Chilean salmon farmer Salmones Camanchaca has applied to delist its Norwegian depositary receipts (NDRs) from the Oslo Børs.
Salmones Camanchaca’s board of directors unanimously decided on the move in June, saying it could not justify the costs associated with a continued listing on the Oslo stock exchange because less than 2.9 percent of company shares are held by NDR holders, with “virtually nonexistent” transactions of the certificates.
The company posted a jump in revenue in Q2 2024, reaching USD 94.5 million (EUR 86 million) – a 49 percent increase compared to Q2 2023. The cost of harvested Atlantic salmon was USD 4.64 (EUR 4.22) per kilogram, 7 percent lower than in Q2 2023, and the cost of processing was USD 1.12 (EUR 1.01) per kilogram, down from USD 1.49 (EUR 1.35) per kilogram.
For the quarter, the company posted a gross margin of USD 15 million (EUR 13.6 million), up USD 10 million (EUR 9.1 million) from Q2 2023. The company’s earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) reached USD 9.5 million (EUR 8.6 million), compared to the USD 300,000 (EUR 273,000) loss it posted in Q2 2023.
“During this second quarter the company recovered missing biomass from the first quarter that was caused by an unusual lack of appetite of the fish, and this recovery allowed it to improve profitability with higher volumes and lower costs. This was important to face a period of prices that continue to fall,” Salmones Camanchaca Vice Chairman Ricardo García said.
Salmones Camanchaca’s parent firm, Camanchaca S.A., is looking to restructure its operations, according to a statement the company sent to Chilean securities regulator CMF.
As part of the restructuring plan, Camanchaca S.A. decided to acquire from its subsidiary Camanchaca SpA the minority interest it holds in another subsidiary, Camanchaca Pelágicos Sur S.A., in order to establish full control over it. Consequently, Camanchaca Pelágicos Sur S.A. will be dissolved.
In turn, the main business areas of the Camanchaca group – pelagic fishing, crustacean fishing, salmon farming, and mussel farming – will be respectively located in separate companies: Camanchaca S.A., Crustaceos Sur, Salmones Camanchaca, and Camanchaca Cultivos Sur, respectively.
The new structure will consolidate the company’s pelagic fishing business with the goal of streamlining operational and administrative tasks, optimizing fishing rights, and distributing sea and land fishing assets between different areas of Chile, García said in the letter to CMF. The move will also seek better management and control of each unit, “as well as the necessary flexibility to face the constant changes and challenges presented by fishing and aquaculture activity in our country,” he said.
The transaction is not expected to have any material effects on the company's financial statements, García said.
Salmones Camanchaca recently reported that its Atlantic salmon harvest volumes for the second quarter of 2024 reached 11,643 metric tons (MT), an increase of 81 percent compared to Q2 2023, with no harvesting of coho salmon occurring in the period. Harvest weight rose from 4.4 kilograms in Q1 2024 to 5 kilograms, while ex-cage costs fell to USD 4.99 (EUR 4.56) per kilogram whole fish equivalent (WFE) from USD 5.28 (EUR 4.82) per kilogram WFE in Q1.
Q2 sales in 2024 comprised approximately 11,000 MT of Atlantic salmon and 2,100 MT of coho. Salmones Camanchaca said it is projecting full-year 2024 harvest in the range of 46,000 MT WFE to 48,000 MT WFE for Atlantic salmon and 4,000 MT WFE to 5,000 MT WFE for coho.
