SalMar ASA

OSE:SALM

Earnings Call Transcript 2020-Q3

[Gustav Magnar Witzoe, Co]

Here and welcome to the presentation of the third quarter results of 2020 for SalMar. My name is Gustav Witzoe and I'm the CEO in SalMar. To present the result today, our CFO, Trine Sæther Romuld; and the CEO of Icelandic Salmon with us today, Bjorn Hembre, live from the Westfjords in Iceland.As you can see behind me, we are once again presenting the results from InnovaMar, our main office and fantastic harvesting and processing facility. In this way, we get to show you where we belong and where the results is created. It is out here on the coastline, right next to the ocean SalMar produce millions of healthy salmon meals to people all over the world.But before we dive into the results, I would like to give a great thanks for the efforts our employees are doing every single day. Despite strict restrictions due to the corona pandemic, SalMar has been running as normal, making it possible to send millions of salmon meals across the globe. It is our employees through the entire organization that make it possible for SalMar to again deliver strong results. And this is not a result of something extraordinary, but is a result of long-term strategic and operational focus, giving us the strong SalMar culture with great passion and ability to find solution in challenging periods. I'm both humbled and proud for the effort from our employees. We are a fantastic group of people that gives everything for each other and for the salmon.On the highlights. Our long-last strategic and operational focus resulting in a good biological and operational performance has once again given us strong results. In Norway, we harvested 35,300 tonnes in Q3 with an operational EBIT of NOK 669 million with a margin of NOK 18.92 per kilo. Including Icelandic Salmon, we harvested 37,100 tonnes with an operational EBIT of NOK 647 million with a margin of NOK 17.46 per kilo.Both Central and Northern Norway delivered strong results through solid operation and good biological performance. Despite a demanding quarter with high market uncertainty, sales and processing delivered record strong results. As communicated in the previously quarterly presentation, we have increased our MAB capacity to purchase a traffic-light auction and the conversion of 8 development licenses on OF1. And all in all, we have made good use of this as the biological development in the sea has been very good in both Central and Northern Norway.On Iceland, a successful private placement enlisting was completed in October. And at the same time, the company has changed name to Iceland Salmon -- Icelandic Salmon. Bjorn will give you more details on this later on. The board recommends a dividend of NOK 13 per share.To give you more details, I will now give the word to our CFO. Trine, time is yours.

[Trine Sæther Romuld, COO & CFO]

As usual, I will start with Farming Central Norway. We harvested 30,100 tonne in Central Norway in the quarter with an operational EBIT of NOK 526 million and that's an EBIT per kilo NOK 17.51. Strategic and operational focus over time has resulted in a strong result with good bilateral and operational performance. We did harvest relative high-volume in the beginning of period, combined with high average weight that has given us a good price achievement in the quarter.The spring 2019 generation accounted for more than 60% of the harvest volume with continued strong biological performance and low-cost level. We started harvesting out from the autumn 2019 generation also with good biological development and where Ocean Farm 1 was the main contributor.In the current quarter, quarter 4, we will continue harvesting from autumn 2019 with good biological status and good growth in the sea recently, we are already utilizing the increased MAB capacity since we are increasing our biomass. At the same time, increased MAB gives us flexibility to optimize the harvest profile on terms of the salmon. We expect costs to be at the same level in the quarter 4 and volume guidance for the year is kept unchanged. When it comes to guiding for next year, Gustav will comment that later on.Over to Farming Northern. We did harvest 5,300 tonne in the quarter with operational EBIT of NOK 61 million, which gives EBIT per kilo NOK 11.55. As for Central Norway, this is also a strong result, where spring 2019 has accounted for the volume with strong biological development in the period. Nevertheless, the result is negatively impacted infavorable due to harvest distribution as the entire volume was harvested in the last month, the period where the prices were lowest in the quarter. But high average weight has partly offset the negative impact.Biological status in the sea is good and also here in Northern Norway, the growth has been very good, meaning that we are utilizing the increased MAB capacity that we recently has bought. We expect cost to be at the same level in the quarter 4, where we'll continue to harvest from the same location as for quarter 3. As for the Central Norway, the guiding for the year is kept unchanged at 49,000 tonne and we expect significantly higher volume in the quarter 4. When it comes to guiding 2021, Gustav will comment that later on.Sales and Processing. Sales and processing delivered an operational EBIT of NOK 156 million in the quarter. This is a very strong result in a period with high market uncertainty due to COVID-19. Actually, it's the second best quarter ever for sales-processing in the SalMar. Our strategic focus on local processing strengthens the results. Combined with higher volume to harvesting and processing plant, and solid operational performance, this has given strong margin from our harvesting and operational activities and spot sales.As expected, the quarter has given a lower price level due to seasonality. This has given increased positive contribution from our fixed-price contracts. The contract share was 25% in the quarter. In quarter 4, the contract share is expected to be at the same level around 35%. Construction of InnovaNor is continuing as planned. And in the quarter, all the leaders for each department has been employed, which will start to work in January 1 next year. We look forward to the summer next year when we can use the facility and process our own fish locally on Senja.Icelandic Salmon. As mentioned in the previous quarterly reporting, Icelandic Salmon delivers a weak result in this quarter. We harvested 1,700 tonnes with operation EBIT negative with NOK 22 million and negative EBIT per kilo, NOK 12.89 -- NOK 12.81 sorry. The result is impacted by high cost and weak price achievement. The 2018 generation accounted for the volume in the period and was finished in the quarter. As previously communicated, high mortality earlier this year has led to high cost level on this generation.In addition, seasonality, low prices in the quarter has affected Iceland significantly with challenging freight condition. In addition, the company that can sell most of its volume in euro hasn't got the same positive currency impact effect as the Norwegian business. But the good thing is that 2018 generation is now finished. And in quarter 4, we have already started to harvest out from the 2019 generation, which has shown significantly improved biological performance and lower cost level. But the period we are in right now with low spot prices will continue to affect the results from Icelandic Salmon also in quarter 4.Volume guidance for 2020 is kept unchanged at 12,000 tonne. And as such, we therefore, expect higher volume and lower cost level in quarter 4. For next year, we expect to harvest 14,000 tonne in 2021. The name of the company has been changed to Icelandic Salmon to strengthen the brand Salmon and Bjorn Hembre will tell you more about that later. At the same time, in October, a successful private placement and following listing on mark-to-market was completed. Through this, we have gotten aboard strong institution in Iceland with us to further develop the company and also to work to develop the sustainable salmon farming in Iceland. This is something we in SalMar are very pleased with and something that we strongly believe is important for Icelandic Salmon to succeed in the way forward.Scotland. Scottish Sea Farm harvested 8,100 tonne in the quarter and delivers a good operational EBIT of NOK 101 million and EBIT per kilo, NOK 12.45. The volume harvested in the quarter is according to our expectation and plans. We harvested out from all regions in the period with good results. The positive development with lower cost compared to previous quarters continues due to good biological performance with good growth and low mortality rates. Volume for 2020 is kept unchanged at 26,000 tonne and the company expects to harvest 36,000 tonne in 2021.And some comments to the financial updates. I will start with a comparison with the previous quarter, first, only the Norwegian activities. We have a reduction in EBIT per kilo of NOK 4.32 compared with previous quarter. That is due to limited decrease in net sales price due to strong price achievement despite lower spot price. Comparing NASDAQ, average spot price quarter-to-quarter is 10.30 lower in the quarter. Costs are slightly higher due to change of harvesting generations. So that is the main explanation. And at the bottom, we are doing the same comparison for the group, where we also include Icelandic Salmon.P&L, some comments to the P&L in the quarter where we compare with the same period last year. Higher revenue due to increased volume and stronger price achievements despite lower spot prices. We see that both EBITDA and operational EBIT is increased as a consequence of this, combined with lower cost. We have also some fair value adjustment this quarter and it's negative due to time factor in present value calculation, longer time to harvest, despite higher volume in the calculation. Other financial items negative due to transition to hedge accounting. Income from associates, that is mainly from Scottish Sea Farm, both in 2020 and 2019 and a positive in this quarter due to improved results. So comparing group EBIT per kilo from last -- from the same quarter last year, we have improved prices, even NASDAQ is lower and we have lower cost.Balance sheet. Some comments to the balance sheet and there we're comparing to the last quarter, end of quarter 2. Investments are progressing according to plan, increasing non-current tangible assets. Non-current intangible assets are increasing following investment in a traffic light auction and the conversion of the development licenses. Standing biomass are higher, both comparing same quarter last year, but also previous quarter, both in number of fish, also in average weight.Net interest-bearing debt, that's now including leasing as well, have increased with NOK 1.6 billion in the quarter and we have -- the total figure is now 4.1 billion. In total, still a solid financial position with an equity share of 55.4% and including leasing ratio towards EBITDA is 1.03. And also worth mentioning, we had a successful private placement for Icelandic Salmon that was completed in October, which will increase the equity from quarter 4.Some comments in the movement in net interest-bearing debt for the quarter. Starting to the left, including also leasing, EBITDA increased, reducing the net interest-bearing debt. And then you can see that the major item here is the investments. We have a CapEx program ongoing. And also Gustav will show you some nice picture later in the presentation, but the biggest single item here is the licenses from the traffic law light auction.We expect to invest approximately NOK 1.6 billion in Norwegian operation in 2021. And that is maintenance investment, NOK 0.3 million, and capacity investment, NOK 1.3 billion. Other potential investment will be announced when final investment decision is taken. And we also expect to invest approximately NOK 170 million in Icelandic Salmon in 2021.Results so far in 2020 has shown that SalMar is well positioned to handle a demanding market. We have delivered strong operational and financial results, and therefore, also maintaining a solid financial position. For the Board of Directors in SalMar, it's important that the company has a solid balance sheet and a solid liquidity reserve, which the figures from quarter 3 clearly indicates. At the same time, the board wants to provide our more than 8,000 shareholders a competitive and attractive return on investment by paying out surplus liquidity, taking into account our future growth plans in SalMar. The board, therefore, recommend dividends of NOK 13 per share for the financial year of 2019 to be paid out in December 2020. At the same time, the board has also updated the dividend policy with long-term financial goals and a clarification of the payout forms of dividends.The financial -- long-term financial goals is set to NIBD including leasing ratio to EBITDA, shall in the long term be in the interval of 1.0 to 2.5. Given that the companies within this interval and taking into account future investment, the intention is to pay out surplus liquidity. In addition to ordinary cash dividends, the company will also aim to return capital to the shareholders through share buybacks in the market for later cancellation. More information is available in the notice of the extraordinary general meeting for December 4, 2020. And for clarification, dividends for the financial year 2020 will, as usual, be announced at the next quarterly presentation.Then I want to give the floor back to you, Gustav.

[Gustav Magnar Witzoe, Co]

Thank you, Trine. Thank you for a good presentation. Before I pass the word to Bjorn, I would like to briefly inform why we in SalMar believe in salmon production on Iceland. For us, there are some key criteria that must be in place. It is important for us that the production is sustainable and on the salmon terms. And we find that starting point on Iceland. It all starts with good biological conditions for the salmon. Iceland has this both in relation to water quality, temperature, location and so on. Iceland has also -- have a strong history and culture on living of what the ocean has to offer. This combined with know-how on the farming industry from Iceland, combined with SalMar experience, gives a good foundation for the continuing development of Icelandic Salmon.With all this, there is ocean of opportunity on Iceland, but it will take time to reach the full potential. Iceland also has room for growth through both increased utilization of existing licenses, but in the longer term also with opportunities for expansion of current capacity.Bjorn will now give you more insight in -- sorry, Bjorn will now give you more insight into how we think about the way forward on Iceland. Bjorn has a long history in SalMar and knows both in the SalMar culture and the mindset in SalMar as well. Combined with the culture and knowledge that lies in Iceland is a very good starting point. But before I give the floor to him, we want to show you a video that shows the area of our wonderful colleagues on Iceland working every single day.[Presentation]

[Bjorn Hembre;CEO;Arnarlax]

Thank you, Gustav, and I can confirm that the natural conditions in the Westfjords of Iceland is very good for salmon production. Icelandic Salmon have today a maximum allowed biomass of 25,200 tonnes in the southern part of the Westfjords of Iceland. We have additional applications for 14,500 tonnes, 10,000 tonnes in Eastfjords, which we expect in 2021, and 4,500 tonnes in Eyjafjordur, which we expect in 2022. We put a 50% chance on both of these applications that we get them. So far, all license applications on Iceland have ended with our license.We see a potential for organic growth within our existing licenses for the coming 2 to 3 years and expect to see an effect of the new licenses in '23 and '24. Our goal is to harvest 30,500 tonnes in '24 if we have the new licenses in hand. We have a fully integrated value chain in Icelandic Salmon. For our smolt production, we have 2 smolt plants: Baejarvik, with a capacity of 2 million smolt, and we own 50% of Isthor on the South Coast of Iceland with a capacity of 2.5 million smolt next year; a total of 4.5 million smolts in 2021. If there are available smolts in the market of good quality, we are also open for buying that.Our seawater sites are located in the Westfjords, Arnarfjordur, Talknafjordur and Patreksfjordur with a total maximum allowed biomass of 25,200 tonnes today. Then we have our harvest plan in Bildudalur with a capacity of 30,000 tonne today. In the harvest plant, we also harvest the salmon for neighbor's arctic fish. Our sales department sells all our fish out in the markets, which is mainly Europe, U.S. and China. Europe has the latest time in by far biggest market due to the logistic and the market challenges in U.S. and China.We have taken the first step towards branding of our fabulous product by changing name of the Norwegian Motor Company to Icelandic Salmon AS. We think that there is a value to catch on the origin over salmon, the sustainable production and the strong sea food heritage on Iceland. We see that other salmon producing regions are able to capture premium by promoting the benefits of the production like the Faroe Island on Scotland and we feel our product might be even more unique and that should give us a base for getting a premium out of the market.The fact that we are in a global scale a low volume producer after all is beneficial in this process. This is a job where we've just started and are now building up strategy towards promoting this brand when we have everything in place. We feel that we are getting in a position where we will provide a long-term value creation on our licenses in the Westfjords of Iceland. We have been operating over some years, learnt from lessons that have seen that we are able to compete cost/price with other salmon producing region.We see that we have benefits when it comes to infectious diseases like PD and ISA that is not on Iceland and on sea lice as well. There we are able to have a lower cost than of our competitors on this matters. Then we have a slightly higher cost for transport into the market but we see an improvement -- and we see an improvement based on the fact that the scale of the production is coming up.The licensed portfolio is attractive and should, over the coming years, take us over 30,000 tonne of harvest volume. We think that this is a strength that we are fully integrated and have control of the value chain from hatchery to sales. There is a strong focus on sustainability within the company and also by the Icelandic government that has made our risk assessment by the Marine Research Institute of Iceland for protecting the wild stocks. That is made for each shore and are evaluated every third year to see that the salmon farming don't affect the life stocks -- wild stocks.Last time this was evaluated was last year and then it increased from 17,000 tonne to 106,000 tonne on Iceland in total. The Marine Research Institute also calculate the carrying capacity for each shore so that there will be no overload of organic waste. In Icelandic Salmon, we have a dedicated management team that keep a very good packing from SalMar and we work to develop the company culture through the Arnarlax Academy similar to the SalMar School, trying to build a good culture in the company.We also have been active in developing vocational training together with the fish sector school in Iceland and that is a very important part of building infrastructure for the industry on Iceland.

[Gustav Magnar Witzoe, Co]

Thank you, Bjorn. In my presentation, I often speak about strategic and operational focus. Therefore, I want to spend some time on detailing what I really mean about this. We shall have sustainable value chain, build on that in terms of the salmon. From the row to the finished product, everything we do must be done with the salmon and the customer in focus.This start at the very beginning with the row. We must have the right row with the right qualities for us to succeed on the entire value chain. And we must have the right flexibility and capacity to produce and deliver the right smolt with right quality and size and at right time. We shall produce this in the optimal location that has the optimal growth conditions for salmon with a minimal footprint. This means that our production needs to be adapted to each individual locations, conditions, with right smolt, right people and the optimal operation regime.Through good fish welfare, this gives us the best salmon that is ready for harvesting when the salmon has reached its potential. This means that we must have the right flexibility and the capacity to handle a fish when it arrives to our harvesting and processing plants for local processing so we can maximize the value creation of the salmon in the market. The fact that the salmon is harvested and it's ready gives us the best quality. Flexibility and capacity means that we can meet market requirements, both in terms of volume and product type. This to ensure that we have the best product for our customers all around the world.This is what we work with every single day and this is only possible with a strong culture and a fantastic employees. We have the experience, see the opportunities and a willingness to go the extra mile and make sure that we are in a front position every day. In the strategic and operational focus in the entire value chain, that is the basis for the large investments we now make in our robust platform for future growth.People and culture. Even in a challenging time with the COVID-19, we must ensure that everyone is seen and that it's safe go to work. This means that we must comply with all the measures we impose to reduce the possibility of infections, while maintaining the passion and energy for what we are working with, the salmon. We will continue to take social responsibility and we will ensure that we continue to focus on the solution and that everything we do today, we'll do better than yesterday.On the smolt, in smolt development on Senja is well underway. This will be an important competence center for us in our future growth. At the same time, we're continuing the planning of our new smolt facility in Central Norway and we are in the final phase of using a completely new closed net pen for post-smolt production in the sea.The coastal farming. We say the devil is in the details when it comes to optimizing our cost of production. We're constantly working to improve our self and we will ensure that we share the best practice so we can minimize the difference between a good and a less good performing farms. In this way, we will assure an even more optimal utilization of our location and our MTB.Offshore farming. A milestone has been reached when we have converted the development licenses and we are now planning for the next smolt release in OF1. At the same time, we have started a project where we look at the possibilities to build a new ocean farm unit for use in the exposed sites within the current production regime. We're planning for a new open ocean unit. The Smart Fish Farm is continuing as planned. In all this project, we take with us all the learnings the first 2 production cycles of OF1 has given us, where we will make all the necessary improvements for our way forward.In the next quarterly presentation, we plan to bring with us Olav-Andreas Ervik who is a CEO in SalMar Ocean, who will give you further details and how we think about the way forward in offshore farming and how this can be a significant growth capitalized for the entire industry.Industry and sales. The period we are in now with high market uncertainty has shown us how important it is to have a flexible local processing capacity. InnovaNor is moving forward as planned and we look forward to the summer of 2021 when the plant is ready for its first harvest. At the same time, Vikenco is now on the final phases for upgrading its plant in Aukra, which should be completed in the end of this year and will be in full production from January 2021.So to the outlook and we are going forward and we'll continue with our strong operational focus. Again, what we do today, we do better than yesterday. We will continue to have focus on the things we can impact and do something with. We have good financial results come from good biological conditions and operations on the salmon terms. SalMar wish to submit and strengthen our position as a technology leader in the aquaculture industry to become an even long -- larger contributor for sustainable growth in the future. Therefore, our offshore project are continuing as planned. This will also make us more robust to handle demanding periods in the future.To build a strong and robust platform for future growth, we expect to invest NOK 1.6 billion in Norway and NOK 170 million in Iceland in 2021. As mentioned by Trine, the board recommends a dividend of NOK 13 per share. At the moment, we are experiencing good biological status in the sea in all of our regions. The volume guidance for 2020 is unchanged and increased and we have given us the ability to optimize our harvesting profile. Overall, we expect slightly higher volume and cost at the same level in quarter 4, significantly lower volume and stable cost in Central Norway, significantly higher volume and stable cost in Northern Norway, and higher volume and lower cost on Iceland. The contract share is around 25% for quarter 4.In 2021, we expect future growth in volume; in Norway 163,000 tonne, Iceland 14,000 tonne and we expect 36,000 tonne in our associated company in Scotland, Scottish Sea Farm. We expect low supply growth in 2021. At the same time, COVID-19 has led to increased market uncertainty. SalMar is well positioned to handle a demanding market with strong operational and financial flexibility.And we have a positive view for the future for SalMar. Our job is to implement the measures that strengthens us today and at the same time will make us even stronger going forward. We focus on the solution, not the problems.With this, we have come to the end of our presentation and we'd like to thank all of you who have been watching. Our next quarter presentation will be in February. Until then, we hope you all stay safe and healthy and eat a little salmon. Thank you very much.