Mowi Stock price
Compare with Peer Group
📊 Peer Group
📈 What is it?
The peer group consists of the companies with the most similar business model. They serve as a benchmark for putting a stock into context.
🧮 How is it selected?
Based on similarity of business model, meaning companies from the same industry with comparable products and a similar customer base. That's the only way to compare apples to apples.
🏛️ Why does it matter?
Whether a stock is cheap or expensive is best judged by comparison. A P/E of 18 or an EV/FCF of 20 can look cheap or expensive depending on the yardstick. The peer group gives you the most accurate one: companies with a similar business model that operate under the same conditions.
🎯 What does it mean for investors?
When a metric sits below the peer average, the stock is valued more cheaply relative to its competitors, and above the average more expensively. A discount to the peer group can be an opportunity, but it can also have a reason (for example lower growth). The comparison is a starting point, not a verdict.
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StocksGuide Unlimited – full access to AI analyses
👉 More detailed insights
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Invest better with AI
StocksGuide Unlimited – full access to AI analyses
👉 More detailed insights
👉 Exclusive perspectives on opportunities & risks
👉 Clear answers to your questions
Invest better with AI
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👉 More detailed insights
👉 Exclusive perspectives on opportunities & risks
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Key metrics
📘 Market Capitalization
📈 What is it?
Market capitalization shows how much a company is currently worth on the stock market.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps classify companies by size (Large, Mid, Small Cap) and indicates their market presence and relative stability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Large-cap companies tend to be more stable, often pay dividends, but may grow more slowly.
- Smaller firms may offer higher growth potential but come with more volatility.
- Market capitalization is a useful indicator of company size — but not a measure of whether a stock is undervalued or overvalued.
📘 Enterprise Value (EV)
📈 What is it?
Enterprise Value represents the total cost to acquire a company — including its debt and excluding its cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(= Market Cap + Net Debt)
🏛️ Why is it important?
EV gives a more complete picture of a company's value than market cap alone and is used in key valuation ratios like EV/FCF or EV/Sales.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Enterprise Value shows the true cost of buying a company, including all financial obligations.
- It is more accurate than just looking at market cap, especially when comparing companies with different levels of debt or cash.
- Professional investors prefer EV-based multiples because they better reflect the company’s full financial footprint.
📘 Net Debt
📈 What is it?
Net Debt shows how much debt remains after subtracting a company’s available cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It indicates how dependent a company is on borrowed money and how easily it can service its debt in the short term.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low or negative net debt signals financial strength and flexibility.
- Companies with strong cash positions are better positioned in crises.
- High net debt increases financial risk — especially in environments with rising interest rates or economic downturns.
📘 Cash
📈 What is it?
Cash represents all liquid assets a company can access immediately — including cash, bank deposits, and short-term investments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It reflects a company’s financial flexibility and resilience — enabling investments, buybacks, or buffer in downturns.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A strong cash position means greater room for maneuver and crisis resistance.
- Cash-rich companies can invest, pay down debt, or repurchase shares.
- But excess idle cash might indicate a lack of growth opportunities.
📘 Shares Outstanding
📈 What is it?
Shares outstanding represent the total number of a company’s shares currently held by investors — excluding treasury stock.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s the basis for key metrics like Earnings Per Share (EPS), Market Capitalization, or the Price/Earnings ratio (P/E).
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Fewer shares in circulation typically increase earnings per share — making each share more valuable.
- Share buybacks reduce the number of shares and boost per-share metrics.
- Issuing new shares does the opposite — diluting shareholder value and lowering per-share figures.
📘 Price-to-Earnings Ratio (P/E)
📈 What is it?
The P/E ratio shows how many times a company's earnings per share are reflected in its current share price — in other words, how "expensive" the stock appears relative to its profits.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The P/E ratio is one of the most widely used valuation metrics. It helps investors assess whether a stock appears cheap or expensive compared to its earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
📊 P/E (TTM) = Based on earnings from the last 12 months (Trailing Twelve Months):🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/E may indicate undervaluation — or signal underlying issues.
- A high P/E may reflect strong growth expectations — or an overvalued stock.
📘 Price-to-Sales Ratio (P/S)
📈 What is it?
The P/S ratio shows how much investors are paying for $1 of the company’s revenue – regardless of profitability.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/S is especially useful for evaluating growth companies or businesses not yet profitable. It reflects how the market values the company’s sales.
🧮 Calculation
Market Cap = kr106.51b | Revenue (TTM) = kr66.17b
Market Cap = kr106.51b | Estimated Revenue = kr71.07b
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/S may indicate undervaluation — or low profitability.
- A high P/S can reflect strong growth expectations — or excessive optimism.
- Especially helpful when evaluating companies where profits are low, volatile, or negative.
📘 Enterprise Value to Sales (EV/Sales)
📈 What is it?
EV/Sales shows how much investors are paying for $1 of revenue — considering not just equity, but also debt and cash. It’s the capital structure–adjusted version of the P/S ratio.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s ideal for comparing companies with different levels of debt. It reflects a company's true cost relative to its revenue.
🧮 Calculation
Enterprise Value = kr143.14b | Revenue (TTM) = kr66.17b
Enterprise Value = kr143.14b | Forward Revenue = kr71.07b
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EV/Sales allows for capital structure–neutral company comparisons.
- A lower ratio may indicate undervaluation; a higher one may signal strong growth expectations or overvaluation.
- Especially helpful when evaluating high-growth companies with low or negative earnings.
📘 Enterprise Value to Free Cash Flow (EV/FCF)
📈 What is it?
EV/FCF shows how many years it would take for a company to "pay back" its enterprise value using its free cash flow.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It focuses on real cash generation, ignoring accounting noise — ideal for assessing profitability and value based on liquidity, not earnings.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low EV/FCF may signal undervaluation and strong cash generation.
- A high EV/FCF might reflect weak recent cash flow or aggressive growth expectations.
- Best suited for stable, mature businesses with predictable free cash flows.
📘 Price-to-Book Ratio (P/B)
📈 What is it?
The P/B ratio compares a company’s market value to its book value — showing how much investors are paying for each dollar of net assets.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/B is commonly used for asset-heavy industries like banks or industrials. It helps assess whether a stock is trading above or below its net asset value.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A P/B below 1 may signal undervaluation — or weak profitability.
- A P/B above 1 implies the market expects future value creation (e.g., brand, IP, growth).
- Best used for companies with tangible assets and strong balance sheets.
📘 Dividend per Share (DPS)
📈 What is it?
Dividend per Share shows how much cash a company pays out to shareholders for each share they own – usually on an annual or quarterly basis.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
DPS is the absolute value of the payout per share – crucial for income-focused investors and dividend strategies.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable or growing DPS often signals a strong, shareholder-friendly business.
- DPS alone doesn’t tell you how attractive the payout is – the stock price also matters (→ see Dividend Yield).
- Long-term dividend growth is often a hallmark of high-quality companies – like the dividend aristocrats.
📘 Dividend Yield
📈 What is it?
Dividend yield shows how large a company’s dividend is in relation to its current share price.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It allows investors to compare dividend payouts across stocks, regardless of price or payout size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable yield can reflect reliable distributions.
- Comparing 1Y and 5Y yield shows whether dividend growth keeps pace with stock price appreciation.
- A low yield isn’t always negative – it can signal strong past performance or growth focus.
📘 Dividend Growth
📈 What is it?
Dividend growth shows how much a company has increased its dividend per share over time.
🧮 How is it calculated?
5Y: Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
🏛️ Why is it important?
Consistently rising dividends are often a sign of financial strength and shareholder orientation – especially relevant for long-term investors.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stable dividend growth is a sign of sustainable earning power.
- High dividend growth can significantly boost your total return:
- If a company pays $1 in dividends and increases it by 15% annually over 5 years, you’ll receive $2 per share in year 5 – twice as much as at the start!
📘 Payout Ratio
📈 What is it?
The payout ratio shows what percentage of a company’s earnings (per share) is distributed to shareholders as dividends.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess whether the dividend is sustainable – especially in relation to the company’s profitability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low payout ratio means the company retains more earnings for reinvestment – typical for growth companies.
- A moderate payout (e.g. 25–50%) indicates a healthy balance between returns and reinvestment.
- High payout ratios may seem attractive but can carry risk if earnings decline.
📘 Consecutive Dividend Increases
📈 What is it?
This metric shows how many consecutive years a company has raised its dividend per share – without any cuts or pauses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(Special dividends are not considered.)
🏛️ Why is it important?
A long track record of increases reflects financial strength, consistency, and shareholder commitment.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A long dividend increase streak builds confidence – especially in volatile markets.
- Such companies are seen as reliable and income-friendly investments.
- The longer the streak, the stronger the company’s dividend discipline.
📘 Revenue
📈 What is it?
Revenue shows how much a company earns in total from selling its products and services – the gross income before any costs are deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Revenue is one of the key figures to assess a company’s size, market position, and growth potential.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing revenue indicates rising demand and can be an early signal of future earnings growth.
- Comparing actual and expected revenue reveals trends in the market environment and analyst sentiment.
- Note: Strong revenue alone isn’t enough – margins and profitability matter just as much.
📘 EBITDA
📈 What is it?
EBITDA stands for “Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.” It reflects a company’s operating profit before the effects of financing, taxes, and accounting depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBITDA is widely used to evaluate a company’s operating performance – especially across capital-intensive sectors or international comparisons.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high or growing EBITDA indicates strong operational profitability – independent of taxes, interest, or accounting methods.
- It’s especially useful for comparing companies across sectors or geographies.
- Important: EBITDA is not a net income figure – it excludes key costs like depreciation and interest.
📘 EBIT
📈 What is it?
EBIT stands for “Earnings Before Interest and Taxes.” It reflects a company’s operating profit after depreciation, but before interest and tax expenses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT is a core profitability metric that shows how well the company performs in its main business operations – independent of capital structure and tax environment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT indicates strong profitability from the company’s core business – before financial and tax effects.
- It allows better comparison between companies with different debt levels or tax structures.
- Compared to EBITDA, EBIT already accounts for depreciation and reflects capital intensity more clearly.
📘 Net Income
📈 What is it?
Net income is the company’s total profit – the amount left after all expenses, taxes, interest, and depreciation have been deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the most comprehensive measure of a company’s profitability – showing how much actual profit remains after all business and financing costs.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing net income indicates that the company is managing all of its costs efficiently.
- It directly influences valuation metrics like P/E ratio and the company’s dividend capacity.
- Over time, net income trends reveal how resilient and profitable the business model really is.
📘 Free Cash Flow (FCF)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow shows how much actual cash remains after a company covers its operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF reflects a company’s real financial strength – regardless of accounting profits. It shows how much flexibility a company has for dividends, share buybacks, or debt reduction.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High free cash flow means the company generates real, usable cash – independent of reported net income.
- It’s often the most reliable base for sustainable dividends and buybacks.
- Declining FCF can be an early warning sign – even when profits appear stable.
📘 Revenue Growth
📈 What is it?
Revenue growth shows how much a company’s sales have changed compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on forward projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected revenue ÷ Revenue in prior year − 1) × 100
Forward growth is based on analyst estimates for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Rising revenue signals growing demand, business expansion, and market share gains – especially important for growth-oriented companies.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growth is the engine of long-term value creation – especially in tech and growth sectors.
- What matters is not just current growth, but its sustainability.
- Forward projections reflect whether analysts expect continued momentum – or a slowdown.
📘 EBITDA Growth
📈 What is it?
EBITDA growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) has increased or decreased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBITDA ÷ EBITDA from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Growing EBITDA indicates improving operational profitability – regardless of financing or accounting effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Strong EBITDA growth signals operational efficiency and scalability – especially during growth phases.
- EBITDA growth can be an early indicator of margin and earnings expansion – but should be assessed alongside revenue and EBIT.
📘 EBIT Growth
📈 What is it?
EBIT growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (after depreciation, but before interest and taxes) has increased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBIT ÷ EBIT from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT growth is a direct indicator of a company’s business performance – taking into account capital intensity through depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Rising EBIT signals improving operating profitability – even after accounting for depreciation.
- It’s especially important for evaluating companies with significant capital expenditures.
- Combined with revenue and EBITDA growth, EBIT growth provides a well-rounded view of operational progress.
📘 Net Income Growth
📈 What is it?
Net income growth shows how much a company’s bottom-line profit has increased or decreased compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on analyst projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected net income ÷ Net income from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate reflects analysts’ expectations for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the ultimate measure of profitability. Growing net income signals stronger efficiency, cost control, and sustainable earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stronger net income boosts valuation, dividend potential, and investor confidence.
- If profits stall while revenue grows, it may signal margin pressure.
📘 Free Cash Flow Growth
📈 What is it?
Free cash flow (FCF) growth shows how a company’s available cash – after covering operating expenses and capital expenditures – has changed compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Free cash flow reflects real financial strength. Growing FCF indicates more flexibility for dividends, share buybacks, and reinvestment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Declining FCF may point to rising investments, increasing costs, or weaker operating performance.
- Especially for dividend investors, FCF growth is critical – since dividends are paid from actual available cash.
- A negative trend isn't always bad, but it deserves closer attention.
📘 Gross Margin
📈 What is it?
Gross margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains after deducting the direct costs of goods sold (like materials and production). It represents the company’s “raw profit” before fixed costs, taxes, and interest.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Or simply: Gross Margin = Gross Profit ÷ Revenue × 100
🏛️ Why is it important?
Gross margin indicates how efficiently a company can produce or procure what it sells. It is a key measure of product-level profitability and pricing power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high gross margin suggests strong pricing power and efficient production.
- Falling margins may signal rising input costs or competitive pressure.
- Compared to peers, gross margin offers insights into the quality of a business model.
📘 EBITDA Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBITDA margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as operating profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.It reflects operating efficiency without being distorted by financing or accounting factors.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBITDA margin reveals how much operating income a company generates per dollar of revenue – independent of capital structure and tax effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBITDA margin reflects strong core profitability – before accounting distortions.
- It allows for effective comparisons across companies and sectors.
- A stable or growing margin signals efficient cost control and business scalability.
📘 EBIT Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBIT margin shows what percentage of revenue remains as operating profit after depreciation but before interest and taxes.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBIT margin reflects a company’s core profitability while accounting for capital intensity (e.g. machinery, infrastructure). It’s especially useful for comparing businesses with different levels of depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT margin shows that the company remains efficient even after factoring in depreciation.
- It’s especially relevant for capital-intensive industries.
- Stable or rising EBIT margins over time are a strong indicator of pricing power and business quality.
📘 Net margin
📈 What is it?
Net margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as bottom-line profit after deducting all costs, interest, taxes, and depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net margin reflects a company’s overall efficiency – across operations, financing, and taxation. It shows how much actual profit is generated from each dollar of revenue.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high net margin means the company is not only strong operationally but also manages financing and taxes efficiently.
- Peer comparisons reveal business quality and competitiveness.
- Declining margins despite revenue growth can be a red flag for rising costs or inefficiencies.
📘 Free cash flow margin
📈 What is it?
The free cash flow (FCF) margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as actual free cash after covering all operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This margin reflects the true liquidity generated by the business – independent of accounting rules or depreciation. It’s especially relevant for dividends, buybacks, and reinvestment decisions.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high FCF margin means a company consistently generates strong cash flow.
- It’s a positive signal for financial stability and shareholder returns.
- The long-term trend is key – a declining margin may indicate rising investments or weakening operating efficiency.
📘 Equity Ratio
📈 What is it?
The equity ratio indicates what portion of a company’s total assets is financed by shareholders’ equity – in other words, how much it relies on its own capital.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
A high equity ratio reflects financial strength and stability, especially during downturns. It’s a key indicator of a company’s solvency and long-term risk profile.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Companies with high equity ratios are generally more resilient and less dependent on external debt.
- Low equity ratios can signal higher risk or aggressive financial strategies.
- Important: Always assess the equity ratio in combination with the return on equity (ROE). This shows not just how stable the company is – but also how efficiently it uses shareholder capital.
📘 Return on Equity (ROE)
📈 What is it?
Return on equity (ROE) shows how efficiently a company uses its shareholders’ equity to generate profit. In other words: how much net income is earned per dollar of equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROE is a core profitability metric. It helps investors understand whether a company delivers attractive returns on the capital provided by its shareholders.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROE indicates that the company is using its capital efficiently and profitably.
- It’s especially meaningful for capital-intensive businesses or firms with high equity bases.
- Important: A very high ROE can also result from high debt levels – always interpret it alongside the equity ratio to assess financial health.
📘 Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)
📈 What is it?
ROCE measures how efficiently a company generates profits from its total capital – including both equity and interest-bearing debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It evaluates the return on all capital employed, regardless of how it’s financed.
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROCE is ideal for comparing companies with different financing structures. It shows how well management uses capital to create value for both shareholders and creditors.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROCE means the company uses its capital efficiently – regardless of whether it's funded by debt or equity.
- The higher the ROCE compared to peers, the more value the company creates with its invested capital.
- Especially relevant for capital-intensive sectors like industrials, energy, or infrastructure.
📘 Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)
📈 What is it?
ROIC measures how efficiently a company generates returns from the capital invested in its core operations – regardless of whether the capital comes from equity or debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
- NOPAT = Net Operating Profit After Taxes
- Invested Capital = Operating assets minus non-interest-bearing liabilities
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROIC is one of the most accurate indicators of capital efficiency. Unlike return on equity, it is not distorted by leverage and shows how much value is created for all capital providers.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROIC shows how effectively a company uses the capital that is truly invested in its core operations.
- Unlike ROCE, ROIC focuses only on the capital that is actively used to run the business – and that requires a return (i.e. interest-bearing).
- Especially useful when comparing companies with large amounts of excess cash or non-interest-bearing liabilities – giving a more realistic picture of capital efficiency.
📘 Leverage Ratio (Debt-to-Equity)
📈 What is it?
The leverage ratio indicates how much a company relies on interest-bearing debt (such as loans and bonds) relative to its shareholders’ equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This ratio helps assess a company’s financial structure and risk profile. High leverage can enhance returns – but also increases exposure to interest rate changes and financial stress.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low leverage ratio signals financial strength and independence.
- A higher ratio can improve returns in good times but increases risk during downturns or rising interest rate periods.
- 👉 Always interpret in the context of industry, capital intensity, and interest rate environment.
📘 Earnings per share (EPS)
📈 What is it?
Earnings per Share (EPS) shows how much profit is attributable to a single share – and is one of the most important metrics for evaluating a company's performance.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The diluted share count reflects potential new shares that could be issued through options, convertible bonds, or other rights.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EPS is the basis for many key valuation metrics like P/E ratio, PEG ratio, or payout ratio. It enables comparisons of profitability across companies, regardless of their size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EPS captures per-share profitability and is especially useful for comparisons over time or with analyst estimates.
- Rising EPS may signal consistent growth or share buybacks.
- Important: Always use diluted EPS for more realistic valuations – especially in companies with stock-based compensation.
📘 Free cash flow per share (FCF per share)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow per Share shows how much free cash flow a company generates per outstanding share – after investments, but before dividends or debt repayments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Free cash flow is calculated as operating cash flow minus capital expenditures (CapEx).
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF per Share reveals how much real cash is available per share – useful for dividends, buybacks, or reducing debt. Unlike net income, free cash flow is harder to manipulate and often seen as a more reliable metric.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High FCF per share signals strong financial flexibility.
- It shows how much capital the company can effectively reinvest or return to shareholders.
- Particularly relevant for dividend payers and capital-efficient businesses.
📘 Short interest
📈 What is it?
Short interest indicates how many shares of a company are currently sold short – that is, borrowed and sold by investors who expect the price to decline.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It reflects the percentage of a company’s shares that are being shorted relative to the total shares available.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Short interest serves as a sentiment indicator: A high value may signal skepticism or bearish expectations – but also increases the potential for a short squeeze if prices rise unexpectedly.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low short interest usually indicates market confidence in the company.
- High short interest can be a warning sign – or an opportunity if sentiment shifts.
- Especially relevant in volatile markets or ahead of key earnings releases.
📘 Employees
📈 What is it?
The employee count shows how many people a company employs worldwide – offering insights into its size, structure, and business model.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess operational scale, labor intensity, and cost structure. Combined with revenue and profit, it enables key metrics like revenue per employee or productivity.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high headcount can signal operational complexity – but also significant growth capacity.
- Revenue per employee is a key indicator of efficiency.
- Especially useful for comparing tech, industrial, or service-heavy companies.
📘 Turnover per employee
📈 What is it?
Revenue per employee indicates how much revenue a company generates on average per employee – a key measure of efficiency and productivity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The employee count is typically taken from the most recent annual report.
🏛️ Why is it important?
This metric helps compare business models – especially between labor-intensive and technology-driven companies. A high value suggests automation, operational efficiency, or strong value creation per head.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
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Mowi Stock Analysis
Analyst Opinions
20 Analysts have issued a Mowi forecast:
Analyst Opinions
20 Analysts have issued a Mowi forecast:
Mowi Events
Past Events
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AUG
18
Q2 2026 Earnings Call
about one month ago
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MAY
13
Q1 2026 Earnings Call
5 months ago
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FEB
11
Q4 2025 Earnings Call
8 months ago
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NOV
5
Q3 2025 Earnings Call
11 months ago
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StocksGuide Free
Mowi — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the presentation of Mowi's second quarter results of 2026. Hope to those of you who are in the room here with me this morning at Salmon, our combined exhibition center and fish restaurant at Aker Brygge, and of course, to those of you who are following us online across the world, which is the majority. And to those of you who are in the room with me this morning, I hope you have settled in well, and had something to drink and grabbed a bite to eat, bite some of our delicious Mowi products. And to those of you who are following the presentation online, I hope you have made yourselves comfortable so you can follow along in quiet and please.
Otherwise, my name is Ivan Vindheim, and I'm the CEO of Mowi. And together with our CFO, Kristian Ellingsen, I will take you through the numbers and the fundamentals this morning, and to the best of my -- and our ability, add a few appropriate comments to them. And after the presentation, our IRO, Kim Dosvig, will routinely host a Q&A session for those of you who are following the presentation online, can submit your questions or comments in advance or as we go along by e-mail. Please refer to the website at mowi.com for necessary details. Disclaimer is both long and extensive. I think we leave it for self-study. So without further ado, I think we are ready for the highlights of the quarter.
And if we kick things off with the big picture first this morning, as long expected and also guided, industry supply growth dropped finally back to a more normal level in the second quarter, down to a relatively low single-digit rate of 2.6% unadjusted for inventory and 6.1% adjusted for inventory after a year of unprecedented double-digit industry supply growth. But some tough comparables. So it will probably take some time before all of these new volumes are fully absorbed in the markets and prices recover because I think it's fair to say that prices in the second quarter were rather soft, especially to be our second quarter when we normally see very strong prices due to seasonality. I also think it's fair to say that prices have been rather soft through the summer as well.
But having said that, prices were still up by 6% year-over-year in the second quarter and 21% so far in the third quarter from a low baseline, but still these are 2 important steps forward after a period of very low prices. And this is also attesting to the historical supply to demand ratio, which is an important element in the market and price recovery story. And for the most part, coupled with good realized weighted production costs in the quarter of EUR 5.20 per kilo and seasonally record high harvest volumes of 150,000 tonnes, this translated into an operational profit of EUR 231 million in the quarter, which is a good result, I would say, given the soft prices and which is up by 23% year-over-year from EUR 189 million in the second quarter last year.
And the numbers align well, I would say, because costs were down by 3.5% year-over-year in the quarter, with EUR 26 million in absolute terms, whilst volumes were up by 13% year-over-year and prices, at least spot prices were up by 6%, which with quick head math adds up to pretty much 23%, which was the percentage number that our operational profit grew year-over-year. Furthermore, turnover came to EUR 1.60 billion in the second quarter, and that's quarterly record high, not only record high for our second quarter, but also record high for any quarter on record, which says a lot about the volumes that went through our value chain in the second quarter.
And on the cost side, we are now expecting relatively stable realized weighted production costs for 7 production countries in the third quarter when compared with the second quarter as previously guided drop in costs came already in the first and second quarter this year. And now we're also generally seeing a more inflationary environment around us, especially on the feed side following weak pelagic fisheries this year. But nothing dramatic so far. And some of this we can offset by changing the feed basket. And part of the story is also that we have hedged some of our raw materials for feed for this growth season. And as for next year, that's too early to have a clear opinion on today. But I guess the short-term trend is up and upwards.
But having said that, bear in mind that the driver behind this feed price increase is weak fisheries and fisheries, they come and go. So this will turn sooner or later. So this inflation is not necessarily permanent or very sticky. So let's see what the future has in store for us. Carrying on, when it comes to our 2 other divisions, Mowi Feed and Mowi Consumer Products, things are going well, I would say. It can be noted that the second quarter is low season for our feed business with all that entails. So our numbers in the quarter for feed are a reflection of that. But adjusted for seasonality, it was another record-breaking quarter for our Feed division.
And in Consumer Products, weaker contracts year-over-year continue to weigh on our earnings there. But other than that, I would say things are going well in our downstream business, too. Then the second to last bullet point, Canada East, as recently announced, we have entered into an agreement to divest our farming operations in Canada East for CAD 225 million on a debt-free basis. And this is a 9,000 tonnes farming operation in Atlantic Canada, an area where we have never truly succeeded, I think it's fair to say. So this should be seen as a measure to further sharpen our farming portfolio and become even more focused on our remaining farming geographies.
And for those of you who are following our numbers, please note that this entity will be booked as assets held for sale until closing, pending competition approval. In closing, we expect to take place sometime in the second half of this year and probably closer to year-end and closing is subject to customary closing conditions. So now that's been said. And finally, as the last bullet point reads, our Board of Directors has decided to distribute a quarterly dividend of NOK 2.30 per share after the second quarter. I think that covers the highlights of the quarter, so we can move on to our farming volume guidance.
And we begin with adjusting it slightly down for this year from 605,000 tonnes to 600,000 tonnes due to the agreement to divest our farming operations in Canada East. But 600,000 tonnes are still equivalent to a growth of as high as 7.4% year-over-year, driven by the acquisition of Nova Sea in Norway last year. And furthermore, we uphold our 2029 farming -- organic farming volume target of at least 650,000 tonnes. And the latter, we will achieve through increased smolt stockings and with post-smolt among other things because we have still unutilized license capacity in Mowi in several other countries where we operate. And with post-smolt, we can increase the productivity on licenses already in operation, which are to be set into operation.
So Mowi's farming volume growth continues unabated after a rather flatlining 2010s, I think it's fair to say, and it is now surpassing that of the wider industry and our listed peers by large margin, cementing our #1 position in the market for the Atlantic salmon. Then from the overall volume picture to key financial figures for the quarter. There are a lot of numbers on this slide, so I think we will have to focus on the most important ones now and leave the rest for later and Kristian's session and then also avoid getting ahead of the things and becoming too repetitive.
And total profit, we have just been through, so I think we can skip them here. So let's go straight to cash and net interest-bearing debt. We stood at EUR 2.81 billion at the end of the quarter, which is slightly higher than our long-term debt target of EUR 2.70 billion. But having said that, equity ratio was at a healthy 43% at the end of the quarter. So I would still argue we have a strong balance sheet in Mowi. Furthermore, underlying earnings per share were EUR 0.28 in the quarter, whilst the annualized return on capital employed was 13.6%. And finally, in terms of regional margins through the value chain, there was quite a wide spread in the field also this time around, but narrower than last time around. And we will get back to the explanation shortly when we go through the different business entities.
But first, further on prices in the quarter. And I said earlier this morning, as long expected and also guided industry supply growth dropped finally back to a more normal level in the second quarter, down to a relatively low single-digit rate of 2.6% unadjusted for inventory and 6.1% adjusted for inventory after a year of unprecedented double-digit industry supply growth. But on tough comparables, so it will probably take some time before all of these new volumes are fully absorbed and market and prices recover. Because as you said, I think it's fair to say that prices in the second quarter were rather soft, especially to be our second quarter where we normally see very strong prices due to seasonality. And I also think it's fair to say that prices have been rather soft through the summer.
But on a positive note, prices were up by 6% year-over-year in the second quarter and as much as 21% so far in the third quarter. From a low baseline, but still these are 2 important steps forward after a period of very low prices. And now we also are getting a helping hand from very limited industry supply growth for the remainder of this year and also in the coming years due to regulatory and resultant technological constraints. And a tighter supply side should lead to a tighter market balance and better prices going forward than what we have seen lately once we have left this growth season in the sea behind us. So this will be interesting to follow.
Then our own price performance in the quarter, which I would characterize as good, as it was 5% above the reference price, which is the standard we like to hold ourselves to in Mowi and against which we like to measure ourselves as you can hear. Positively impacted this time around by a contract share of 19% and a small positive contribution to our earnings from them, in addition to good harvest weights in the quarter and good quality of our fish, which alongside good sales execution, also laid the foundation for a good spot price performance in the second quarter.
So with that, I think we are ready to start to drill down into the different business entities. And we begin as usual with Mowi Norway, our largest and most important entity by far and the locomotive of our business model. And if you take the numbers first, operational profit was EUR 159 million for Mowi Norway in the quarter, whilst margin was EUR 1.86 per kilo and harvest volumes seasonally record high 85,000 tonnes. And another strong quarter for Mowi Norway, both operationally and biologically, I would say, with good cost performance, as you can see from the chart here. And especially in Region South and Region North, we did well on margins in the quarter with EUR 2.15 and EUR 2.10 per kilo, respectively, thanks to good cost performance and for Region South parts, also good timing of the harvest.
For Region West, however, it was the other way around as we harvested the lion's share of our volumes in that region in June, in this quarter and prices were at their lowest. So Region West took the brunt of the June price hit for Mowi in Norway. And to illustrate that further, Region West cost in the quarter was on par with Region North, which saves a lot. And finally, Region Mid's margin was impacted by 2 incidents of ISA, but nothing material as the last bullet point here states.
Then our volume guidance for Mowi Norway. We maintain our volume guidance for this year, as you can see from the chart here of 380,000 tonnes, which translates to a growth of as high as 14.5% year-over-year, driven by, as said, the acquisition of Nova Sea last year. And the short-term goal on the Norwegian assets is, as we also can see from the chart here, 400,000 tonnes, which would be our next volume milestone in this region.
Then the last slide on Mowi Norway, our sales contract portfolio. Contract share was 19% for Mowi Norway in the quarter, and most of that spot on our guidance. And these contracts delivered a small positive contribution to our earnings in the quarter. And as for the third quarter, we expect our contract share to be relatively stable with relatively stable contract prices quarter-over-quarter.
So with that, I think we can conclude Mowi Norway and Move on to our 6 other farming countries, and we begin as usual, with Mowi Scotland. Mowi Scotland also delivered another strong quarter operationally and biologically, I would say, aided by very favorable environmental conditions in Scotland this year alongside good husbandry by the organization. And this materialized into a strong operational profit for Mowi Scotland of EUR 48 million in the quarter, representing a strong margin of EUR 1.80 per kilo on our quarterly record high harvest volumes of 27,000 tonnes in Scotland.
Then I think we can move across the Atlantic to the Pacific and to our Chilean farming operation. Mowi Chile delivered a reasonably good quarter biologically, I think I can say, despite some issues with rickettsia or SRS in the quarter. But soft prices and tariffs on our salmon -- on our Chilean salmon into the U.S. continue to weigh on our earnings in Chile. And by extension, operational profit came in at modest EUR 6 million in the quarter, reflecting a modest margin of EUR 0.34 per kilo on a seasonally record high harvest volumes of 17,000 tonnes. So consequently, there is nothing to fault with our volumes in Chile either nor cost, I would say, only price.
Then our second farming entity in the Americas, Mowi Canada. Our Canadian salmon fare better than our Chilean salmon this time around, thanks to better price achievement, no tariffs on our Canadian salmon into the U.S. alongside good cost and good biology and also the fact that we harvested almost all our volumes in Canada West in the quarter. And finally, we also got the helping hand from a EUR 4 million insurance payouts related to costs previously expensed. And all this translated into a very strong operating profit of EUR 20 million for Mowi Canada in the quarter, reflecting a very strong margin of EUR 2.05 per kilo on our 10,000 tonnes of harvest volume.
Otherwise, a heads up on the third quarter and costs related to some seasonal issues with Algae in July and August. This amounts to EUR 6 million and will be recognized in the third quarter. And finally, as we said earlier this morning, we have entered into an agreement to divest our farming operations in Canada East for CAD 225 million. This is a 9,000 tonnes farming operation, accounting for an insignificant 1.5% share of our total harvest volumes in Mowi and should be seen as a measure to further improve the quality of our farming portfolio and become even more focused on our remaining farming geographies. And this, for order sake, does not impact our operations in Canada West. They are operated completely separately.
So with that, I think we can move back from the Americas and to Europe and to Ireland and our Irish farming operation. Mowi Ireland also suffered from soft prices in the second quarter, which resulted in a breakeven result on our 3,000 tonnes of harvest volume there. And otherwise, good quarter for Mowi Ireland operationally and biologically. In the Faroes, however, we turned a profit of EUR 4 million on our 2,500 tonnes of harvest volume, reflecting a margin of EUR 1.58 per kilo, another good quarter for Mowi Faroes operationally and biologically. Then I think we can move further out into the Atlantic to Iceland and our icelandic farming operation, Arctic fish.
Arctic Fish made a small loss of EUR 2 million in the quarter on our quarterly record high harvest volumes of almost 6,000 tonnes due to low price achievement also in Iceland. Compounded, as you can see from the first bullet point here by periodically harsh weather conditions and resultant downgrades. Other than that, things were good in Iceland in the quarter and things that have also developed well through the summer. So that, I think we can conclude Mowi Farming and move on to Consumer Products, our downstream business.
Consumer Products is still feeling the effects of last year's rather sluggish contract market and saw its earnings almost half year-over-year from EUR 52 million in the second quarter last year in operational profit to EUR 29 million in operational profit in this quarter. But underlying operating performance was once again good in the quarter, I would say, and we are still seeing good demand for our products, demonstrated by a 14% increase in sales volumes year-over-year, reaching quarterly record high 74,000 tonnes. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, they sale.
Then last one out this morning, Mowi Feed. Mowi Feed can look back on a decent quarter, I would say, given the low season and everything. And following on from this, operational EBITDA came in at seasonally record high EUR 16 million in the quarter and sales volumes reached seasonally record high 147,000 tonnes, the latter up by 9% year-over-year. But the key takeaway from Mowi Feed this time around, I guess, is the completion of our expansion of the feed factory we have in Bjugn by 100,000 tonnes, made possible by a CapEx of EUR 17 million and with a payback time of a little under 3 years.
So good investment in other woods. These investments also makes us once again self-sufficient for feed in Norway after having to buy some more feed externally for a while following the acquisition of Nova Sea last year. And finally, our targeted sales volumes for 2026 are still 650,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to growth of as high as 11% year-over-year and aligns well with our farming volume growth in Europe.
So with that, Kristian, the floor is all yours. You can take us through the fundamentals and the financial figures. Thank you, so far.
Thank you very much, Ivan, for a good walk-through. Good morning, everyone. Hope you are doing well. As usual, we start this session with the overview of profit and loss, which shows all-time high revenue of EUR 1.6 billion on record high Q2 harvest volumes. Cost performance in the quarter was strong and the combination of better prices, better costs and higher volumes led to higher operational earnings compared with Q2 2025. Net financial expenses increased somewhat, driven by unrealized loss on derivatives. And earnings translated into return on capital employed of 13.6% and 15.1% return on equity.
Underlying earnings per share was EUR 0.28, while cash flow per share was affected by tax payments and investments. We then move on to the balance sheet, which shows relatively stable total assets per Q2 versus year-end 2025. And Mowi's financial position is solid with an equity share of 43.2%. When it comes to the cash flow, net interest-bearing debt moved from EUR 2.74 billion to EUR 2.8 billion during the quarter, so slightly up. Other investments are mainly related to the purchase of Torghatten Aqua's salmon farming business. In May, we successfully issued green bonds of EUR 250 million with tenor of 5 years and floating interest rate of 3 months EURIBOR plus 118.8 bps. And apart from that, there are no changes to our financing. So we leave the rest here for self-study.
Then let's move on to some comments on costs. There was a cost reduction of EUR 26 million in the quarter and EUR 70 million year-to-date compared with last year. And the decrease was driven by lower feed prices, but also other cost items are improved. As also shown in the graph here, we expect a stable realized cost in Q3 versus Q2. But of course, the underlying development is that feed prices are increasing. And that means it is of high importance to continue with our cost-cutting measures and our cost focus. And these measures, they follow 2 main angles. First, you have the operational measures related to post-smolt, Mowi 4.0, automation, efficiency, yield improvements and so on.
And secondly, we have the more generic cost measures, the cost saving program and the productivity program. And these cost measures have helped us reach the #1 position on EBIT, sorry, as shown on the graph here below. But this is very important, especially now in the inflationary environment that we have, that we maintain our strong cost focus in Mowi. Year-to-date, we have realized EUR 16 million in annualized cost savings through the cost saving program. And this is excluding the effects of realization of lower feed prices. This is, for example, structural changes related to facilities, yield improvements, logistics improvements. So we are on track to deliver on our target in 2026, which is EUR 30 million.
And since we started with these cost-saving programs back in 2018, we have reached a total of EUR 408 million, and we are talking about over 2,100 initiatives across the company and across also different categories as shown here on the slide. The major categories are boats treatments, procurement and personnel costs. This is, of course, a constant battle, but as long as salmon is a commodity, then the cost competitiveness is what it's all about. And operational productivity is something we can influence through automation, through working smarter. And this way, we are addressing our second largest cost item, which is personnel cost.
And since the start of the productivity program in 2020, we have seen a very strong development on productivity in all segments, around 30% as reflected here on the graphs, measured then as tonnes per FTE in farming and in Consumer Products. And our plans ahead, they include further targets on productivity improvement in the company. When it comes to feed prices, we are now seeing an increase after a positive trend in the 2023 to 2025. The current increase is driven by marine ingredients and a poor pelagic fishery season. There is a new pelagic fishery season in Peru coming up in November. It's too early to say how that will go. And for Mowi, the raw material inflation is partly offset by positive effects from the Skretting partnership.
When it comes to the cash flow guidance, working capital tie-up is then also increased to EUR 150 million from EUR 100 million related to feed inflation. And tax payments have been increased somewhat to EUR 220 million. And speaking of tax, there are sometimes articles, comments suggesting that we don't really contribute enough. The truth is that Mowi is a major taxpayer, major contributor to Norway. A recent study by Menon Economics shows that Mowi contributes with NOK 10 billion in direct and indirect taxes, which is actually 0.7% of Norway's total taxes, so quite high. We also contribute with value creation of NOK 29 billion, including ripple effects. That's 0.5% of the entire GDP. And we contribute with over 16,000 jobs, which is 0.6% of the workforce.
We have operations in over 70 municipalities along the coast, and we are a very important key employer in many of these local communities. Then we move on to market, starting with industry supply. The market supply from the salmon-producing countries increased by 2.6% from Q2 2025 and 6.1% adjusted for inventory movements. And that means that growth is returning to more normal levels after a period of unusual strong growth. Demand was good in the quarter with 9% demand growth as more volumes were consumed at higher prices. Europe and Asia are the drivers behind the consumption increase. In Europe, consumption increased by 8% from Q2 '25, driven by retail, where underlying development in retail is solid. We see good demand. Development was particularly strong in the U.K., Germany and parts of Central Europe and Eastern Europe.
Foodservice saw demand also generally improving, but still more price sensitive than retail. In the U.S., consumption increased by 3%. Fresh prepacked in retail, e-commerce continued to be positive, while somewhat softer in foodservice. In Asia, consumption increased by 10%. Growth continued to be particularly strong in China, supported by a structural shift in consumption and improved availability. And the market fundamentals have yielded a positive price response in Q2 and even more so in Q3 quarter to date. When it comes to industry supply growth and indications ahead, for the rest of the year, Kontali estimates zero growth. For 2027, our growth estimate is 0% to 2% based on the current biomass composition. And for the following years, i.e., '28 and onwards, we believe in 1% to 2% growth based on the regulatory framework we see in the salmon farming producing countries. Our own volume guidance is 600,000 tonnes, down from 605,000 tonnes due to Canada East.
Then I will pass it back to Ivan to conclude and to comment on the outlook.
Thank you, Kristian. Much appreciated. I have some technical issues here, you have to bear with me. Right. Now, I think it's okay. Okay. Then it's time to sum up and give some closing remarks before we wrap up with a Q&A session hosted by our IRO, Kim Dosvig. And to begin with and on a more general note, I think it's fair to say that the second quarter turned out to be another very strong quarter for Mowi operationally. And also, I think it's fair to say that it turned out to be a reasonably good quarter financially as well, given the soft prices. So I feel quite confident that when this quarter is closed and fully reported, Mowi will once again stand out for its KPIs. So credit to the organization for that. It's of course, much, much appreciated.
And further on this note, I also think I can say that things have gone well through the summer, both in the sea and on land. But having said that, it's now over the coming weeks and months, the true test comes when higher sea temperatures set in, with all that entails biologically separating the wheat from the chaff. And I guess a brewing El Nino this year won't make it any easier for us, but let's see. So far, so good and nothing to report, knock on wood. Otherwise, as we said earlier this morning, industry supply growth finally dropped back to a more normal level in the second quarter after 5 quarters of unprecedented industry supply growth, driven by previously untapped production capacity released by very favorable environmental conditions, both in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere last year and so far this year.
But now the industry is producing at full capacity. So we are expecting limited industry supply growth for the remainder of this year, but also in the coming years due to regulatory and resultant technological constraints. And a tighter supply, we believe, will lead to a tighter market balance and better prices going forward than what we have seen lately once we have left this growth season in the sea behind us. So it will be interesting to follow.
Carrying on, on the cost side, we now expecting relatively stable realized weighted production costs for 7 production countries in the third quarter when compared to the second quarter. As previously guided, drop in costs came already in the first and second quarter this year. And now we're also generally seeing a more inflationary environment around us, especially on the feed side, following very weak pelagic fisheries this year. But nothing dramatic so far and some of this, we can also offset by changing the feed basket. And part of the story is also that we have offset some of our -- not offset, but hedged some of our raw materials for our feed for this growth season.
And as we said earlier this morning, as for next year, that's far too early to have any strong opinion on today. But I guess the short-term trend is upwards. But having said that, bear in mind that the driver behind this feed price increase is weak pelagic fisheries and fisheries, they come and go. So this is not necessarily permanent nor sticky. So let's see what the future has in store for us.
And then last but not least, our volume guidance -- farming volume guidance.
As we said earlier this morning, too, we have adjusted it slightly down for this year from 605,000 tonnes to 600,000 tonnes. But 600,000 tonnes are still equivalent to a growth of as high as 7.4% year-over-year, which is a lot in our industry. I think that covers pretty much what we wanted to say this morning.
Then I think we're ready to start on the Q&A session. So if you, Kristian, can please join me on the stage and help me out with some of the questions, and then you, Kim, can administer the mic and orchestrate the questions from the audience and the web.
2. Question Answer
Christian Nordby, Arctic Securities. We have seen over the last couple of months and particularly the last month, very strong export value or demand growth. What do you think is driving this demand growth? Is it some countries? Is it retail versus food service? Is it inventory buildup?
We see definitely very good retail demand in Europe. We see some regions very strong like U.K. We see Germany, we see Southern Europe, Eastern Europe. Retail is generally doing well. We know that we have been through a period of pressure on prices, on lower prices. And we know that volumes have been high. The volumes have been consumed. So we definitely believe that we have built demand and built markets during this period that we have been through with low prices since 2025. And of course, there has also been some mentioning of freezing frozen inventories.
I think the fact is that the frozen inventories have really been built down in Chile. We see that -- of course, there's always some freezing in Europe at this time of year. But as far as we can determine based on the price dynamics and what we are seeing is that there shouldn't be any out of the ordinary. And of course, you can also mention Asia, which has been very solid on demand, the structural shift in China and really a big support in this period.
And one other question. We've seen that sea temperatures in Norway have been quite a bit colder recently. How does that impact you?
I think it's fair to say that, as we said earlier this morning, that the environmental conditions, they have been great last year and also so far this year. So extremely strong KPIs, which you see in our numbers. And I guess you see in the numbers for the rest of the industry. But let's see now sea temperatures are rising. So that could be a different ballgame. But so far, so good.
Henrik Knutsen, Pareto Securities. You mentioned the brewing El Nino. Could you elaborate a bit on if you have done any measures in Chile, for instance?
Yes, absolutely. So we have upwelling systems. We have also oxygen systems, et cetera. So we learned a lesson in 2016 when we ran into problems last time. And algaes in general are a seasonal problem in Chile. The same goes for Canada. So I would say we are prepared, but how this plays out, no one knows really. It depends on how bad it becomes.
Do you think that -- or is your impression that the industry as a whole is better prepared this time around?
Yes, absolutely, absolutely. So we use every day to develop ourselves and so does the rest. So absolutely. But again, it depends on how this evolves. So no one really knows.
Last question for me. How do you see your Consumer Products division in the second half of this year compared to second half of last year?
I think you should assume that we will see the same development, right? So very good operations, very good underlying operational performance, good growth, but weaker contracts will continue to weigh on our earnings also in the second half of the year. And then it's all about how the next year look like. Personally, I think it would be better.
Aleksander Erstad, DNB Carnegie. Thank you for the comments on the feed side. Is it possible to quantify slightly more the feed formulation flexibility you speak about? How low can you go on the...
You know, we are in the feed business, and we also collaborate with one of the big ones. So we cannot talk about this in public. So we just have to ask for your understanding. I apologize.
Okay. Another question to you, Kristian. So some of your Chilean competitors have claimed the U.S. tax refunds in Q2. Have you had any positive effects from tariff refunds?
There's nothing significant in our numbers in Q2 related to this.
Okay. Then a question from the web on supply from Setu Sharda of Barclays. He's got a question on your outlook for industry supply growth, having exceeded expectations over the past 12 to 18 months. Can you help us understand what specifically gives you confidence in the low outlook? Is the conviction primarily driven by biomass data, harvest plans, inventory levels or biological indicators in Norway and Chile?
I would say that it's -- if you look at the biomass composition globally, it's relatively stable year-on-year, stable number of individuals. In Chile, the biomass is down. If you look at the temperatures in Norway in August, lower than last year. I think that's the main driver behind our assumptions here. And of course, we already see that we are on the -- in the direction of normalization of supply. And I guess we also have to remember that during this period, the last years, '25, '26, the industry has been running at very high utilization level biologically with limited room to exceed from there.
But the driver here is regulation, right? So the industry is producing at full capacity. So what we saw last year and the first quarter this year was just that we utilized previously untapped production capacity. So this is as good as it gets unless technology changes materially, and it doesn't -- it would also take a lot of time. So just to look at the numbers, the number of individuals globally is even-Steven year-over-year, so 0% growth. And if you don't have more fish in the sea, well, then it really ends up as more volumes in the end of the day.
So I think you should look at what we saw last year and the first quarter this year as industry just filling the gap between regulatory limitations and operational capacity. So I feel quite confident that before we change regulation in Norway and Chile, which are the 2 big countries there, you won't see any material growth going forward. And you saw the supply-demand slide we had earlier this morning shows that this is structural and driven by, again, regulation.
Okay. Thank you. No more questions from the web.
Thank you. And it only remains for me to say thank you to you all. I hope to see you back already in November at the third quarter release, if not before, at The Salmon perhaps. In the meantime, please take care and have a great day ahead. Thank you.
Mowi — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
Mowi — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
Record Q2 revenue and strong operational profit despite soft prices; volumes up, costs down and 2026 volume guidance trimmed slightly.
📊 Quarter at a Glance
- Revenue: EUR 1.60bn (all‑time Q2 and quarterly record)
- Operational profit: EUR 231m (+23% YoY)
- Harvest volumes: 150,000 tonnes (seasonal record; +13% YoY)
- Prod. cost: EUR 5.20/kg (realized weighted production cost, cost per kilo produced)
- Net debt: EUR 2.81bn (slightly above long‑term target of EUR 2.70bn)
🎯 What Management Says
- Portfolio: Agreed sale of Canada East farming for CAD 225m to sharpen farming footprint and focus on stronger geographies.
- Growth plan: 2029 farming target unchanged at ≥650,000 tonnes — growth to come via increased smolt stocking, post‑smolt and unused licence capacity.
- Cost & feed: Ongoing cost‑saving and productivity programs plus feed hedges and Skretting partnership to mitigate rising feed input costs.
🔭 Outlook & Guidance
- Volumes 2026: Revised to 600,000 tonnes (down from 605,000 due to Canada East divestment; still +7.4% YoY).
- Costs Q3: Expect relatively stable realized production costs Q3 vs Q2; feed inflation is an upside risk.
- Market view: Industry supply seen near 0% for remainder of year and 0–2% for 2027; tighter supply expected to support prices.
- Cash items: Working capital tie‑up guidance raised to EUR 150m; tax payments ~EUR 220m; dividend NOK 2.30/share.
❓ Analyst Q&A
- Demand drivers: Management points to strong retail demand in Europe (UK, Germany, Central/Eastern Europe) and structural recovery in China as main drivers of recent price improvement.
- Supply conviction: Confidence in low future growth based on stable global biomass, high utilization and regulatory constraints limiting capacity expansion.
- Risks & biology: Concern on feed inflation, El Niño and algae in Chile/Canada; company says it is better prepared (oxygen/upwelling systems) but outcome remains uncertain.
⚡ Bottom Line
Mowi delivered operational resilience: record revenue, higher operating profit and strong volumes despite soft prices. The slight volume cut reflects a portfolio sale, not operational weakness. Key risks are feed inflation and seasonal biological events; watch price recovery and working‑capital impact. Dividend maintained.
Mowi — Q1 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
I think that sets the mood. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the presentation of Mowi's First Quarter Results of 2026, both to those of you physically present in the room here this morning at The Salmon, our combined exhibition center and fish restaurant at Aker Brygge in the heart of Oslo, and to those of you following the presentation online across the world. And to those of you physically present in the room, I hope you have all settled in well, had something to drink and grabbed a bite to eat, a bite of some of our delicious Mowi salmon. And to those of you following the presentation online, I hope you have made yourself comfortable, so you can follow along at your leisure.
Otherwise, my name is Ivan Vindheim, I'm the CEO of Mowi. And together with our CFO, Kristian Ellingsen, I will take you through the numbers and the fundamentals this morning, and to the best of my and our ability, add a few appropriate comments to them. And after presentation, our IRO, Kim Dosvig, will routinely host a Q&A session. So those of you who are following the presentation online can submit your questions or comments in advance or as we go along by e-mail. Please refer to the website at mowi.com for the necessary details. Disclaimer is both long and extensive. So I think we leave it for self-study as we usually do.
So with the pleasantries, the practicalities, and the disclaimer out of the way, I think we are ready for the highlights of the quarter. A quarter which was characterized by very high industry supply growth of 14% when adjusted for inventory drawdowns during the quarter, validated by an exceptionally good growth in the sea last year, but I think it's fair to say that this year is off to a good start as well in terms of seawater growth, although we haven't reached the high growth season yet. And an industry supply growth of 14% is, of course, much more than any market can handle in the short term without it showing up in prices.
This also goes for the salmon end market. So this took its toll on prices in the quarter, especially in the first part of the quarter, before we saw an upswing in prices towards the end of the quarter on Easter demand. And so overall, that translated into an operational profit of EUR 221 million, which is our second best first quarter to date and a turnover of seasonally record high EUR 1.54 billion, thanks to, first and foremost, seasonally record high harvest volumes of 136,000 tonnes, which is up by a whopping 26% year-over-year, which is slightly higher than our original guidance. Otherwise, our realized blended farming cost was good in the quarter, i.e., our realized production cost for 7 production countries. And as I said, it was good in the quarter at EUR 5.46 per kilo, which is just slightly higher than the fourth quarter, notwithstanding lower harvest volumes and consequently, less dilution of fixed costs in addition to issues with algae in Southern Norway in the quarter, which cost us approximately EUR 10 million or EUR 0.07 per kilo.
EUR 5.46 per kilo is also down from EUR 5.89 per kilo in the first quarter last year, so down by 7.3% year-over-year or EUR 46 million in absolute terms, which is a significant amount also for Mowi. And to this, it can be added that our biological metrics are either better or on par with last year, which was also a good quarter for Mowi Farming. So I think it's fair to say that this year is off to a good start for our farming operation despite our issues with algae in Southern Norway in the quarter, which are now behind us.
As for the second quarter, we expect our realized blended farming cost to be stable quarter-over-quarter before declining further in the second half of the year, partly aided by more harvest volumes and consequently, more dilution of fixed costs. Carrying on, when it comes to 2 other divisions, the first quarter is low season for our Feed business and all that entails. So our numbers in the quarter in Feed are a reflection of that. As for Consumer Products, our earnings in the quarter are substantially lower than the first quarter last year. But when adjusting for weaker contracts year-over-year, they're actually better.
And then the second to last bullet point, Torghatten Aqua. We bought Torghatten Aqua's 4,500 tonnes sea-based salmon farming operation or business in Northern Norway in the quarter at very attractive terms, I would say. So this would be a nice little bolt-on to Mowi Norway region North and perhaps one of the best places in the world for farming of Atlantic salmon. And then finally, as the last bullet point reads, our Board of Directors have decided to distribute a quarterly dividend of NOK 2.30 per share after the first quarter.
I think that does it for the highlights of the quarter. So then we can move on to our farming volume guidance. And to begin with, as we can see from the chart here, we maintain our guidance for this year of 605,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to a growth of as high as 8.3% year-over-year, mainly driven by the acquisition of Nova Sea last year. And furthermore, we uphold our 2029 organic farming volume target of at least 650,000 tonnes. And the latter, we will achieve through increased smolt stockings and by means of post-smolt, among other things, because we still have unutilized license capacity in Mowi in several of the countries where we operate. And with post-smolt, we can increase the productivity on licenses already in operation or to be set into operation. So Mowi's farming volume growth continues unabated after the rather stagnant 2010, and is surpassing that of the wider industry and our listed peers by a large margin, cementing our #1 position in the market for the Atlantic salmon.
Then from the overall volume picture to key financial figures for the quarter. There are a lot of numbers on this slide. So I think we will have to focus on the most important ones now and leave the rest for later and Kristian's session. And then we also avoid to get ahead of the event. And turning to profits, we have just been through. So I think we can skip them here. So let's go straight to cash and net interest-bearing debt, which stood at EUR 2.74 billion at the end of the quarter, which is in line with our long-term debt target of EUR 2.7 billion, supported by strong equity ratio at the end of the quarter of 46%. Furthermore, underlying earnings per share was EUR 0.27 in the quarter, whilst annualized return on capital employed was 13.1%.
And finally, in terms of our regional margins through the value chain, there was quite a wide spread in the field this time around, and we will get back to all the details shortly when we go through the different business entities. But first, on prices in the quarter. And as I said, the quarter was characterized by very high industry supply growth of 14% when adjusted for inventory drawdowns during the quarter, well aided by an exceptionally good growth in the sea last year. But also I think it's fair to say that this year is off to a good start as well in terms of seawater growth, although we haven't reached the high growth season yet. And 14% industry supply growth is, of course, much more than any market can handle in the short term without it impacting prices, and the salmon market is no exception to the rule. And this impacted prices this winter, and also so far this spring, along with tariffs and turmoil in the Middle East.
But on a positive note, industry supply growth has now finally normalized after an unprecedented year and we'll be hovering around 0% for the remainder of this year and 1% next year according to the research agency, Kontali. And this should, under normal circumstances, pave the way for a tighter market balance going forward than what we have seen lately. And limited supply growth is also something we expect to see in the coming years due to regulatory and associated technological constraints. But the latter must be understood in context with the former and not vice versa, which is an important distinction in this. So this will be interesting to follow and in more than one way, I would say.
Then our own price performance in the quarter, which I would say was okay, as it was 4% above the reference price, which is the standard we like to hold ourselves to internally and against which we measure ourselves, as you can hear. This time around, positively impacted by contract share of 21% in the quarter and a small positive contribution to our earnings from them in addition to good quality of our fish, which is an important element in this.
So with that, I think we're ready to start to drill down into the different business entities. And we begin as usual with Mowi Norway, our largest and most important entity by far and the locomotive of our business model. And if you take the numbers first, operating profit was EUR 181 million for Mowi Norway in the quarter, whilst margin was EUR 2.40 per kilo and harvest volumes seasonally record high 76,000 tonnes. It has had rather troublesome quarter biologically for our southernmost operations in Norway due to issues with algae, so-called Pseudochattonella, but these are now over, which cost us approximately EUR 10 million in the quarter or EUR 0.13 on our Norwegian volumes. Other than that, I would say our biological performance in Norway was strong in the quarter. And to this, it can be added that our biological metrics were either better or on par with last year, which was also a good quarter for us in Norway.
And we can also see from the chart here that our cost is down year-over-year, which is often a good signal of good biological performance. And especially in northern Norway, we continue to perform extremely well, which translated into an impressive margin of EUR 2.89 per kilo for Mowi Norway Region North, which is by far our largest and consequently our most important entity in Mowi Norway. So hats off for that. But I will also say that our overall margin for Mowi Norway in the quarter, EUR 2.40 per kilo, is reasonably good, all things considered.
Then the volume guidance for Mowi Norway. We maintain our guidance for this year of 380,000 tonnes, which translates to a growth of as high as 14.5% year-over-year, mainly driven by, as I said, the acquisition of Nova Sea last year. But our short-term goal on the Norwegian assets is, of course, 400,000 tonnes, which we hope to reach soon and which will be our next volume milestone in Mowi in Norway.
Then the last slide on Mowi Norway, our sales contract portfolio. Contract share was 19% for Mowi Norway in the quarter and was with that spot on our guidance. And these contracts made a small positive contribution to our earnings in the quarter. As for the second quarter, we expect our contract share to be relatively stable with relative stable contract prices quarter-over-quarter.
So with that, I think we can conclude Mowi Norway and move on to our 6 other farming countries. And we begin, as usual, with Mowi Scotland. Mowi Scotland delivered another good quarter biologically, I would say, partly aided by very favorable seawater temperatures in Scotland this winter and spring. And this manifested itself in an operational profit of EUR 31 million for our Scottish operation in the quarter, representing a margin of EUR 1.49 per kilo on our seasonally record high harvest volumes of almost 21,000 tonnes.
Mowi Chile also continued to deliver good biological quarters, especially considering that we have been through a summer in Chile in the first quarter, and this led to costs in Mowi Chile in the quarter on par with Mowi in Norway. But soft prices as a result of an unprecedented high industry supply growth out of Chile in the quarter of 25% ate, unfortunately, heavily into our earnings in the quarter and left us with a modest operational profit of EUR 7 million and a modest margin of EUR 0.34 per kilo on our seasonally record high harvest volumes in Mowi Chile of 21,000 tonnes.
Mowi Canada also wrestled with soft prices in the first quarter and even more so as our cost level in Canada is higher than in Chile, although it was good by Canadian standards in the first quarter. And this resulted in a small loss of EUR 1 million for our 8,000 tonnes of harvest volume in Canada in the quarter. On the positive side, biology was once again good in Canada in the quarter, both in the West and in the East. And soft prices were also a running theme in Ireland in the quarter, which translated into a breakeven result there on our 2,000 tonnes of harvest volume in an otherwise good quarter for our Irish operation biologically.
In Faroes, however, we made an operational profit of EUR 3 million in the quarter on our 3,000 tonnes of harvest volume there, representing a margin of EUR 0.93 per kilo, which is a lower margin than what we normally see in the Faroes with current prices due to, first and foremost, a very front-end loaded harvest profile, as we did not harvest at all in March when prices were at their highest. Otherwise, biology was once again good in the Faroes.
Then further out into the Atlantic Ocean to Iceland and Icelandic farming operation, Arctic Fish. Arctic Fish turned a profit of EUR 2 million in the quarter on our 6,000 tonnes of harvest volume, thanks to lower cost year-over-year, as we can see from the chart here. So I think we can say that our work on cost in Iceland has started to bear fruit. But our price performance in the quarter was not satisfactory, mostly explained by harvesting out a site with low superior share. But also I think it's fair to say that we are not satisfied with our price performance in general in Iceland as we see that we achieve a lower price for our Icelandic salmon than what we do for our other origins. So we have a job to do in Iceland.
So with that, I think we can conclude Mowi Farming and move on to Consumer Products, our downstream business. Consumer Products made an operational profit of EUR 20 million in the quarter, which is, as I said, significantly down from the EUR 33 million we made in the comparable quarter last year. But when adjusting for weaker contracts year-over-year, the first quarter this year is actually better. So I think it's fair to say that our underlying operational performance in our downstream business was good in the quarter. We also continue to see good demand for our products, underpinned by seasonally record high sold volumes of 70,000 tonnes product weight, which is up by as much as 21% year-over-year. Proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say.
Then last one out this morning, Mowi Feed. As said, the first quarter is low season for our Feed business and all that entails. So our numbers in the quarter reflect that. And following on from this, operational EBITDA was stable year-over-year at EUR 6 million on stable sold volumes of 109,000 tonnes. But now our expansion of the feed factory in Bjugn is finished, which will provide the basis for further organic growth also in this part of the value chain. So this year, we aim to produce and sell 650,000 tonnes of feed, which is up by as much as 11% year-over-year. I can also inform you that our recently commenced partnership with Skretting is progressing well with targeted EUR 55 million in annual savings.
So with that, Kristian, the floor is all yours, so you can take us through the financial figures and the fundamentals. Thank you so far.
Thank you very much, Ivan, and good morning, everyone. I hope you're all doing well. As usual, we start with the overview of profit and loss, which shows record first quarter revenue achieved on historically high seasonal volumes. Operational EBIT increased by 3% on higher volumes and lower costs, partly offset by lower prices on very high seasonal industry supply. Operational EBIT and financial EBIT were relatively similar this time around, and financial items were relatively stable from Q1 '25. Earnings translated into underlying earnings per share of EUR 0.27, while cash flow per share was affected by working capital, tax and CapEx payments.
We then move on to the balance sheet, which is slightly up since year-end. Mowi has a solid financial position with equity ratio of 46%. The cash flow contribution from EBITDA was partly offset by working capital tie-up, CapEx and phasing of taxes. Other investments are mainly related to payment of the remaining shares in Nova Sea, and financial items were relatively stable. Net interest-bearing debt per quarter end was EUR 2.74 billion, which is in line with the long-term NIBD target. And we maintain the 2026 cash flow guidance, which we presented in Q4. So we do not go further into the specifics on this slide.
On financing, Mowi has 100% green or sustainability-linked financing, but there are no new instruments or loans since Q4. So we leave this for self-study. But note that we have a euro financing, and that is because our cash flow is predominantly in euro. So for Mowi, cash flow, financing and reporting is based on euro, which is our functional currency. And euro interest rates have been consistently lower than Norwegian rates as demonstrated in the graph. And the difference is currently 2.2 percentage points. This gives Mowi a lower financing cost and thereby lower weighted average cost of capital.
When it comes to operational costs, this was good in the quarter with blended farming cost across our 7 farming countries of EUR 5.46 per kilo. That's down 7.3% from EUR 5.89 in Q1 '25. In nominal terms, the reduction was EUR 46 million. And cost was also down versus the overall level in 2025. The reduction was driven by feed prices, but other cost items are also improved. Cost in the first half of this year is, as usual, impacted by lower volumes and negative scale effects, but we expect reduced costs in the second half of 2026. And as you know, we have worked systematically on cost for several years.
I believe we have a very good track record in this area. Over time, this makes a difference. And if you look at the cost reduction in Q1, 20% of this cost reduction is related to other items than feed. The EBIT per kilo overview for the last 3 years show that we have the #1 position on EBIT in all regions and cost is the main driver behind being the #1 performer across these regions. In the current inflationary environment, we work along 2 lines. First, we have the operational improvements, and then we have the more generic work, including the cost reduction program and the productivity program. So this work continues unabated in Mowi, and we have a strong focus on cost and cost leadership.
Another way of measuring profitability is to look at EBIT per standard license in Norway. This captures both profitability and also license utilization. Mowi performs strongly on both benchmarks, resulting in the #1 position for Norway combined and also in each of the regions. And Region West and Mid is consolidated here due to the interregional biomass. Profitability is, of course, extremely important, but perhaps even more important is what kind of return this profitability gives on the invested capital. And Mowi's return on capital employed is consistently better than our peer group, around 5 percentage points better over time. The average 5-year return on capital for Mowi is 17.4% versus peers at 12.7%. So Mowi is more capital efficient.
If you go a bit further into cost, the single largest cost component is feed. And there has been a positive development for feed prices in 2023 to 2025 on better availability of raw materials and generally lower ingredient prices. The positive development in those years started with vegetable ingredients and then continued with marine ingredients. Also in 2025, we saw lower feed prices. And due to the production cycle, this benefits P&L feed cost now in 2026. However, in 2026, prices for marine ingredients have increased related to lower supply. But Mowi expects that our feed prices will be relatively stable in Q2, Q3 versus the first half due to purchases already made in addition to positive effects from the Skretting partnership. Price development further ahead is too early to say.
The increase in fish oil prices in '26 is, amongst other things, affected by concerns related to the anchovy fishery in Peru. On the first fishery season, it's still too early to conclude how this will turn out and the quota for the second season towards the end of the year will be based on a trial catch expected in Q3.
We then move on to market fundamentals, starting with supply. Industry supply increased by 14% year-on-year in Q1 adjusted for inventory movements. This was driven by a temporary high supply growth from Norway and Chile. On 14% increased consumption, demand increased by 7% year-on-year in Q1, adjusted down for tariffs. In Europe, consumption increased by 11%, driven by retail, supported by 4% lower retail prices. In the U.S., consumption increased by 5%. In this market, we saw continued good growth in the fresh prepacked category in retail and e-commerce, but slower in foodservice. In Asia, consumption increased by as much as 42%, supported by improved availability, continued strong demand. Growth was particularly good in China with 60% growth in the quarter versus Q1 last year, where retail, e-commerce and hybrid channel continue to support this shift towards more home consumption in China.
And of course, the very high supply growth that we saw took its toll on prices, but the tighter supply outlook would normally mean improved market conditions. And following no industry supply growth in 2022, '23, '24, the number climbed to 12% in 2025 on biological improvements and higher temperatures. And in Q1, we saw a very high supply growth of 14%. And this figure is expected to be 0% for the rest of 2026 and 1% in 2027 according to Kontali. From 2028 onwards, we expect 1% to 2% supply growth for the industry, i.e., lower than the average 3% seen in the previous 10 years.
When it comes to Mowi's own volume guidance, we maintain this at 605,000 tonnes for 2026. And Mowi has a history of delivering on our volume guidance with positive deviation of 2% over the last 5 years versus peers at negative deviation of 6%. So we have a good track record when it comes to our forecasting.
That was the last slide of my part of the presentation, and I will now hand over to Ivan.
Thank you, Kristian. Much appreciated. And it's time to conclude with some closing remarks before we wrap up with our Q&A session hosted by our IRO, Kim Dosvig. And to begin with, and I said earlier this morning, the first quarter was characterized by very high industry supply growth of 14% when adjusted for inventory drawdowns during the quarter, validated by an exceptionally good growth in the sea last year. We also think it's fair to say that this year is off to a good start as well in terms of seawater growth, although we haven't reached the high growth season yet. And an industry supply growth of 14% is, of course, much more than any market can handle in the short term without it showing up in prices. And this also goes for the salmon market. So this has taken its toll on prices this winter and spring, along with tariffs and turmoil in the Middle East.
But on a positive note, industry supply growth has now finally normalized after an unprecedented year, and we'll be hovering around 0% for the remainder of this year and 1% next year according to the research agency, Kontali. And this should, under normal circumstances, pave the way for a tighter market balance going forward than what we have seen lately. Otherwise, for our part, things have been going well in the sea this winter and spring, except for the issues in Southern Norway, of course, which are now behind us. And to this, it can be added that our biological metrics are either better or on par with last year, which was also a good year for us. So a good start to the year for Mowi Farming in other words.
Things are also going well on land. So we are staying the course and sticking to our plans. And following on from this, we maintained our farming volume growth -- or farming volume guidance for this year of 605,000 tonnes earlier this morning, which is equivalent to a growth of as high as 8.3% year-over-year, mainly driven by, as I said, the acquisition of Nova Sea last year. And good biological performance also helps with cost. So we have guided stable cost in the second quarter, quarter-over-quarter before declining further in the second half of the year, partly aided by more harvest volumes and consequently, more dilution of fixed cost.
I think that was pretty much everything we wanted to cover this morning. But before we move on to the Q&A session, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my 11,700 colleagues in 26 countries across the world for making this massive operation run as well as it does. It's truly impressive and, of course, much, much appreciated.
So with that, Kim and Kristian, I think we are ready for the Q&A session. So if Kristian can please join me on the stage and help me out with some of the questions, and then you, Kim, can administer the mic and orchestrate the questions from the audience and the web.
Sounds good. So we will start with the first question this time around from the web from Andres Castanos-Mollor from Berenberg. He's got a question on dividends. If you can comment on the high dividend payout ratio, higher than previous quarters, please?
Yes. So the quarterly dividend is always a trade-off between many things, but to keep it short, I think we shall interpret it as our Board having faith in the future prospects of Mowi. We have gone from being a 400,000 tonnes farmer to now being a 600,000 tonnes farmer in just a few years. And earlier this morning, Kristian showed us that we are competitive on cost, and we also expect limited industry supply growth going forward. So that's the backdrop of that decision.
And then a follow-up question on volumes. If you can comment on the reasoning for the volume beat versus your own guidance for Q1?
Well, as we said, things are going well in the sea. We always like to be conservative in Mowi. So Kristian showed us our track record on delivering on volume guidance, and it doesn't happen by itself. It also illustrates our methodology. So it was a good first quarter. We had algae issues in the South and algae hit. But beyond that, I think this is the best first quarter for Mowi, at least in my time.
2. Question Answer
Christian Nordby, Arctic Securities. Jet fuel prices and diesel prices are much higher now. How does this impact the standard reference price in Oslo due to higher prices on transportation?
It's still early days, really. So I think we just have to wait and see how this plays out. So we have been in this so-called crisis for a few weeks. So I don't think we have more knowledge or insight in this than what you have. So nothing so far that has really changed our either plans or numbers, I have to say.
But you haven't seen substantially higher transport costs yet?
Of course, transport cost is up. But at the end of the day, that's not the cost driver in this. So we see inflationary pressure, we see that inflation creeps upwards in general, but again, nothing that will impact our numbers and plans for this year, at least so far. But this can change. And it's still early days. That's my point. So we are a little bit in limbo in terms of seeing how or where this ends.
Martin Kaland, ABG Sundal Collier.
It's perhaps a bit detailed, but on the feed price chart that you show and the increasing feed price, is that last data point Q1 or Q2? Because you say that you expect stable feed prices in second half versus first half. So did it continue to increase in Q2 from what you show there? Or is that Q2?
Yes. The last data point is Q1, but the message from us is that we are covered when it comes to marine ingredients including Q3. And then it's too early to say how the development will be from there. And we also have measures that we are working with. We have the Skretting partnership. And this ongoing fishery in Peru. It's too early to say how that will turn out and what kind of effects this will in the end get. But we are good until Q3.
Perhaps I can give a little bit more flavor on that. So to share something internal. So we acquired Nova Sea last year. And so far, we have sourced Nova Sea externally because of feed contracts, but also because we haven't had the capacity internally, right? And in the first quarter, our feed price in Region North, Mowi Region North, old Region North, was lower than in Nova Sea. So I think we have something going on here. We are on the right track. So I think when we look inside Mowi, things are going really, really well, right? And then we look outside and things are not that great. And then the combination of net of this, I think we just, again, have to wait and see. We don't know more than what you do.
And just a quick one on Torghatten Aqua. Is that yet to be included in your volume guidance? Or is it now included?
Well, it's still early days. So this we have to revert to later if it's merited. So we don't change our guidance in May. That's too early. So the growth season is in the autumn. And 4,500 tonnes on 605,000 tonnes, not to be arrogant, but it's not much.
Okay. We have another question from the web. If you can comment on the supply outlook for the rest of the year, and why we should have confidence in the low growth provided the high growth in Q1 of this year and also the high growth last year, please?
Yes. If you go back 1 year to April '25, then you saw 12% higher global biomass in sea. If you look at the numbers this year, it's stable. If you look at the harvest-ready generations, they are actually down in Norway, in Chile, and globally. So we believe there is a big difference when looking at the biomass numbers, and we are driven by numbers. And that's what we use to make our assumptions. And the data at least tells us that this volume growth will come a lot down ahead. So that's why we have given these numbers.
Good. So no more questions from the web.
No more questions from the audience. Okay. Then it only remains for me to thank everyone for the attention. We hope to see you all back in August, if not before. And in the meantime, take care and have a great day ahead. Thank you.
Mowi — Q1 2026 Earnings Call
Mowi — Q1 2026 Earnings Call
Strong Q1 volumes and lower production costs offset weak prices; guidance unchanged, dividend raised to NOK 2.30, watch feed and price risks.
📊 Quarter at a Glance
- Revenue: EUR 1.54bn (seasonal record driven by highest-ever Q1 harvest)
- Operational profit: EUR 221m (second-best Q1 on record)
- Volumes: 136,000 tonnes (+26% YoY; seasonally high harvests)
- Farming cost: EUR 5.46/kg (blended across 7 countries, -7.3% YoY)
- EPS: Underlying earnings per share EUR 0.27
🎯 What Management Says
- Volume strategy: 2026 guidance maintained at 605,000 t and 2029 organic target ≥650,000 t via increased smolt/post-smolt and unused license utilisation
- Cost focus: Continued push on cost leadership and productivity; Skretting partnership targets ~EUR 55m annual savings and H2 cost declines expected
- Capital allocation: Board approved quarterly dividend NOK 2.30; bolt-on Torghatten Aqua (4,500 t) acquired; net interest-bearing debt ~EUR 2.7bn target kept
🔭 Outlook & Guidance
- 2026 guide: Farming volume guidance unchanged at 605,000 t; company has track record of conservative forecasting
- Cost outlook: Realized blended farming cost expected stable in Q2 then decline in H2 as volumes dilute fixed costs
- Market view: Research house Kontali expects industry supply ~0% for rest of 2026 and ~1% in 2027, which could tighten the market; watch tariffs, geopolitical turmoil and feed input supply
❓ Analyst Q&A
- Dividend rationale: Board framed higher payout as confidence in growth and Mowi's cost competitiveness despite near-term price pressure
- Volume beat: Better-at-sea biology and conservative guidance practice; Nova Sea acquisition contributed to higher Q1 harvests
- Feed risk: Management says marine ingredient coverage into Q3, Skretting partnership helps, but Peruvian anchovy fishery remains an uncertainty for oil supply and prices
⚡ Bottom Line
- Bottom line: Mowi delivered excellent Q1 volumes and meaningful cost reduction that cushioned a weak-price environment; maintaining guidance and a healthy dividend signals confidence, but near-term share-price upside depends on feed-cost developments and whether industry supply really eases as forecast.
Mowi — Q4 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
So after this energetic start to the day, good morning, everyone, both in the room and online. And thank you to -- thank you that you are joining us this morning at our first quarterly presentation here at Salmon, our new Exhibition Center and showroom at Aker Brygge in the heart of Oslo. The Salmon is actually Norway's most visited exhibition center for farming of Atlantic salmon for natural reasons and came in with the Nova Sea acquisition. The Salmon is also Oslo's best fish restaurant according to TripAdvisor, so then it must be true. Everyday, Joe is always right about food and food experience. So if you have happened to be in Oslo, and you're looking for something good and healthy to eat, you now know where to go. And here we also find Mowi's only Mowi cooler in Norway with an assorted selection of our fantastic products. So for those of you who are physically present in the audience this morning, if you haven't already, please take a look on the way out after the presentation. I think it will be worth your while.
That was this morning's marketing. My name is Ivan Vindheim. I'm the CEO of Mowi. And together with our CFO, Kristian Ellingsen, I will take you through the numbers and the fundamentals this morning, and to the best of my and our ability, add a few appropriate comments to them. And after presentation, our IRO, Kim Dosvig, will routinely host a Q&A session. For those of you who are following the presentation online, can submit your questions or comments in advance or as we go along by e-mail. Please refer to websites at mowi.com for necessary details.
Disclaimer is both long and extensive. So I think, we leave it for self-study, as we usually do. So with that out of the way, I think we're ready for the highlights of the quarter.
And to begin with, and on a general note, after a year of soft prices, following unprecedented industry supply growth last year of 12%, prices increased as expected towards the end of the year after a rather slow start to the quarter, I think, is fair to say. And for our parts, that translated into an operational profit of EUR 213 million in the quarter on quarterly record high operating revenues of EUR 1.59 billion, thanks, first and foremost, to seasonally record high harvest volumes of 152,000 tonnes. The latter is slightly above our guidance.
Otherwise, our realized weighted production costs for our 7 production countries of EUR 5.36 per kilo in the quarter was good, I would say, and slightly lower than the third quarter, and down by 5.8% year-over-year, or in absolute terms, down by EUR 47 million in the quarter and EUR 176 million for the year as a whole or NOK 2.1 billion, which are considerable amounts.
And further on that note, our standing biomass cost was further down in the quarter and is now at its lowest since 2022, which is a good starting point for our P&L farming cost in 2026. So I think it's fair to say that we expect further cost reductions in the coming year, although the first half of the year will be higher than the second half as always due to our harvest profile, which is following the sea temperatures and the growing conditions in the sea, and consequently impacts our dilution of fixed costs. And this also applies to the first quarter when compared to the fourth quarter.
A cost position, which was further strengthened, I would say, by our recently announced strategic feed partnership with Skretting/Nutreco, one of the world's absolute leading aquaculture feed producers, if not the leading and which in short means that Mowi will produce its feed on Skretting formula going forward in addition to capitalizing on Skretting's purchasing power. So this, I think we have ensured the best feed for Mowi farming, now also at the lowest possible cost, which is the best of the 2 worlds.
And in total, we expect to save at least EUR 55 million annually in Mowi Farming, whilst also retaining our earnings in a highly profitable feed business, which is an important element in this because we expect the feed market to tighten in the years to come after a decade of overcapacity. And overcapacity, in all fairness create ourselves, and we built our 2 feed mills back in the 2010s, and from which our farming peers have benefited greatly, I think, it's also fair to say, but -- which has now worked itself out.
So the table has, in many ways, turned because by piggybacking Skretting, we're offsetting the weaknesses that come with being a small feed producer like ourselves, with limited resources, including R&D, and perhaps the most important input factor in salmon farming, whilst also keeping the advantage of being vertically integrated. So firstly, I'm convinced this will make us a better farmer. I'm also convinced that this is the solution that maximizes our cash flow given our opportunity space. So this is good stuff for us.
Carrying on, Consumer Products and Feed, both delivered 2 reasonably good quarters, I would say, at least all things considered, if we get back to the details later. And finally, as the last bullet point on this slide reads, our Board of Directors has decided to distribute a quarterly dividend of NOK 1.50 per share after the fourth quarter.
I think that does it for the highlights of the quarter. Then we can move on to our farming volume guidance. And if we begin with taking stock of the year, we are just left behind. 2025 was another record-breaking year for us in terms of harvest volumes with 559,000 tonnes after several upward adjustments of our guidance during the year. And this is equivalent to a growth of as high as 11.4% year-over-year.
As for 2026, we uphold our farming volume guidance of 605,000 tonnes, now with Nova Sea on board, and that translates to a further 8.3% growth year-over-year, which means that Mowi most certainly will outperform the rest of the industry on farming volume growth in the coming year once again.
And finally, as you can see from the chart here, and as the last bullet point here says, we reaffirm our organic farming volume targets in 2029 of at least 650,000 tonnes.
And the latter, we will achieve through increased smolt stocking and by means of post-smolt among other things, because we have still unutilized license capacity in Mowi in several of the countries where we operate. And post-smolt, we can increase the productivity on licenses already in operation, which are to be set into operation.
So Mowi's idiosyncratic farming volume growth continues unabated after the rather quiet 2010s and is surpassing that of the wider industry and our listed peers by a large margin, cementing our #1 position in the market for the Atlantic salmon.
Then from the overall farming volume picture to key financial metrics for the quarter and the year, there are a lot of numbers on this slide. So I think we'll have to focus on the most important ones now and leave the rest for later at Kristian's session. And turnover and profit in the quarter, we have just been through. So I think we can skip them here.
But for year, however, turnover was EUR 5.73 billion or NOK 67 billion, which is the highest so far, but only slightly higher than 2024, as you can see from the table here due to the already addressed soft prices because our volumes were significantly up last year.
And soft prices also impacted full year. Operational EBITDA of EUR 949 million or NOK 11.1 billion and full year operational profit of EUR 727 million or NOK 8.5 billion.
Furthermore, net interest-bearing debt stood at EUR 2.65 billion at the end of the year. Now with Nova Sea fully consolidated and paid for. And by extension, we have increased our long-term debt target accordingly to EUR 2.70 billion, supported by a strong balance sheet and an equity ratio of 45% in addition to improved debt service capacity as a result of significantly higher volumes in all divisions, which are in the end of the day, the mainstay of our business model and the platform of our earnings.
Speaking of earnings, underlying earnings per share was EUR 0.26 in the quarter and EUR 0.92 for the year, whilst annualized return on capital employed was 15.5% in the quarter and 13.3% for the year, which I would say is decent in 2025, characterized by low prices, and weak results for the industry. So when 2025 is fully settled and accounted for, I feel quite confident that Mowi once again will stand out as one of the absolute most profitable farmers in the industry, which is an important element in this.
Then further on prices. I think these charts illustrate the whole value because prices were off to a good start last year actually before they began to fall, following unprecedented industry supply growth as a result of very favorable growing conditions across the board, especially in the first half of the year. And the introduction of so-called liberation day tariffs did not exactly help the situation either.
So then prices remained low until we saw, as expected, an increase towards the end of the year. And after a rather brisk start to the new year in terms of supply as a result or as a final contribution from last year's exceptional growth, industry supply growth has now finally normalized, and is hovering around 0%, which stands in stark contrast to the 12% we saw last year, and which bodes well for the market balance for the remainder of this year.
And yes, I would like to add to that because we believe in our tight market balance going forward in the coming years because in our view, there is no way the industry can manage to replicate previous decades, represents annual supply growth in the coming years with current regulatory limitations and technological constraints, 1% to 2% will be more than hard enough in our view.
And last year, demand was 5% according to our numbers, which is a number of most groceries and proteins and meals. So with these numbers, demand should far outstrip the supply going forward. So this will be interesting to follow.
Then our own price performance in the quarter, which I would say was good as it was 7% above the reference price, which is the price we measure ourselves against, positively impacted by contract share 24% in the quarter and contract prices above the prevailing spot price, in addition to good quality of our fish. But it's negatively impacted this time around by timing effects and size mix.
So with that, I think we are ready to start drilling down into the different business entities, and we begin, as usual, with Mowi Norway, our largest and most important entity by far and the locomotive of our business model.
And if you take the numbers first, operational profit was EUR 199 million for our Norwegian operation in the quarter, whilst the margin was EUR 2.02 per kilo and harvest volumes 98,000 tonnes, in a rather troublesome quarter biologically for 2 southernmost regions, Region West and Region South, I think it's fair to say due to issues with gills and plankton. But having said that, our farming P&L cost is still down in the quarter year-over-year, as we can see from the chart here. And the outstanding biomass cost in Norway was further down in the quarter and is now at its lowest since 2022 at the end of the year, which is a good starting point for our P&L farming costs in Norway in 2026.
Whilst our 2 southernmost regions struggled somewhat in the fourth quarter, it was once again margin slam dunk by Region North with an impressive margin of EUR 2.61 per kilo on strong biology followed by Region Mid and a margin of EUR 2.26 per kilo. So hats off for that.
But also our overall margin for Mowi Norway in the quarter of EUR 2.02 per kilo, I would say, is reasonably good, all things considered. Then the harvest volumes in Mowi Norway. Last year was another record-breaking year for us in Norway with 332,000 tonnes harvest volumes, which is equivalent to a growth of as high as 9.4% year-over-year.
And for 2026, we maintain our volume guidance of 380,000 tonnes, now with Nova Sea on board, and that translates to a further 14.5% growth year-over-year. But our short-term goal on these assets is still 400,000 tonnes, which we hope to reach in the not-too-distant future, and which would be our next milestone in Mowi Norway, at least in terms of harvest volumes.
Then our sales contract portfolio for Mowi Norway, and this one is important. Contract share in the fourth quarter was 23%, and was with that spot on our guidance, and these contracts contributed positively to our earnings in the quarter. As for 2026, since we believe in market recovery in 2026, we have chosen to be relatively low on contracts, at least so far with approximately 15,000 tonnes per quarter. So let's see how that plays out.
That was the last slide on Mowi Norway, and we can have a look at our 6 other farming countries, and we begin with Mowi Scotland. Autumn is always a challenging time of year in Scotland biologically due to high sea temperatures and generally demanding environmental conditions. And in the fourth quarter, we also harvested out some high-cost sites in Scotland. So in light of that, I would say an operating profit of EUR 17 million for Scottish operation in the quarter is a good result with a margin of EUR 1.39 per kilo on 12,000 tonnes harvest volumes.
And as we are talking about Scotland, it's also worth mentioning that last year was a milestone year for us in Scotland in terms of harvest volumes, as we crossed the 70,000 tonnes mark for the first time with our 72,000 tonnes. Now for this, our standing biomass was at a record high at the end of the year with cost back at 2022 levels, also in this region, which is a good starting point for new records in 2026.
Then overseas to Chile. Mowi Chile continues, unfortunately, to wrestle with soft prices following high supply also out of Chile due to very favorable growing conditions in Chile, as well last year in addition to some farmers having switched to Atlantic salmon from Coho, a Pacific salmon species after doing the reverse a few years back.
So just for that, I would say an operational profit of EUR 10 million for Chilean operation in the quarter is a good result on our 26,000 tonnes harvest volumes, thanks once again to the lowest cost in the group in the quarter.
Otherwise, our organic growth of our farming volumes in Chile continues unabatedly with 78,000 tonnes last year and 82,000 tonnes targeted for this year.
Then farming off to Canada. Mowi Canada also wrestled with soft prices in the fourth quarter and even more so as our cost level in Canada in general is higher than in Chile, which is best-in-class. But in the fourth quarter, also due to knock-on effects from the third quarter and biological issues at that time, particularly in the East. And this resulted in a loss of EUR 50 million in Canada in the quarter. But on the positive side, biology is now satisfactory in Canada, both in the East and in the West. And our costs or biomass cost is back at '22 levels, also in these regions, which should provide the basis for good earnings again in Canada, once prices recover, which brings us the two smallest farming entities Mowi Ireland and Mowi Faroes.
In Ireland, we harvested close to nothing in the quarter. So there's not much else to say really over and that biology is now satisfactory in Ireland after rather troublesome 2025 biologically.
In the Faroes, however, we harvested 3,500 tonnes in the quarter, ending a record year for Faroes operation with almost 15,000 tonnes harvest volumes and with a margin of EUR 1.68 per kilo in the quarter and operational profit of EUR 6 million, which I would say is a good result, considering that we have 100% spot price exposure in the Faroes. And as the last bullet point on this slide says, biology was once again strong in the Faroes in the quarter.
Then further out into the Atlantic Ocean and to Iceland and Icelandic Farming Operation, Arctic Fish. And to begin with, I have to say it's very encouraging to see that we are below EUR 6 again in production cost in Iceland, which gave rise to a small, but still a positive profit contribution from Iceland this time around. So hopefully, with more normal prices going forward, we can put the time of negative results in Iceland behind us.
Otherwise, we harvested almost 15,000 tonnes in Iceland last year, which is the highest so far. For this year, we aim to harvest 7,500 tonnes, which is an important element in this because lack of scale in Iceland costs us at least EUR 0.5 in production cost. So more scale would have brought our cost level in Iceland closer to that of the Faroes and the results we see there.
But more scale requires more investments and more investments require sensible framework conditions. So everything is connected to everything else also here. So I hope the Icelandic authorities know how to act on this. So this humble request at the end. I, think we can conclude Mowi Farming, and we want to Consumer Products or downstream business.
Higher prices for farming mean higher raw material costs for Consumer Products, and more normal prices mean that the time of windfall profits for downstream business is over for now. But we shouldn't be too sorry about that because better prices are never wrong for a farmer, not even an integrated one like ourselves, although the transition phase is always a bit troublesome downstream before the higher prices find their way to the shelf. But having said that, I would still say that an operational profit of EUR 46 million in the quarter is a good result, actually, our second best fourth quarter ever, ending another record-breaking year for our downstream business in terms of earnings with an operational profit of EUR 197 million last year or NOK 2.3 billion, an all-time high sold volumes of 265,000 tonnes product weight, the latter also demonstrating good demand for our products.
Then last one out this morning, Mowi Feed. The fourth quarter marks the end of another record-breaking year for our feed business as well with operational EBITDA of EUR 20 million in the quarter and EUR 67 million for the year, on 161,000 tonnes sold volumes in the quarter and 585,000 tonnes for the year. Faroes performed well last year, I think, is correct to say.
And with our strategic feed partnership with Skretting, one of the world's absolute leading aquaculture feed producers, if not the leading, I think we have the very best starting point to do even better going forward, because by piggybacking Skretting, I think we have ensured the best feed for Mowi Farming now also at the lowest possible cost. And as we said earlier this morning, in total, we expect to save at least EUR 55 million in Mowi Farming annually, whilst also retaining our earnings in our highly profitable feed business in our feed market, we expect will tighten in the years to come. So once again, personally, I'm convinced this will make us a better farmer. I'm also convinced that this is the solution that maximizes our cash flow given our opportunity space.
So with that, Kristian, the floor is all yours. So you can take us through the financial figures and the fundamentals. Thank you, so far.
Thank you very much, Ivan. Good morning, everyone, both who follow us online and those who are present here at The Salmon in Oslo for the first time.
As usual, we start with the overview of profit and loss, which shows record-higher revenue for the year on all-time high volumes. Q4 operational EBIT was EUR 213 million and EUR 727 million for the year. These figures are equivalent to a return as follows: underlying earnings per share of EUR 0.26 and EUR 0.92, respectively, for Q4 and for the full year.
Return on capital employed was 15.5% for the quarter and 13.3% for the year, both above the 12% requirement level, even in the year with market headwinds.
When it comes to the items between operational EBIT and financial EBIT, the biomass fair value adjustment was positive in the quarter on positive price movements. Income from associated companies includes a revaluation gain on Nova Sea related to the acquisition.
Net cash flow per share includes the cash payment for the Nova Sea shares and Nova Sea is fully consolidated now from Q4 onwards. Net financial items were as expected and relatively stable from Q4 '24.
We then move on to the balance sheet, which shows a strong financial position. Equity ratio is 45% or 47% measured on the covenant methodology.
Here is the cash flow statement. The full year '25 in cash flow items on working capital, tax, CapEx, interest paid were in total as guided, although with some internal differences between the individual items.
Closing NIBD was EUR 2.65 billion, the new NIBD target is EUR 2.7 billion following the Nova Sea acquisition and volume growth through the value chain. Credit metrics based on the new target are consistent with a solid investment-grade rating.
When it comes to cash flow guiding for 2026, we estimate working capital tie-up prudently EUR 200 million on further growth in farming and the rest of the value chain. CapEx is estimated to EUR 400 million, with the increase from prior years is explained by completion of 2 large construction projects in Nova Sea related to processing and freshwater amounting to approximately EUR 60 million.
Interest payments are estimated to EUR 210 million and taxes to EUR 190 million.
We have a solid financing in place, and the change here from the last quarter is the EUR 382 million in 5-year green bonds, which we issued in the quarter, which mature in December 2030. We issued the bonds at EURIBOR plus 1.18%, so attractive terms.
Moving on to cost, starting with feed, which, of course, is a significant driver. The positive development in feed prices has led to lower cash cost and lower realized P&L costs. Feed prices have been trending down since 2023 and are down 25% from the peak. This will lead to a further P&L cost improvement in 2026. Into Q1, we see overall relatively stable raw material prices.
In 2025, we saw a decline in realized P&L costs. This was driven by lower feed prices, but also other cost components were improved. The realized P&L effect in 2025 was EUR 176 million. And we expect full cost to be further reduced in 2026, but due to the impact from volumes and scale effects, cost is always lower in the second half than the first half. So there will be a temporary increase in P&L cost in Q1 as usual.
We maintain a strong cost containment and cost leadership focus. As communicated in our CMD in '24, we have identified a cost reduction potential of EUR 300 million to EUR 400 million until 2029 with 2 main components. The main one is operational improvements, including post-smolt Mowi 4.0, efficiency, other initiatives. The other component is the cost savings programs, including the productivity program. And we maintain our good relative cost position with the #1 or the #2 position in the various countries we operate as illustrated in the graph below.
In 2025, we identified EUR 65 million in annualized cost savings related to the cost savings program, some with effect in '25, but also with some cash and P&L effect going forward.
Total -- sorry, total cost savings 2018 to '25 amount to EUR 392 million, of which EUR 251 million in farming. And there's a total of over 2,100 initiatives across different categories, including boats, treatments, nuts, health, procurement, automation, energy, travel and other items. And we have set a new target for 2026 of EUR 30 million in annualized savings.
In addition to bottom-up initiatives, we have identified clear goals for various spending categories based on analysis and comparisons. And this comes in addition to the EUR 55 million net savings related to our feed partnership with Skretting.
An important part of the cost saving program is the productivity program. Salary and personnel expenses represents the second largest cost item in Mowi amounting to EUR 759 million in 2025. This cost item is something we can influence through our efforts to work smarter, become more productive. And after that program was initiated in 2020, we have grown harvest volumes in Mowi from 436,000 tonnes to 605,000 tonnes, which is the guiding for this year. And in the same period, then FTEs are down from approximately 15,000 to down to 14,200 approximately. So this is an impressive productivity improvement in the period.
And we have set ourselves a new target for 2026, on reducing FTEs by another 250 through the productivity program. And this is being achieved through natural turnover, through retirement, reduced overtime, reduced contracted labor, and automation and rightsizing. And this slide shows the productivity effects for different parts of the business. So a good track record here for Mowi.
Then we move on to market fundamentals, starting with industry supply. In Q4, the year-on-year volume growth was 9% compared with 12% for the full year. And the increase in the fourth quarter was driven by Chile. The biomass composition in Chile indicates continued high supply in the short term, followed by a more moderate development. For the industry in Norway, the biomass composition year-end and the improved productivity experienced in 2025 for the industry. should limit the potential for significant volume growth during 2026. Demand was good in the quarter. Estimated demand growth according to our numbers, was 8% in Q4 and 5% overall for the full year of 2025. The improved demand due to lower shelf prices in retail is expected to continue in 2026.
In Europe, consumption was relatively stable and in line with the development in supply. Retail demand was good and also helped by additional Christmas demand.
In the U.S., consumption increased as much as 13% driven by the retail channel with the fresh pre-packed segment being the main contributor. And in Asia, we see that consumption was strong in all major markets, helped by market conditions, but also an ongoing structural shift in sales channels with more home consumption continuing to drive demand in Asia.
While prices in '25 have, of course, been impacted by the unprecedented supply growth, it's worth noting that prices improved somewhat in Q4 as a positive response to gradually decreased supply.
And while there is some short-term industry volume growth potential in the biomass composition, particularly in Chile, the figures indicate that there is a limited supply growth potential for 2026 overall. Our estimate is 1% industry supply growth for 2026, and we believe in modest growth, also in the coming years. But due to previous investments and measures, we estimate a higher growth for Mowi compared with the industry. The guidance of 605,000 tonnes represents 8.3% annual increase. And we also have a good track record of not only delivering on our volumes, but actually over-delivering, as shown here, based on the statistics for the last 5 years, with plus 2.2% for Mowi, which is very different from the average 5.9% miss for our peers.
So with that, I conclude my walk-through, and then we are ready for Ivan and some comments on concluding remarks.
Thank you for that, Kristian. Much appreciated. And it's time to conclude, as Kristian said, for some closing remarks before we wrap-up with our Q&A session hosted by our IRO, Kim Dosvig. And to begin with, I don't think it's very controversial to say that the fourth quarter closed out rather disappointing year in terms of prices following unprecedented industry supply growth last year of 12%. But disregarding that, I would say 2025 was another strong year for Mowi operationally with record high volumes by a large margin in all divisions to name a few. And speaking of margins, we also saw our farming margins once again at the top end of the industry scale in the regions where we operate, indicating a competitive cost position for Mowi.
And further on that note, we saw our farming P&L costs come down by a whopping EUR 176 million last year, or NOK 2.1 billion, and outstanding biomass cost was further down during the year and is now at its lowest since 2022, which is our good starting point to push our farming cost a tad further down in 2026.
Otherwise, we have maintained our farming volume guidance for this year this morning of 605,000 tonnes, and that's equivalent to a growth of as high as 8.3% year-over-year, which means that Mowi more certainly will outperform the rest of the industry on farming volume growth again.
And finally, our downstream business clocked once again up record high earnings last year, demonstrating the strength of our vertically integrated value chain, especially when the going gets tough like last year. So once again, a big thank you to all of my colleagues who made all of this happen. It's of course, much, much appreciated.
Then from one thing to another, the market balance is looking much better now with industry supply growth hovering around 0%, which stands in stark contrast to the 12% we saw last year. And if you look further ahead, as we said earlier this morning, there is, in our view, no way the industry can manage to replicate previous decades, 3% annual supply growth in the coming years with current regulatory limitations and technological constraints. 1% to 2% will be more than hard enough.
And demand was 5% last year according to our numbers. So these numbers demand should far outstrip supply in the coming years. So this will be interesting to follow. And last but not least, I have to say, we are very happy about having landed our strategic review of the Feed division because truth be told, this has been a headache for us for years, as we have seen that our feed has been more expensive than that of our peers, after first having a feed that did not perform.
And either is, of course, acceptable to the largest salmon farmer in the world. So by partnering up with Skretting/Nutreco, one of the world's absolute leading agriculture feed producers, if not the leading, I think we have ensured the best feed for Mowi Farming going forward now, also at the lowest possible costs. And as we said earlier this morning, we expect to save at least EUR 55 million annually in Mowi farming whilst also retaining our earnings in our highly profitable feed business. In our feed market, we expect will tighten in the years to come.
So once again, I'm convinced this will make us a better farmer. I'm also convinced that this is the solution that maximizes our cash flow given our opportunity space. So this is good stuff for us.
So with those closing remarks, Kim and Kristian, I think we are ready for the Q&A session. So if Kristian can please join on the stage, and then you, Kim, can administer the mic and orchestrate questions from the audience and the web. I don't know who wants to start, Kristian.
2. Question Answer
Christian Nordby, Artic Securities. With your new net debt target, I assume that you want to stay around that target, not necessarily only below, and you believe in a very tight market ahead, as you said. Should we believe that all excess cash flow will just be paid out? Or do you think you will find other ways to grow beyond what you guide on?
Over time, confirmative, but we will also, of course, continue to grow, but then the finance whatever it is separately.
[indiscernible] Carnegie. So in Chile, there's a new government and the industry seems to be quite positive in terms of deregulations could you maybe speak about that potential, both on the cost side and potentially more growth coming from Chile? And the second question just on the feed savings. When do you expect that to start hitting the P&L?
Two good questions. If we start with Chile. So now in Chile, I've been talking about growth as long as I have almost lived and not much has happened in the past few years. And our President is only elected for 4 years, and it takes 3 years from egg to plate in this industry. So let's see things take time in this industry. So I've heard the same, but I would also like to see it. There are some constraints in Chile. So our take is what you saw on our long-term supply/demand slide earlier this morning. The next 5 years, it's really, really hard to see that this industry in total can manage to deliver much growth. So let's see. We are not visors, but at least we have some data points we are following.
Feed, yes. So we have started. We have started. But you know, the circle, first, it goes to inventory and balance sheet, and then it ends up finally in the P&L. So in the P&L, I think you should think 2027 because of that. But in terms of cash, we expect to see that this will start to impact the cash flow already in March. And already in the second quarter, we expect to see considerable savings, but back to the P&L, that takes longer time.
Okay. Then we have a few questions from the web from Alexander Sloane in Barclays. He's got a question on supply. You point to 1% global supply growth in 2026, but 5% to 8% growth in Q1. What gives you confidence in this tightening? Could you have a year of another positive supply surprise?
Yes. Of course, we are dealing with biology here. So there is always a general disclaimer. That being said, our views on this matter is based on the biomass composition, and also recent developments and temperatures, et cetera. If you look at the biomass composition, we see that we are down on a number of individuals, both in Norway and also for the industry in general. We see that average rates are somewhat up, giving some short potential for volume growth in the near term. Reference to the question, we have seen that also now in Q1, but we believe that for the year as a whole, I think 1% is a more reasonable number.
Okay. And then his second question is on demand, 5% global demand growth in 2025. Can this be sustained at the same level in 2026? And which regions are better or worse?
We believe in good demand also going forward. If you look at the Q4 demand growth estimate, that was 8%. So i.e., higher than the overall a 5% figure for '25. It's also been 8% on average per year, the previous decade, as Ivan showed on the slide. So we believe in continued good demand growth. And I believe that there's a good potential also going forward. We see especially good growth in Asia, also good demand growth in the U.S. We see in the U.S., particularly good developments in the prepacked segment with 24% volume growth now in '25 on our numbers. So the potential is definitely there also going forward.
Okay. Then another question from the web from Andres in Berenberg. He's got a question on CapEx. Could you please put the EUR 400 million target for this year in a long-term context? Is this the level of investments driven by specific one-off projects or in line with a reasonable long-term trend?
I think you should see 2026 as one-off and allocated to a transition effect related to the acquisition of the Nova Sea. So I think last year's level, adjusted for size is much better estimate for the future.
Henrik Knutsen, Pareto Securities. Could you elaborate on your biomass status in Norway with or without Nova Sea?
Can you please elaborate a little bit more on the question? So what are you?
You're saying biomass is up 8.7% year-over-year, which is all regions, but Norway specifically. And yes, I guess, you're going to say that Norway is higher. Yes, but is that because you didn't include Nova Sea last year? So the question is, if you could sort of pro forma adjust your Norwegian biomass.
Okay. A complicated question. I think we take it after this session.
Let's do that.
Wilhelm, Danske Bank. You mentioned sort of cost of living still impacting the American demand. I'm just wondering with new contracts going into 2026, do you see any impact of tariffs, even though you have most from the U.S. with the lower tariffs?
Yes, absolutely. So there is no free lunch. So tariffs impact demand, but that effect I've already seen. And back to the 5% figure, Kristian just explained, that 5% figure included tariffs. But definitely, tariffs play a role here, they do. But still with 5% and the supply growth we expect for this year and going forward, this should be a tight market balance.
Okay. No more questions from the web nor the audience here.
Okay. Then it only remains for me to thank everyone for the attention. We hope to see you back already in May, if not before, here at The Salmon. So please feel free to take a trip to The Salmon and try out some of our delicacies. I think it will be worth the trip. So with that in mind, folks, take care and have a great day ahead. Thank you.
Mowi — Q4 2025 Earnings Call
Mowi — Q3 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, everyone, both in the room and online. Thank you very much for joining us this morning in connection with the release and the presentation of Mowi's third quarter results of 2025.
My name is Ivan Vindheim, and I'm the CEO of Mowi. And together with our CFO Kristian Ellingsen, I will take you through the numbers and the fundamentals this morning and to the best of my and our ability, add a few appropriate comments to them. And after presentation, our analyst, Ole Petter Urheim, will host Q&A session. Those of you who are following the presentation online, can submit your questions or comments in advance or as we go along by e-mail. Please refer to websites at mowi.com for necessary details.
Disclaimer is both long and extensive. So I think we leave it for a self-study. So with that out of the way, I think we are ready for the highlights of the quarter.
And to begin with, and on a general note, I think it's fair to say that the third quarter was like previous quarters this year, characterized by soft prices following well-supplied markets. And in the third quarter, with prices even below industry cost.
For our part, this translated into EUR 1.39 billion in operating revenues and an operational profit of EUR 112 million on record high harvest volumes of 166,000 tonnes. The latter slightly above our guidance.
Otherwise, the third quarter is typically the more challenging time of year biologically, and this third quarter was no exception to the rule. But despite this, our weighted realized production cost of EUR 5.42 per kilo for 7 farming countries was stable quarter-over-quarter and down by 5% year-over-year. So all else being equal, our P&L cost in the third quarter is down by EUR 50 million year-over-year and EUR 126 million year-to-date, which are both considerable amounts.
And furthermore, our standing biomass cost continues to develop well on lower feed prices, which bodes well for our P&L cost next year. But in the third quarter, however, we expect a stable realized production cost quarter-over-quarter.
Otherwise, our acquisition of Nova Sea was approved and closed in October. So now we are in full swing with the integration chasing EUR 34 million in synergies among other things. And for this sake, this entity will be fully consolidated as from the fourth quarter.
Carrying on 2 other divisions, Consumer and Feed. They delivered another strong quarter. I think it's fair to say with record-high earnings to mention some. And in terms of our strategic review of the Feed division, it's progressing, and we expect to reach a conclusion before year-end.
And finally, as the last bullet point reads, our Board of Directors has decided to distribute a quarterly dividend of NOK 1.50 per share after the third quarter.
I think that does it for the highlights of the quarter. So then we move on to our Farming volume guidance. As we can see from the chart here, we have update since last time we reported, once again, now from 545,000 tonnes to 554,000 tonnes, primarily due to the consolidation of Nova Sea as from that fourth quarter. And it's equivalent to a growth of as high as 10.5% year-over-year.
And next year, we expect to have 605,000 tonnes in Mowi, and that translates to a further 9.2% growth year-over-year. And finally, we reaffirm our 2029 organic farming volume target of at least 650,000 tonnes.
And this, will achieve through, among other things, increased smolt stocking and by means of postsmolt because we are still unutilized license capacity in Mowi in several other countries where we operate. And with postsmolt, we can increase the productivity on licenses already in operation, which are to be set into operation.
And further on that note, this is a picture of Kilvik, which will be a 6,000 tonnes state-of-the-art postsmolt RAS facility on the coast of Helgeland when finished and which came in with a Nova Sea acquisition.
And in October, we were ordered 4 new closed containment systems for postsmolt production in Region West in the wake of the new environmental licensing scheme in Norway and the return of previously revoked licenses under the traffic light system. So altogether, this increases our postsmolt volumes in Norway from 30 million postsmolt to 40 million postsmolt and to 50 million postsmolt on group level in the 500 grams to 1.2 kilograms range.
So Mowi's Farming volume growth continues unabated after the rather quiet 2010s and is now surpassing that of the wider industry by a large margin, cementing our #1 position in the market for the Atlantic salmon.
Then from the grand scheme of things to more specifically about the third quarter. And first here, our key financial figures. There are a lot of numbers on this slide. So I think you will have to focus on the most important ones now and leave the rest for later in Kristian's session.
And as we have just been through turnover profit, I think we skip them here and go straight to cash and net interest-bearing debt, which stood at EUR 1.76 billion at the end of the quarter.
And when Nova Sea fully consolidated and paid for, it would have been EUR 2.51 billion with a corresponding equity ratio of 46%. But the latter is indicating a sustainable debt level and a solid balance sheet also post-closing. But having said that, we will revert to our new and exact debt target after the fourth quarter when the budget for next year has been set.
Furthermore, underlying earnings per share was EUR 0.13 in the quarter whilst annualized return on capital employed was 7.5%, both affected by the soft prices in the quarter. And the same goes for our region margins for the value chain, which we will get back to in detail shortly when we go through the different business entities.
But first, somewhat more about the prices in the quarter, which we have characterized as soft a few times already following well-supplied markets in the third quarter like previous quarters this year and in the third quarter, with prices even below industry costs.
But on a positive note, however, industry supply growth has now normalized after unprecedented growth earlier this year and is now hovering around 0%, which under normal circumstances should pave the way for better prices going forward.
Then our own price performance in the quarter, which I would say was strong in relative terms as it was 15% above the reference price, which is the standard we like to hold ourselves to internally and against which we measure ourselves, as you can hear.
Positively, impacted by contract share 21% in the quarter and contract prices above the prevailing spot price in addition to reasonably good harvest weights and the high quality of our fish.
So with that, I think we can start to drill down into the different business entities. And we begin as usual with Mowi Norway, our largest and most important entity by far and locomotive our business model.
And if you take the numbers first, operational profit was EUR 111 million from Mowi Norway in the quarter whilst margin was EUR 1.5 per kilo and harvest volumes 99,500 tonnes. In a rather challenging quarter for Mowi Norway, I think it's fair to say, given the season but still a decent quarter with costs down year-over-year, as you can see from the chart here on quite neutral harvest volumes, but unfortunately, more than outweighed by lower prices year-over-year, which is where the shoe pinches this year.
And these comments also apply to the different regions in Mowi Norway in the quarter and to some more than others with our margin slam dunk by Region North this time around on good biology and on very low cost whilst we struggled somewhat more in the other regions, but still a decent quarter for Mowi Norway, I would say, all in all given the prevailing prices.
Then the volume guidance for Mowi Norway, which we have upped since last time we reported from 320,000 tonnes to 329,000 tonnes due to primarily the consolidation of Nova Sea as from the fourth quarter and is equivalent to a growth of 8.4% year-over-year.
And next year, we expect to harvest 380,000 tonnes in Mowi Norway, and that translates to a further growth of 15.5% year-over-year. But the short-term goal on these assets is still 400,000 tonnes, which we hope to reach in the not-too-distant future and which would be the next milestone in Mowi in Norway.
Then the last slide on Norway, our sales contract portfolio. Contract share was 19% for Mowi Norway in the quarter and was with that spot on our guidance. And these contracts contributed positively to our earnings, as I said earlier this morning.
As for the fourth quarter, we expect our contract share in Norway to be about 23%, relatively stable contract prices quarter-over-quarter. And this contract share is including Nova Sea.
And finally, as to next year, as we are negotiating new contracts as we speak, we cannot say much about that today other than to refer to the fourth quarter release. In the meantime, we must keep our cards close to our chest for natural reasons.
That concludes Mowi Norway. So then we can have a look at our 6 other farming countries and we start with Mowi Scotland. Mowi Scotland was a margin winner in the third quarter, only beaten by Region North in Norway, thanks partly to the highest contract share in the group in the quarter. And this resulted in a margin of EUR 1.54 per kilo for 17,000 tonnes harvest volumes in Scotland, which in turn translated into an operational profit of EUR 27 million, which is a strong result, I would say, on reasonably good biology, I guess, it could add to that.
Otherwise, this is a picture of our new broodstock facility at Ardessie, which will supply us with high-quality eggs in Mowi Scotland going forward. As you all know, it all starts with high-quality eggs in this industry as genetics trumps most things for all living beings and even more so for the salmon as the environment in the sea is much tougher than on land.
And speaking of the sea, then overseas to Chile. Mowi Chile posted an operational profit of EUR 12 million in the third quarter by means of a margin of EUR 0.55 per kilo on 22,000 tonnes harvest volumes, which is a decent result, I would say, given the prevailing prices, thanks once again to the lowest cost in the group in the quarter. And finally, biology was also once again strong in Chile in the third quarter.
That was unfortunately not the case in Canada in the quarter. We suffered a loss of EUR 31 million due to very challenging biology, particularly in the East, following a prolonged period with very high sea temperatures, which led to several low DO incidents and significant issues with sea lice with all that entails. But on a positive side, biology has now recovered. So hopefully, we have put this behind us, knock on wood, which brings us to our 2 smallest farming entities, Mowi Ireland and Mowi Faroes.
And if you take Mowi Ireland first. Our Irish operation has also been through a few challenging months biologically this summer and autumn. So in light of that, I would say, an operating profit of EUR 1 million in Ireland in the quarter is respectable.
The same, I would say, about Mowi Faroes margin of EUR 0.55 in the quarter, considering that we have 100% spot price exposure in the Faroes. It is translated into an operating profit of EUR 1 million for Mowi Faroes in the third quarter on almost 2,500 tonnes harvest volumes. Biological metrics was once again strong in the Faroes in the quarter.
Then further out into the Atlantic Ocean and to Iceland and our Atlantic farming operation, Arctic Fish. Arctic Fish wrestled both low prices and high cost in the quarter, and this resulted in a loss of EUR 6 million in Iceland in the third quarter. But biology continues to develop reasonably well. And combined with our cost measures in Iceland, we still believe we will get the cost level down to a sustainable level.
I think that concludes Mowi Farming. So then we can move on to Consumer Products, our downstream business. Low prices for farming means low raw material costs for Consumer Products and therefore, higher profit. And this relationship proved to be true also in the third quarter as we posted a quarterly record high operating EBIT of EUR 66 million, which is up by more than 50% year-over-year on sold volumes at record high levels, where the latter is also demonstrating a strong demand for our products.
Then last one out this morning, Mowi Feed. The third quarter is high season for our feed operation as it follows the sea temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere and the growth in sea for Mowi Farming, and this translated into a quarterly record high operational EBITDA of EUR 26 million in the quarter. Otherwise, our Feed continues to perform well. And in terms of our strategic review of this division, as we said earlier this morning, is progressing, and we expect to reach a conclusion before year-end. But beyond that, we do not have any further comments on this, this morning. So please bear that in mind when we come to the Q&A session.
So then, Kristian, the floor is all yours. You can take us through the financial figures and the fundamentals. Thank you so far.
Thank you very much, Ivan. Good morning, everyone. I hope you are doing well. As usual, we start with the overview of profit and loss, which shows record high year-to-date volumes and revenues while quarterly revenue was stable from Q2.
Operational EBIT was down from Q3 '24 on lower spot prices, partly offset by lower costs and higher volumes. And with regards to the items between operational EBIT and financial EBIT, this was mainly related to the net fair value adjustment of biomass, which was positive this time around on higher salmon prices, including forward prices versus the end of the second quarter.
Income from associated companies was mainly related to Nova Sea with an operational profit of EUR 0.87 per kilo in the quarter, and Nova Sea will be consolidated into the group figures from Q4.
Net financial items were relatively stable as lower interest cost was offset by other movements.
Earnings translated into an underlying earnings per share of EUR 0.13 while the cash flow per share was good at EUR 0.39.
Return on capital employed year-to-date was 12.6%, slightly above the minimum target level, and this reflects a year with higher supply and pressure on prices.
We then move on to the financial position, the balance sheet, which was relatively stable from Q3 '24 as we see here in the table. Mowi has a strong financial position. And including the effects of the acquisition of Nova Sea, equity ratio would be 46% or 49% measured on the covenant methodology.
There was a good cash generation in the quarter, and net interest-bearing debt ended at EUR 1.76 billion. Working capital release contributed positively. This includes the effect of lower biomass costs, which was down 5% from last year and 4% sequentially from Q2.
On taxes and CapEx, the comparison figures in Q3 '24 were impacted by some special effects such as tax refunds in Canada and traffic light auction in Norway on CapEx. So adjusted for these effects, tax and CapEx were in practice quite stable. Interest payments are down as reflected here.
Our long-term net interest-bearing debt target will be updated after Q4 when the budget for '26 has been set.
Yes. So our cost -- sorry, our cash flow guidance for 2025 has been updated related to the inclusion of effects for Nova Sea in Q4. And in brackets, we have listed the previously indicated figures.
So working capital tie-up is estimated to EUR 75 million. On CapEx, we expect EUR 355 million. Nova Sea has ongoing construction projects related to fresh water expansion and the new processing facility. And the estimate on interest payments has been increased to EUR 95 million while the updated tax estimate is now EUR 170 million.
This overview on our financing is unchanged from the previous quarter. So we then leave this for self-study. We then give some words here on the cost development, which definitely goes in the right direction as also shown here on the graph.
As guided, the realized P&L costs in Q3 of EUR 5.42 per kilo was stable from EUR 5.39 in Q2. And the realized cost is also expected to be stable on this EUR 5.4 level in Q4 based on current information.
The cost reduction in Q3 '24 was EUR 50 million, and the year-to-date effect is EUR 126 million. The cost reductions are driven by lower feed prices with feed prices being down 13% versus Q3 last year, but our various cost measures, operational and improvements have also helped.
So the cash cost has come down, and the cost at stock per kilo standing biomass is down 5%, as mentioned from last year. And we expect realized P&L cost in 2026 to be reduced versus 2025. And it's, of course, very positive that our different cost measures are now visible in our numbers. And since 2020, the cost focus in Mowi has been significantly increased.
Cost has been emphasized as one of our strategic pillars. And operational improvements throughout the value chain and the cost saving program in recent years with almost 2,000 different initiatives have given results. And we have a very good starting point for our cost work as we are now the #1 or #2 performer in the various regions. And the 3-year average shows that we are all -- we are also #1 in Norway as shown here on the growth.
But we are not finished here. We have identified a potential for EUR 300 million to EUR 400 million savings in the next 5 years through postsmolt Mowi 4.0, yield, automation and of course, the cost saving and productivity programs.
And that is a nice segue into the next slide, which shows productivity and FTEs. Salary and personnel costs, that's the second largest cost item after Feed. And since we initiated this productivity program back in 2020, we have reduced close to 3,500 FTEs as shown here on the graph on a like-for-like basis. And if you also look at nominal FTEs, they are down 7% in a time with a significant volume increase for Mowi. So productivity has really improved significantly.
We make sure that all of our measures do not negatively impact operations or HSE, and this has been achieved through automation, rightsizing, natural turnover, less overtime, less contracted labor, retirement, et cetera.
This slide here shows some of our achievement on productivity, including preliminary 2026 figures. And in Mowi Farming, we see that we have a 38% increase on tonnes per employee. In Norway, we started on a higher productivity level, but productivity is still up 20%. And in downstream, we have a 30% productivity improvement. And this has been achieved through a combination of automation, digitalization, general focus on cost, focus on FTEs, looking through the value chain, challenging the business units, the departments. So a solid work.
We then move on to market fundamentals starting with supply. Supply growth was, as already mentioned, record high also in the third quarter with more volumes than Q3 '24, driven by Norway. The biological improvements earlier in '25 combined with seasonal challenges in Q3 led to this growth, which came after 3 years with 0 growth for the industry. We estimate 5% demand growth in the quarter with a 12% higher consumption, partially offset then by lower prices.
In Europe, consumption increased by 7% year-on-year on strong retail performance. Promotional activity and lower shelf prices has had a positive effect on demand.
In the U.S., consumption increased by 13% with the prepacked segment driving good retail volumes. And Asia has seen a 34% volume increase with strong growth in all regions. And lower price points and more large-sized salmon was more available this quarter, and that has helped. And China has been particularly strong at 40% growth, as we see here in the numbers.
And while demand has been good at 5% growth, the high supply in the market has taken its toll on prices. And we saw an inflection point on supply in September and a good price response from that.
If you take a look at industry supply growth estimates for Q4, we expect negative volume growth year-on-year in Europe but positive in Chile. And also for 2026, the situation is a bit different in Europe versus Chile. If you look at the total, based on overall biomass statistics and current trends, we estimate 1% global industry supply growth versus as high as 9% than for 2025.
Mowi's own volume guidance has been increased to record high 554,000 tonnes for 2025. That's up 10.5% year-on-year. And for '26, we then estimate a further increase up to 605,000 tonnes, up 9.2%, supported by biomass and sea up 10.9%.
Then we're ready for some comments from Ivan on the outlook.
Thank you, Kristian. Much appreciated. Then it's time to conclude with some closing remarks before we wrap up the Q&A session hosted by our analyst, Ole Petter Urheim.
And to begin with, and on a general note, as I said earlier this morning, the third quarter was like previous quarters this year, characterized by soft prices following well-supplied markets. And in the third quarter, the price is even below industry cost. But on a positive note, however, industry supply growth has now normalized after unprecedented growth earlier this year and is now hovering around 0%, which on the normal circumstances should pave the way for better prices going forward.
Otherwise, we continue to see strong demand for our products, demonstrated by sold volumes at record high levels in Consumer Products in the quarter. And our standing biomass cost in sea continues to develop well on lower feed prices, which bodes well for our P&L cost next year. In the fourth quarter, however, we expect a stable realized production cost quarter-over-quarter.
So then the only outstanding piece of the puzzle is our farming volumes and our volume guidance, which we have increased since last time we reported for this year, once again, now from 545,000 tonnes to 554,000 tonnes. This is equivalent to a growth of as high as 10.5% a year-over-year. And next year, we expect to harvest 605,000 tonnes in Mowi, and that translates to a further 9.2% growth year-over-year.
So Mowi's Farming volume growth continues unabated and is surpassing that to the wider industry and our listed peers by a large margin, as we saw earlier this morning. So once again, a big thank you to all of my colleagues who have made it happen. It's, of course, much, much appreciated.
So with this short summary, Ole Petter and Kristian, I think we're ready for the Q&A session. So if Kristian can please join me on the stage and help me out with answering the questions, then you, Ole Petter can administer the questions from the audience and the web.
2. Question Answer
Yes. And I think we will start with questions here from the audience.
Christian Nordby, Arctic Securities. We've seen in Chile quite a buildup in overall biomass. What's your view on biology in Chile based on this higher biomass there? And do you fear that this could backlash into worse productivity later?
So that's a good question, Christian. And biology in Chile has been really good this year. And I also say last year. And as I said, during the presentation this morning, the lowest cost in Mowi is in Chile. So that is also a proof. So -- and we expect a continued good biology going forward.
And you're now going into closed cage postsmolt production. Can you -- is it the same design for all the ones you're ordering? Or is it different? Or have you done this before at that design? And can you give some insight into it?
This, we have done in Mowi for a long, long time. We started in 2013. So when we order the 4 new ones here, we go from 6 to 10 closed containment systems for postsmolt production. We use the same technology. We use it for postsmolt, as you said, and it works also financially. The reason why we ordered 4 last ones here was because of the new environmental licensing scheme in Norway, which makes this viable from a financial point of view.
Henrik Knutsen, Pareto Securities. You mentioned biomass close to 11% higher year-over-year. Do you have a comparable figure if you were to include or exclude Nova Sea?
That we can take after the Q&A session.
Okay. And how much more biomass do you have in sea in Norway, again, including or excluding Nova Sea?
And again, that should be taken after the Q&A session.
Martin Kaland, ABG Sundal Collier. Have you seen or experienced any impact from the tariffs in the U.S. on prices to end consumers, consumption or trade flows?
That's really a good question. So, so far, so good. But of course, there is impact here, but nothing that has been dramatic so far. So let's see how this develops.
And did you mention CapEx for the closed containment systems and the volume potential you expect from it?
We don't. As said, we will order this month, right? So we are a little bit ahead of the curve and we start to talk about the CapEx amount, et cetera, that we have to work to at a later stage. But again, it's financially viable with the new environmental licensing scheme. So we use licenses we have, which will be returned to us. So there was a silent audience today. Do we have any questions from the web, Ole Petter?
Yes, we have. So we have received a question from the web on how demand in China is given the strong developments in recent quarters?
Yes. China has been very good in recent years. We see now that China is around 6% of the global consumption for salmon. So the position has been increased.
We see in China, of course, positive responses from lower prices. But we also see a growing middle class. We see that logistics has improved and various restrictions have improved.
We also see that there are some interesting trends on sales channels in China. We see that there is an interesting mix of e-commerce and home delivery solutions, et cetera. So the take from the Norwegian Seafood Council is that the home consumption for salmon in China is higher than we have perhaps previously estimated. It's actually around 60% according to them on the total consumption. And if you take that home consumption, it's actually tilted a little bit towards various e-commerce solutions than more traditional retail that we know from, for example, Europe. So there are some interesting developments, interesting trends.
Again, the positive effects on prices are there. But we believe also that should salmon prices improve, there are some structural things that also happened here on the demand side. So at least this is partly sticky. So -- and with the growing middle class, I think there is still good potential in China.
Yes. And we have a question from Alexander Sloane from Barclays. Can you quantify expected farming costs decline in 2026 as you see it today?
We choose not to be that specific. But let's say it like this, we have indicated, of course, the cost level in Q3, Q4. It's around the EUR 5.4 level. We will see that there is a potential versus that to put it like that, so i.e., lower than that. But apart from that, I think the best indication is what we have already said on the biomass cost at stock reductions, 4% quarter-over-quarter and 5% year-on-year.
And then, of course, there's always a question of how much inflation will contribute on the other side. Will there be any surprises on the biology, et cetera. So that's why it's always very difficult for us to give any numbers on these kind of estimates. But I think those -- looking at the biomass cost of stock, the current cost level and down from there, at least those are some indication.
I could also just add that we, of course, have talked a lot about feed prices here today and the effects of that. But if you look at the cost year-to-date in farming and the reduction there, it's actually between 75% and 80% that's related to feed. But that also means that there are some other elements that also down like health costs, like productivity helps, more volumes helps, of course, on dilution, but also repair and maintenance costs down. So we see that it helps to work with our cost base and to realize reduction also in other areas.
Another question from Alexander Sloane. With your 1% global supply growth forecast for 2026, what do you see as key upside and downside risks?
Yes. Maybe I can start. So no, internally, we see more downside risk than upside risk. So to say less is more when you answer questions. So that's at least the start of the question. Maybe you have some more bits and pieces you want to add, Kristian?
No, I think that's a good summary. And of course, Ivan has also mentioned the 2-way division of the market. That could be expected on the current composition of the biomass, et cetera, but I definitely agree that there is on the downside risk.
And maybe I could add this to the question. No one has better biological KPIs, metrics, of course, than the Chilean farmers. So bear that in mind, all of you. So we are not world champions in Norway, although we'd like to think we are.
Okay. So last question from Alexander Sloane here. What impact do you think that Peru reduced quota could have on fish oil and fish meal prices? Any risk we see repeat of 2023 spike?
I think it's important here to say that there has been such a provisional quota so far on the anchovy fishery in Peru. There is an ongoing research fishery to determine this quota what that will be now in the end.
There are some rumors that stocks have -- that there have been some migration then from the northern part to the more southern part. Usually, it is a northern fishery, that's the most important in Peru. But of course, we have to look at both the quotas for the northern fishery and also the southern fishery should there be any movements here on the stocks. So it's a little bit early to give any more information that. Let's wait for the final quota information, et cetera.
Yes. And then seems to be the last question from Knut-Ivar Bakken, Sparbanken Markets. Mowi will invest in 4 closed containment system to restore 2.6 licenses in Region West. In addition, you already operate other closed containment systems. Should we expect that Mowi will invest in more closed containment systems in 2026 and 2027 to restore all of the 10.5 withdrawn licenses?
It depends. It depends. So let's revert to that at a later stage.
Okay. With that, I think we can conclude the Q&A.
Thank you. Then it only remains for me to thank everyone for the attention. We hope to see you back already in February at our fourth quarter release, if not before. So in the meantime, please take care and have a great day ahead. Thank you.
Mowi — Q3 2025 Earnings Call
Financial data from Mowi
Revenue
Revenue is the sum of all sales generated by a company, e.g. for its products or services.
Revenue (TTM) metric explainedDirect Costs
Direct costs are the costs incurred directly in connection with the manufacture of the product or service.
Gross Profit
Gross Profit indicates how much of the revenue remains in the company after deducting direct production costs. If the percentage share of sales is calculated, this is referred to as the gross margin.
Gross Profit metric explainedSelling and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) include all expenses for marketing and sales as well as the general administration of the company.
Research and Development Expense
Research and development costs (R&D) provide information on how much the company invests in the research and development of its products. The costs are particularly interesting as a percentage of revenue and in comparison to direct competitors.
EBITDA
EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) is the company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The EBITDA margin is calculated as a percentage of sales.
Depreciation and Amortization
Depreciation represents reductions in the value of the company's assets (e.g. due to wear and tear on machinery).
EBIT (Operating Income)
EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) is the company's profit before interest and taxes, also known as the operating income. The EBIT Margin is calculated as a percentage of sales at
.
Net Profit
Net Profit represents the profit or loss after deduction of all costs.
Net Profit metric explainedStocksGuide Premium
| Jun '26 |
+/-
%
|
||
| Revenue | 66,171 66,171 |
8%
8%
100%
|
|
| - Direct Costs | 32,691 32,691 |
7%
7%
49%
|
|
| Gross Profit | 33,480 33,480 |
8%
8%
51%
|
|
| - Selling and Administrative Expenses | 8,708 8,708 |
10%
10%
13%
|
|
| - Research and Development Expense | - - |
-
-
|
|
| EBITDA | 12,393 12,393 |
3%
3%
19%
|
|
| - Depreciation and Amortization | 5,112 5,112 |
5%
5%
8%
|
|
| EBIT (Operating Income) EBIT | 7,280 7,280 |
8%
8%
11%
|
|
| Net Profit | 6,892 6,892 |
90%
90%
10%
|
|
In millions NOK.
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Company Profile
Mowi ASA offers farmed salmon and processed seafood to customers worldwide. The firm also offers coated seafood, ready-to-eat meals, delicious finger food and smoked seafood. It operates through the following segments: Feed, Farming and Sales and Marketing. The Feed segment comprises first feed plant, located in Norway. The Farming segment engages in the farming operations in Norway, Scotland, Canada, Chile, Ireland and the Faroes Islands. The Sales and Marketing segment operates the markets in Americas, Asia and Europe. The company was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in Bergen, Norway.
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| Head office | Norway |
| CEO | Mr. Vindheim |
| Employees | 12,749 |
| Founded | 1964 |
| Website | mowi.com |


