Pan Fish ASA: Financial results for the third quarter 2004

Continued focus on costs: Pan Fish has entered a phase in which the defined long-term objectives with regard to production costs and volumes in each region will be closely monitored. Throughout Pan Fish there is an intense focus on cutting production costs, and efforts are continually being made to both improve the biological output and reduce the group's fixed costs. This will also have an positive impact on liquidity.

 

Positive cash flow: Pan Fish had a positive cash flow in the third quarter amounting to NOK 219.5 billion, of which NOK 169.8 million can be ascribed to the share issue that was conducted in September. Net cash flow from operating activities during the quarter amounted to NOK 99.9 million, of which NOK 126.4 million was derived from a reduction in working capital. Cash and cash equivalents amounted to NOK 338.4 million at the end of the third quarter 2004.

 

"Pan Fish's performance has developed according to plan," says CEO Atle Eide, "and the wide-ranging measures that have been implemented to improve the company's profitability have produced the expected results. At the same time we must acknowledge that we are not getting much help from the market at the moment. The demanding situation currently facing the market makes Pan Fish's strategy of becoming the lowest-cost supplier of Atlantic salmon even more important."

 

 

 

Exports of fresh salmon from Norway to the EU were almost seven per cent higher in the third quarter this year compared with the corresponding period in 2003. The average export price (FOB) for this fish was NOK 22.23 per kilo, compared with a price of NOK 19.02 per kilo in 2003. Growth in demand is strongest in the "new" EU countries, while demand from the two most important salmon importing countries, Denmark and France, has fallen so far this year. Norwegian exports to Russia have also grown well. The company's biomass (stocks of live fish) in Norway was marginally higher at the end of the third quarter than at the same time last year.

 

"At a time when prices are under pressure and the there is uncertainty about the EU's final decision with regard to quotas and minimum prices, it is extremely important that Pan Fish maintain its focus on cutting production costs even further. This will be achieved at the same time as production levels are built back up to a level that is appropriate to the value of the company's fixed assets. The long-term objective is to produce 80,000-100,000 tonnes gutted weight,"  says Mr Eide.

 

 

CEO Atle Eide, +47 911 52 977