health and welfare issues within farming.

[Unknown Executive]

Now to Chile, can you expand on the growth vectors in Chile other than management? And what changes have led to recent progress?

[Trond Williksen, executive]

It's everything -- the boring thing in life is that most things are incremental. Most things are happening very soon that you do [ moon ] landings. And if you back too much on the moon landing, you always miss, or very often miss. So it's an incremental development that we have seen in Chile. In order to get where we are to introduce ourselves into the market, and we had nothing there, you have to have -- you have to bring over the new [ clues ] in order to have a specialized new [ clues ] that is fitted for the conditions in Chile. So that you need to do.You need to have the production facilities in place, that you need to have. Then you need to have an organization in order to run and develop the operation there. And then it's not only enough in any market, and I would say, especially Chile to say that, okay, our Genetics is fantastic common buy. That's not the way it happens. You have to demonstrate. You have to demonstrate that Genetics is competitive, and that takes time before -- from egg to our finished product and to demonstrate that it out in industry. So the turning point was really for us when we started to demonstrate by the farmers out to the farmers, that the Genetics actually delivered what we promised because then they saw it by their own eyes that this was something.And then it's a relational exercise where you have to have an organization in place that relates to the industry, and then you gradually get there. And I think it's -- we are talking now with 9 out of 14 players. And if you go 2 years back in time, it was 0.So it's a gradual incremental development where you -- in a responsible way are entering into the market. You not solve this by saying that, okay, come and get things for free. We solve it in a responsible way, and you need to have the patient in order to take all the investments along the way in order to be successful -- sustainable and successful over time, and that's what we have done.

[Unknown Executive]

And now 2 more questions online. Just remind if there's any more questions in the audience. Well -- first question then is, you seem to be regularly investing in new technologies, products and services. What will the R&D costs be looking like moving forward?

[Trond Williksen, executive]

Septima, you can answer that question.

[Septima Maguire, executive]

Very good. Generally speaking, the R&D costs aren't going to increase significantly. The increase in the normalized level. But because of the fact that we have been internalizing more, that has allowed us to actually get more out of our R&D spend. And as Trond noted, we have been increasingly collaborative and we're able to leverage that collaboration into grants or funding for projects to actually progress some of the R&D initiatives that we have. And so it's actually putting those 2 things together, along with the in-house expertise has allowed us to push our R&D pipeline forward. So no significant increase unless it's warranted, and there's a good return on investment, and we would take that on a case-by-case basis.

[Trond Williksen, executive]

Yes, that's the way we're [ taking ].

[Unknown Executive]

The last question, it's probably because the person missed your introduction, but maybe you want to repeat. The question is, what guidance can you give regarding completion and outcome of the strategic review?

[Trond Williksen, executive]

Well, I said initially that we are in the midst of that review. It was announced by announcement in January. And I have no intention of commenting more on that process. It's a process that goes on. It's a heavily regulated process, but it goes according to the plan that we had for that process. So that's the only comment I can give today.

[Unknown Executive]

Well, thank you so much. That concludes the Q&A.

[Trond Williksen, executive]

Thank you. Thank you for attending.