Austevoll Seafood ASA

OSE:AUSS

Earnings Call Transcript 2021-Q4

[Arne Mogster, CEO & President]

I would like to welcome you for Austevoll Seafood's fourth quarter presentation. I will first start off by giving some highlights related to the quarter and also the full year. Thereafter, I will try to go more in details to the different segments and how we have performed during the quarter. Britt Drivenes will take you through the numbers more in details. And we will end this session by giving our view on the different markets we are operating within. But starting up, I would say we have had another strong quarter in the group. I like to mention this quarter that we have still had seasonable good fishing activity in Peru, a very good production quarter in Pelagia, in the North Atlantic. And again, it's been a record activity in Leroy, which is in this segment, outperforming the quarter in 2020, I would say, in all the segments they are operating within. So summing up, revenue of NOK 7 billion, and EBITDA of NOK 1.3 billion, which is up NOK 450 million versus same quarter last year. And EBIT more or less doubled since the same quarter in 2020, NOK 903 million, and a pretax profit of NOK 905 million. If we take into account the 50% shares we have in Pelagia and look at the earnings, you can see that our group EBITDA is just below NOK 1.5 billion in the quarter. You can see that the pelagic activity are more or less delivering on the same level as they did same quarter in 2020. However, it's far better performance in -- from the salmon segment, which is the main reason why we are delivering better in this quarter. Looking at full year, I would say that we have outperformed 2020 on all segments in all companies in the group. And I would say it's, in particular, pleasant that our pelagic activity are performing good in all regions. I will come back to that later on. But the record high revenue of NOK 26.6 million, and EBITDA of NOK 4.8 billion, which is up just north of NOK 1.1 billion compared with 2020 and an EBIT of NOK 3.2 billion, which is just below NOK 1.1 billion compared with 2020. And on a pretax profit uplift NOK 1.2 billion ending at NOK 3.2 billion. Earnings per share, just above NOK 7. And we have a strong balance sheet, total balance on just below NOK 44 billion, and a net interest-bearing debt down to NOK 4 billion, NOK 600 million lower than the same period in 2020. And the equity ratio is still strong. And then doing the same exercise for the full year, taking into account 50% of Pelagia, you can see that we are delivering far better both on the Salmon segment and also on the Pelagic segment. Total EBITDA of NOK 5.3 billion, whereas the Salmon segment is doing approximately NOK 650 million better than 2020, with an EBITDA of NOK 3.8 billion. And from the Pelagic side, we have also have an increase of NOK 650 million better performance in 2021 and delivering an EBITDA of approximately NOK 1.5 billion, which is approximately 28% of the total EBITDA from Pelagia segment and the group. So I would say, strong financial performance, strong balance sheet, and we decided to -- the Board has recommended to the Annual Shareholder Meeting that we will pay a dividend of NOK 4.5 per share. So looking at the operational overview, I would say that the group is all about volumes. That's the basis for our earnings. In 2021, we had -- we were catching on our own -- pelagic vessel on our own [indiscernible] a volume of 480,000 tonnes. We were producing on our pelagic factories in all regions a total volume of 1,950,000 tonnes. We were catching on our whitefish factories, just whitefish boats just above 72,000 tonnes and also producing our land-based whitefish facilities, an additional volume of 30,000 tonnes. And we slaughtered during 2021, approximately 211,000 tonnes. Then we will look at the different subsidiaries and starting up with Austral in Peru. And summing up, I would say that the second season in 2021 was the fourth, I would say, successful season for the group, both in terms of quota set and also in terms of our achievement. And of course, this is also resulting in much better earnings when you are able to deliver good operational achievements over time. So starting up, the quota, which were set in second season in '21 was approximately 2 million tonnes. It was down from 2.8 million tonnes in same season 2020. However, I would say that it's still a good quarter and it's on a normal level if you look back at the history. We were starting out the 15th of November, and we were finalizing on New Year's Eve. So we caught all the quota during 2021 and got a volume of 143,000 tonnes and purchased approximately 36,000 tonnes from third party fishermen during this season. If you look at our yields, you can see that is more or less in line with what we saw in 2020, where we were able to produce 80% super prime and prime meal, which is the best paid quality. What I would say is special for this season was that the oil yield was considerably lower than it was the same season in 2020, and you're talking about the reduction of 3% points down in fish oil yield versus same season in 2020. And that lead into that we had a total production in all Peru in second season for only 80,000 -- approximately 40,000 tonnes, and we have seen that prices has been climbing as a result of that. We are doing quite well. We have produced very good during 2021. And as Britt will take you through later on, you can also see that we are bringing high stock into 2022. The financial performance has been the best ever. And also, I would say that it's mainly due to 2 good seasons and also catches, in particular, in the South, where we had a high portion of the fish landed. And as you can see, 111,000 tonnes purchased during 2021, which is also a record volume for our factory down in Ilo. So I would say a lot of tailwind, and I would say that our people has been very good in maneuvering during 2021 in order to optimize the production. When it comes to first season 2022, the research will start in front of the season probably the 20th of February. It's around at the beginning of April. And by that time, we will know the quote and we are guessing on approximately 2.5 million tonnes. But of course, this is subject to the [indiscernible] research. Then with cost to Chile, I would say that 2021 was an extremely good year. It's not much to say about the quarter in itself because it's been just a maintenance quarter and it's just cost as expected, limited activity. But looking at 2021 as a whole, I would say that the activity has been very good, both in terms of catches, production, the logistics, and we have also seen that prices has been increasing during the year, which has been of course, an advantage. So a lot of tailwind in Chile and also, I think, it's the best result we have delivered since 2006, when we had a total different quota than we have had now. So it's done a fantastic job in order to comply with the raw material they have available and turn this raw material into highest possible value. Quotas, I would say the biomass outlook has gone up. And next year, we are expecting a quota of 46,000 tonnes. And we still are aiming to acquire a third-party quotas, which will bring us up to the expected volume of 78,000 tonnes in 2022, up from 72,000 tonnes in 2021. Then going to the North Atlantic. And as you can see on the graph, you can see that the quota is expected a bit up in the North Atlantic during 2022. It's mainly due to the increase of the Icelandic capelin quota on I would say, we will have a limited fish available from that species. But all in all, some ups and some downs, and we are expecting both for our fishmeal operation and also for our human consumption operation, a more or less similar volume in 2022 as what we have seen in 2021. But still, there are species where the quota does not finally set the sand eel quota, mackerel quota, and we don't actually know the resort of how much we are able to learn from the Icelandic capelin quota, which is probably going to be less than what we expected initially. When it comes to the fishmeal activity in the quarter, it's mainly based on [indiscernible]. And what's worth to mention here is that we have now got to the Hordafor activity, which is doing protein concentrate based on salmon [indiscernible] in from June, which is going to be a new segment into the Pelagia Holding system. I would say, looking into -- leaving the quarter, we have also seen that the price increases, which we have seen in Peru, has also somehow been reflected in the fourth quarter here in Norway as well. When it comes to the herring consumption activity, volume is a bit less than it was same quarter in 2020. That's because of the advanced start of the mackerel fishing, which started up in July and August, leaving less fish into the water in the fourth quarter. But still, I would say that it's been a well committed season. And as you can see, volume is up in 2021 versus 2020 in total, and we are expecting it to be more or less on the same level in 2022. The catch now is, for fourth quarter and also in the first quarter, is mainly mackerel and herring. And it's been -- although it's been logistical challenge, a good execution of the season, I would say. So looking at the numbers, you see that revenue of the quarter is up by -- is approximately NOK 2.8 billion. EBITDA is up NOK 350 million. Main reason is, of course, the result from -- also from Hordafor, but I would say that, underlying, the other segment is also doing better than they did same quarter last year. An EBIT of NOK 257 million, which is approximately NOK 50 million up from same quarter last year. Looking at full year, you can see that we have reached some barriers. Pelagia is starting to be an important company, both in terms of earnings and revenue. And we reached the revenue of past -- just passed the NOK 10 billion revenue and also reached an EBITDA over NOK 1 billion, which is a good achievement, I would say, in a challenging year. Then talking about the salmon whitefish, and as I started the presentation with, I would say that both, when it comes to the year and also when it comes to the quarter, we have had a record high activity in all segments of Leroy. In the quarter, we are delivering an EBIT of NOK 900 million, which is more or less the double of what we did last year. And if you look at the fishing activity and the processing activity of whitefish, they're delivering approximately NOK 80 million better of EBIT. The harvest volume is up in the quarter, 51,000 tonnes. It's approximately 40,000 tonnes from Leroy Aurora. It's approximately 18,000 tonnes of Leroy Midt and 19,000 tonnes in the West Coast Leroy Sjotroll.Spot prices is up versus the same quarter last year. And you can see that the EBIT per kilo is approximately NOK 16 per kilo. If you go into the region, you see that the EBIT per kilo in Leroy Aurora is approximately NOK 17, in Leroy Midt approximately NOK 60, and in Leroy Sjotroll approximately NOK 9 per kilo. And if you're including the earnings from the sales and distribution area of Leroy, the EBIT per kilo, all inclusive, is SEK 16 which is a good improvement compared with same quarter in last year. Contract share is approximately 30% in the quarter. The price achievement is better than the spot prices. And you can see that the net interest-bearing debt is a bit down versus same period last year in 2020, and it's -- all of the dividend has been paid, which was quite high. And also, we have been having a CapEx of approximately -- CapEx of 2 big projects executed in the period. In terms of volume, we are happy to present a far better volume, in particular, from Norway in 2021 compared with 2020, and it's approximately 15,000 tonnes up and as a consequence of the different measures we have done mainly on the small facilities in Norway. Looking into 2022, we are, as I show in [indiscernible], having 0 growth. We have reduced our guidance with approximately 5,000 tonnes from November, and it's mainly due to that we had the lower growth in the period of the end of 2021 and also in the start of -- or in January 2022. However, it's seems like the growth is recovering a bit now as we speak, but are guiding on 185,000 tonnes, and then we have to see where we end in the end of the year. When it comes to Norskott, is up as a consequence of acquiring Grieg Seafood shetland operation. And all in all, we are aiming to slaughter just below 210,000 tonnes in 2022. Then looking at the Wildcatch segment. In the beginning of the year, we delayed -- we decided to delay some of our fishing activity in the fourth quarter where we expected to have better prices than what we were seeing in the first quarter. And that seems like it was a correct decision. It's been a very good catch quarter, starting late in the quarter, but I would say that the achievement was very good. And you can see that the volumes is up, in particular on the fishing vessels from 12,000 tonnes to 17,000 tonnes. And the prices we have achieved in the quarter has been [ 60% ] of for Cod 22% for Haddock and 32% up for Saithe compared with the fourth quarter in 2020. So a good achievement from Leroy as well. Then I give the floor to Britt.

[Britt Kathrine Drivenes, Chief Financial Officer]

Thank you, Arne. As usual, we start with a summary of the raw material intake. And as Arne mentioned, we have had a high level of activity in the fourth quarter 2021 and especially in the areas salmon and trout and Pelagic operation in Peru. High level of activity, strong demand for seafood and also better prices realized for the group's products has led to an increase in both revenue and earnings in fourth quarter 2021 compared with the same quarter in 2020. The revenue is up by 22% from NOK 5.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020 to NOK 7 billion in Q4 2021. EBIT before biomass adjustment came in at NOK 903 million, and that's almost doubled from NOK 464 million in same quarter in 2020. Income from associated company is down. It was NOK 148 million in Q4 2020, and it's NOK 83 million now in Q4 2021, explained by particularly lower biological performance in Q3 and into Q4 in Norskott Havbruk's subsidiary, Scottish Sea Farms as well as transaction costs related to Scottish Sea Farms acquisition of Grieg Seafood Hjaltland in U.K., which took place in December.Pretax profit before biomass adjustment amounted to NOK 905 million in the quarter, up from NOK 552 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. Net profit was NOK 909 million versus a negative net profit of minus NOK 108 million in Q4 2020, and that was highly affected by the negative biomass adjustment of minus NOK 704 million. Earnings per share in the quarter was NOK 1.79, up from NOK 1.30 in the same quarter in 2020. Looking at the full year 2021, the revenue amounted up to NOK 26.6 billion, up 19% compared to 2020. EBIT ex-biomass adjustment in 2021 was NOK 3.2 billion, up 49% from NOK 2.2 billion in 2020. Income from associated companies amounted up to NOK 387 million, up from NOK 306 million in 2020. And the profit from associated companies in 2021 includes a one-off gain of NOK 70 million as a result of a so-called [indiscernible] acquisition. Pretax profit before biomass adjustment was NOK 3.2 billion in 2021, up 60% from 2020. And the net profit for 2021 totaled to NOK 3.4 billion compared to NOK 823 million in 2020. And again, as you can see from the table below, there was a negative biomass adjustment in 2020 of minus NOK 954 million. Earnings per share for the full year 2021 was NOK 7.18, up from NOK 4.55 in 2020. Looking at Leroy Seafood Group, strong demand for seafood, better prices realized for the group's main products and improvement in the underlying operations were all important factors driving the significant earnings improvements in all segments compared with the same quarter in 2020. The harvest volume for salmon and trout was above 51,000 tonnes in the quarter, and that's an increase from about 48,000 tonnes in Q4 in 2020. Looking at the price achievement, the spot prices were up NOK 16 compared with fourth quarter in 2020. And the spot and contract share was 29%, and the price realization on the contracts were higher than the realized prices for spot. The group's release from stock cost in Q4, including this new production for NOK 0.4 were lower than Q3 2021, but higher than Q4 2020. And the group faces higher prices for most -- for almost all input factors. This was seen most clearly in the case of feed, which alone increased to lease from stock cost by around NOK 1 in Q4 2021 compared with Q4 2020. Looking at the wildcatch. The catch volume in the quarter was 17,000 tonnes compared with 12,600 tonnes in Q4 2020. And prices for cod were up around 16%, while the prices for haddock and saithe increased by 22% and 32%, respectively. EBIT before biomass amounted to NOK 902 million in Q4 2021, which is more than double compared to the EBITDA of 464 -- NOK 441 million in Q4 2020. In Peru, there has been, as Arne mentioned, seasonal high level of activity, and the company finalized the pro quota for the second season before the end of the year. Sales volume for fishmeal were 15,600 tonnes in the quarter, up from 6,400 tonnes in the same quarter in 2020. There has been very limited sales of fish oil in the quarter, opposite the situation in Q4 2020, where we sold 4,700 tonnes of fish oil. And realized prices for fishmeal were up 12% in Q4 '21 compared to Q4 2020. Austral has a high inventory of fishmeal and fish oil going into 2022, in total, 47,900 tonnes. And this volume will be sold during Q1 and Q2 this year. The EBIT in Q4 2021 amounted to NOK 16 million. And if we look at the full year, Austral has had a very, very good year. And the EBIT came in at NOK 506 million, up from NOK 134 million in 2020. And as Arne mentioned, a very good year for Austral, and this is actually the best EBITDA that we have achieved since we bought the company. Looking into the operation in Chile, as normal, the company completed its main season in the first half of 2021 and the level of activity was, therefore, lower in the second half of 2021. In fourth quarter, the company got its remaining quota of 4,000 tonnes of horse mackerel. And the company has also carried out annual maintenance work on vessels and factories during the quarter. The EBIT in Q4 2021 was negative and amounted to minus NOK 44 million, and this is in line with the EBIT in the same period in 2020 as well. The company also had its -- similar to Peru, we also had a very good year in Chile, and we have to look back to 2006 to find a better EBITDA than we had in 2021. And the EBIT for the full year was not NOK 150 million, up from NOK 101 million in 2020. Looking into Br. Birkeland Farming's salmon operation, the company harvested a little bit less than 1,800 tonnes in Q4 2021, and that is down from 2,568 tonnes in the same quarter in 2020. The company sells all it's salmon in the spot market and 54% of the total volume in Q4 were sold in October when spot prices were low compared with those in the middle of the quarter and later. The company still struggles with high production cost. And as mentioned earlier, the costs have increased on all input factors in the salmon operation. The EBIT before biomass adjustment was minus NOK 8 million in Q4 2021.Looking at the fishing operation for Br. Birkeland and the fall in revenue and earning is mainly explained by the mackerel catch being brought forward. The mackerel season for the Norwegian fishing fleet started earlier in 2021 compared to 2020. And the 2 vessels -- the 2 pelagic vessel caught the main share of their mackerel growth for the year in Q3 2021. In 2020, the mackerel caught was mainly caught in the fourth quarter and mackerel specie with the highest price of quotas allocated to the vessels. In Q4 2021, the vessel has quota -- remaining quotas of herring. The vessel catching snow crab, completed its fishery by July 1 in 2021. And the vessel has underwent a comprehensive repairs and maintenance work during the second half of 2021. The EBIT in Q4 was minus NOK 1 million compared to a positive EBITDA of NOK 58 million in Q4 2020. Looking at the group's statement of financial position by the end of the year, the total amount was NOK 44 billion compared with NOK 40 billion by the end of 2020. There has been investment in small facilities and also land-based industry, but also acquisition has taken place during the year. The group has an equity ratio of 58%, and that was in line with the equity ratio also by the end of 2020. And by end of 2021, the group had a net interest-bearing debt of a little bit over NOK 4 billion, and that's down from NOK 4.6 billion by the end of 2020. Cash flow from operational activity in Q4 was strong, NOK 844 million, and this includes also a tax payment of NOK 165 million. Cash flow from investing activities in the quarter was minus NOK 694 million. And as well as the investment in fixed assets, the group's liquidity was also affected by the increased capital increase in the associated company, Norskott Havbruk. This capital increase was implemented in connection with the acquisition in December of Grieg Seafood Hjaltland in U.K. by Norskott subsidiary Scottish Sea Farm. The group's share of this capital increase amounted to NOK 306 million. Cash flow from financing activity in the quarter was minus NOK 271 million. And the group's cash totaled to NOK 5.2 billion by the end of 2021. The Board of Directors intends to recommend a dividend payment for 2021 of NOK 4.5 per share to the company's Annual General Meeting in May now in 2022. The dividend for the financial year 2020 paid on -- paid in June 2021 was NOK 3.5 per share. Arne, then I leave the floor to you.

[Arne Mogster, CEO & President]

Then I will end this session by giving our view on the different markets we are operating within, and I'm starting off with the fishmeal market. Looking at the fishmeal market and the largest producers, you can see that the main driver for the increase in -- during 2021 has been Peru, up with a volume of approximately 15%. And I would say that I think Peru holds approximately 22% to 23% out of the total production of fishmeal during 2021. I would say that prices has been increasing steadily in the last quarter. And the prices we are seeing now is prices on $1,700 for high-quality fishmeal and a discount of approximately $200 for low-quality fishmeal. And I would say that the execution of the sales has been very good during the fourth quarter, and main market, as always, has been China. And if you look at the total consumption of fishmeal in China during 2021, they passed the 2 million tonnes limit. I would say that the stock level is higher it was same period last year. And the offtake is a bit down. However, prices has continued to increase and committed -- or the quoted prices now in China is $1,750 per tonne for super prime, which is $30 up compared with what we received in Peru. Soy beanl ratio is favorable 3%, and it's also leading into a higher consumption of fishmeal. Looking at the fish oil production, it's -- it shows a bit different development and particularly in -- from Peru. Fishmeal production was up 15%, but fish oil production is down by 7.3% during the year versus same period last year. And main reason is that the fish oil yield in the second season, which were considerably lower than it was same season in 2020. And that has also resulted in a steep increase of prices, and we are now seeing prices on the Omega-3 grade of USD 3,300 per tonne, and is up from $2,400 in the beginning of season. I would say the reason for the increase is that the total production in second season was only 40,000 tonnes. And I would say that it's the limited supply, now which are giving us artificial higher prices. And we have to see how that will develop on the start of the second -- now the first season now in 2022 and looking at the yield on the fish there. Salmon market, I would say, the prices we have seen during 2021, we have to agree that it's been quite good when you look at the growth we have had in particular for the European market, a growth in total of 13% in Norway, up 12% and it's a bit compensated by a reduction in South Americas. And the total, I would say, supply in 2021 was just below 7%. But an increase of volume, I would say, from Norway, and looking into 2022, you can see that both on, I would say, the European and Americas supply, you see that it's going to be a 0 growth according to Kontali's expectation for 2022. And of course, give us some indication that the market, if normalized -- if it will be normalized after the COVID-19 pandemic will also be strong, I would say, during 2022. For time being, we have seen prices now, which is up to special high and of course, this is not how we expect the prices to continue during the summer, for sure. Looking at the market in 2021, I would say, strong market, as I mentioned, and it's mainly driven by EU and U.S., which is the growth markets, in particular, during 2021. And of course, these are the markets which is going to be the main market also into 2022. So summing up, this is a positive outlook for the demand. We're also seeing that we have an inflation in, I would say, in all raw material or the inputs going in for, I would say, all our operations, both in the pelagic and the salmon segment. And this, we need to taken into account, of course. Expecting a volume too which is up approximately 5,000 tonnes versus 2021. And it's also worth to mention that we have a contract share of 40% going in -- now in the first quarter. Whitefish, we still not -- the quota is not finally set, but the expectation is that the cod quota is down by 20%, haddock with 23% and also the saithe quota is more or less unchanged. I will say, for us, we have -- and also as the coastal fleet moved some of the volume over for -- from '21 to '22, so we don't expect that high increase as we are seeing here. When it comes to the Pelagic, again, it's been a pleasant year in all 3 regions we are operating, both in Chile, Peru and North Atlantic, and we have achieved record result, which is, of course, satisfying for us and shows the potential when we get the volume to the system. Well-executed year in both Peru and Chile and also North Atlantic. When it comes to the expectation for 2022, premature to say in Peru. Chile is up at 15%, and we are expecting, I would say, more or less a similar volume in, I mean, for our pelagic activity in 2022 versus 2021. So that was all. Thank you for following and have a good day, and we see you back in May. Thank you.