{"label":"Proceed","color":"primary","disabled":false,"name":"action","type":"button","value":"Proceed"} Pleasure for me to invite you to Austevoll Seafood's 2Q presentation. I will first start by taking you through the highlights of our operations in the quarter.

I will go more into the details segment by segment. Then I will give the floor to our CFO Britt Kathrine Drivenes, and then I will end this session by giving our view on the different segments we are operating in in terms of the market.

Starting up, I would say it's been a special quarter for us. In terms of salmon, we have performed well in I would say two out of the three regions we are operating in.

I would say all in all, we have had a good biological performance across all the three regions. Quite good slaughtering weight, good qualities, and also very low mortality during the year.

Price achievement, spot prices has been more or less on the same level as last year. Saying that, in the west coast of Norway, we have had some trout downgrades, which has also impact our price achievements during this quarter.

In terms of whitefish, I would say another good quarter. In addition, I would say also that the performance is a bit better than the financial figures are showing because we are also entering into the third quarter with a higher inventory than we did same period last year.

The underlying figures is a bit better in second quarter than what they are showing. Then we have the pelagic segments, where we also announced in the first quarter presentation that there was both a stop in the fishery in Chile and also in Peru as a consequence of higher temperature and too a high percentage of juveniles in the catch.

In both regions, the seasons were stopped. In summary, I can say that in Peru, the El Niño has caused that the fishery is still closed.

In Chile, the water temperatures came down in the beginning of June, and the fishing started up again in end June. I will come back to the consequences later on when I'm going through segments by segments.

In Chile in particular, third quarter has been a good volumes for us, also where we achieved very good prices both for fishmeal, fish oil, and frozen products. In the North Atlantic, we are also having benefits of the failure in Peru with much better prices for our fishmeal and fish oil, which is also represented in the numbers.

All in all, volume-wise, we are approximately half of the volume in pelagic volumes in second quarter compared with the same quarter last year. Saying that, both our Peruvian and our North Atlantic activity are performing better than we did financially compared with second quarter last year.

Of course, we have in the quarter an effect of the low fishery also financially in Peru. We'll come back to that also later on in the presentation.

Revenue down by 14%, 8.6 billion NOK, an EBITDA of 1.1 billion NOK. If you take into account the 50% we have in Pelagia, the EBITDA for the quarter is 1 billion 258 million NOK, down by 8% versus the same quarter last year, whereas the salmon operation is contributing with 1 billion and 66, and the pelagic activity is down by approximately 15% driven by 150 million NOK worse performance in Peru, which if we are going to first half year, you also see that volume is down by approximately 32%.

Here you can see if you also take into account the 50% of the Pelagia figures, you see that the EBITDA is only down by 2%, approximately 3.4 billion NOK, whereof salmon is contributing with 2.4 billion NOK, and we have a 19% increase for the pelagic activity, up with 991, and the main contributor for the increase is our performance in Chile first half year. Then we are having a strong balance sheet.

We have an equity ratio of 52%, net interest-bearing debt of just south of 8.8 billion NOK, and we have also paid approximately 6.5 NOK in dividends during the quarter. I would say Austevoll Seafood is all about volumes.

On an annual basis, we are catching between 4- to 500,000 tonnes on our own vessels. We are producing in our own factories between 1.6 to 2 million tonnes.

We are having between 80- to 90,000 tonnes of whitefish through our factories and through our fishing vessels, and we are aiming this year to slaughter 225,000 tonnes of salmon and trout during 2026. Then taking you through the pelagic segment as a start, and I will start up in Peru just to give an explanation on the situation in particular which El Niño caused.

When we did the research in front of the first season, they identify a biomass of 7.1 million ton, and they put a quota of 1.9 million tonnes, which were approximately 36-37% lower than the quota they put same period last year. The season started up the 9th of April, and it continued to the end of April before the season were stopped due to too high incidence of juveniles in the catches.

It's been stopped since, and it's the total volume which has been caught in Peru, it's approximately 25% of the total quota. From an already lower quota compared with same period in 2025, we have in addition also have a very low fishery, which has been the driver where we have seen prices has been coming up.

We had originally 133,000 tonnes of quota and have caught 26,000 tonnes in the period. If you also compare with what we were purchasing in the same quarter last year, you can see that we have approximately 200,000 ton less catch than we had in the same quarter last year, which of course impacted our financial performance in the quarter.

Another consequences that when you have too high incident of small fish is also that the yield is coming down. The combined fishmeal and fish oil yield was 24.8%, down from 26.2% in the same quarter last year.

All in all, we have seen prices has been increasing, I would say, during the quarter and also into the next quarter, and as a consequence of the lack of fish in particular in Peru, but of course we are not benefiting a lot of that when we have these low volumes in Peru. When it comes to the second season, we have choosed this time to leave out the guidance because I think it's anybody guess what the quota could be, and if there is going to be a quota in the second season.

We are expecting that there will be a period with lower temperatures, but also there is a high El Niño out in the Pacific, and the magnitude and how it will hit the Peruvian coast will decide, I would say, the size of the quota and also if there will be a fishing at all. As a consequence of that, we expect that the prices will remain strong also going forward.

Chile has had a quite good development since I would say the stock collapsed in 2010, 2011. We are now back to a volume of 1.1 million tonnes, has had a healthy biomass.

As announced when we had our first quarter presentation in May, fishing were also stopped in Chile due to too high incidence of juveniles in the horse mackerel catch. As you can see from our presentation, you see that the own catch is down 52% compared with same period last year.

Then we have also purchased anchovy from coastal fishermen, and we have seen that the yields, and particularly the oil yields, has been very good. Although the volume is considerably down in the quarter, the financial result show a better result in second quarter this year versus same quarter last year, and Britt will take you more in detail through that.

In addition to that, to talk a bit about the coming quarter, which we are in now, fishing recovered in late June, and up to now, we have been catching 91,000 tonnes. We have to see how the fishing develops going forward, but already now we are not that far away from where we were the first 9 months last year, but has been affected a lot of the El Niño.

Then we don't know if the El Niño will affect the Chilean fisheries also going into fourth quarter, but we are guiding on a volume of 135,000 tonnes in total, meaning that we have to catch approximately 45,000 tonnes more for the remaining of the year. That's also going to be a nice development in Chile.

What we can say in Chile is that third quarter will be by far better than third quarter last year. We can say that already.

Looking forward to the end result in Chile this year, which we think is going to have a nice year with the prices we are seeing now both for fishmeal, fish oil, and also for frozen products, which Britt will take you through later on. Then talking about the North Atlantic pelagic quota development, as you can see from before 2024, the average size of the North Atlantic quota was around 4 million tonnes, but in 2025, the volumes in the North Atlantic came down with 800,000 tonnes, and also the volumes got further down with 600,000 tonnes in 2026.

In 2025, in addition to the drop in quotas and less raw material for Pelagia's factories, we also had a drop in fishmeal and fish oil prices second half, taking the performance from Pelagia further down compared with what it's been previously. This year, the price development will be the opposite, we are expecting better prices in third and fourth quarter, opposite development than what it was in 2025.

As a consequence of the El Niño, we are expecting Pelagia to deliver much better in particular the marine protein and oil segments in 20 in third and fourth quarter versus the same period last year. We have been producing blue whiting and North Sea herring this season.

It's a seasonal low production quarter, but you can see our EBITDA in second quarter is approximately double of the same period last year, and it's mainly driven by a better performance from marine protein and oil due to higher prices. All in all, summing up the pelagic segment, you see that the volume in this quarter was down with 51%.

It's down, I would say, across the three segments, but I would say as a consequence of Peru's failure of fishing the quota, both Chile and Pelagia is contributing with better margin as a consequence of higher prices. Then coming to second quarter salmon highlights, and if you want to have a more detailed presentation, I suggest that you go in and look at the webcast of Lerøy Seafood.

All in all, EBIT of 574 million NOK, down from 680 million NOK. Farming, 236, down 20 million versus same quarter last year, mainly related to a lower slaughtering volumes.

Wild catch, 140 million, more or less on line with the same EBIT number last quarter, but we are also entering third quarter with a higher stock and inventory than we did last period, the underlying performance is better. Then a lower performance in the market operation.

A bit more challenging conditions, stronger NOK, higher logistical cost in the period has taken down, I would say, the result from second quarter '25 to this quarter, but going forward, we are expecting to deliver more or less the same figures as we did in second half 2025. Volumes, 44,000 tonnes.

It's divided by 7,000 tonnes in Lerøy Aurora, 20,000 tonnes in Lerøy Midt, and 19,000 tonnes in Lerøy Sjøtroll. EBIT per kilo, more or less on the same line as it was last year, 1 NOK less.

Lerøy Aurora, another good quarter, 19.1 NOK per kilo. Lerøy Midt, 13.5 NOK per kilo.

Lerøy Sjøtroll, 4.5 NOK per kilo, and it's mainly due to downgrades of the trouts in the period, which I would say ended in June this year. Going on volumes, you see that we slaughtered 212,000 tonnes in '25 and are aiming to increase with 217,000 tonnes in '26, driven by the 50% share we have in Scottish Seafarms.

Then to whitefish highlights. A very good performance in the quarter.

Now we have had a drop in the cod quota for the last 5 years, and it's also pleasant also to announce that it seems like we have reached the bottom and the recommendations for next year is 10% up again, and also the recommendation for haddock is 18% up. Then it's a reduction in saithe, but this is also a quota we have so far maybe not an expectation that we're going to catch all that fish during next year, it's not that crucial.

This is the year, I would say, that the raw material volumes has been on the lowest since we came in, but has been compensated with very high prices both for cod, haddock, and saithe, and we are expecting that we will have an EBIT in this segment between 400 to 450 million NOK this year, which is the best year so far. Then I will give the floor to Britt Kathrine to take you more into details the number.

I will start with the presentation of the financials, and Arne has talked you through the operation in the quarter. This table sums up the raw material intake in the quarter and first half year.

When we look into the estimate for 2026, given the high El Niño-driven uncertainty, the 2026 total volume for Peru is set equal to the total catch as of today and for illustration purposes. This figure includes our 50% share of Pelagia, and Arne has taken you through the key figures in the start of the presentation, I will try not to repeat too much.

In short, the revenue is down by 10% and the adjusted EBITDA is down by 8%. The reduction in earnings comes from Lerøy Seafood Group and Austral Group, and we have seen an increase in earnings in FoodCorp and in Pelagia.

We will look closer into this when we are going through the segments. Since the key figures have already been presented, I will start on the line profit before tax and fair value adjustment, which is down 22% from 493 million in second quarter last year to 385 million second quarter this year.

The lower profit comes as a consequence of a lower slaughtered volume of salmon, and also from the suspended first fishing season in Peru. As you can see, we also have some higher depreciation, 585 million, up from 544 million.

We have had quite high capex in new technology within farming the latest years, and as a consequence of that, also the depreciation increase somehow. When we look at the result or the profit before tax, that is negative, it's -623 million.

It was 14 million plus in second quarter last year. This profit is substantially impacted by the very high fair value adjustment of biological assets in the quarter.

You can see that the portfolio has a negative biological fair value adjustment of 889 million, and the fair value adjustment in the associate are 119 million, which impact, of course, profit before tax, but also net profit for the year, which is -254 million versus 106 million in second quarter last year. Looking at earnings per share, and we look at earnings per share before the fair value adjustment related to biological assets, that is NOK 1.6 in the quarter, up from NOK 1.3 in same quarter last year.

The main value driver for Lerøy Seafood Group is, of course, harvested volume of salmon, which was close to 44,800 tonnes in second quarter this year, down 4,000 tonnes from 48,900 tonnes in same quarter last year. Spot prices were in line with same period last year, but operational cost are materially down quarter-on-quarter from a very strong biology.

Price realization, however, were impacted by a lower price for trout. That was NOK 5 lower per kilogram than for salmon in the quarter, and the harvested volume of trout was approximately 10,000 tonnes.

For wild catch, we had a 6% higher catch volume compared to same quarter last year. We had higher realized prices for key species.

You can see that the result is more or less in line with same quarter last year. However, we had a significant inventory build in the quarter, catch values were substantially higher than what is recorded in the profit in the quarter.

This inventory will be sold during third and fourth quarter. Market operation, revenue here also impacted by lower volumes of salmon and a strengthening of the NOK.

We have a higher margin in the quarter compared to first quarter this year. It was 3.5% in second quarter and it was 2.4% in first quarter this year.

To sum up, revenue of almost 7.9 billion, EBITDA adjusted of 1.1 billion, and the EBIT adjusted of 574 million, down from 680 million in same quarter last year. In Austral, we have had very low activity, as Arne has already mentioned.

The first fishing season was suspended, and the total raw material intake for Austral was 34,000 tonnes, down 200,000 tonnes from same quarter last year. Fishmeal and fish oil prices are up, but of course do not compensate for the shortage of raw material.

Also sales volumes are down, of course. Fishmeal and fish oil sales volume of 12,000 tonnes, down from 39,000 tonnes in same quarter last year.

Revenue in the quarter of 291 million, a negative EBITDA of 61 million, and a negative EBIT of -124 million versus 26 million in same quarter last year. FoodCorp has had a very strong performance in the quarter.

Also FoodCorp were impacted by the ongoing El Niño and warmer sea temperatures. The fishery started to slow down in March, and that has continued in second quarter.

The fishery started to pick up again towards the end of the quarter, and has been good now in Q3. The raw material intake in total was 31,000 tonnes, down from 39,000 tonnes, and also you can see there is a substantially lower sales of finished products, only 9,000 tonnes of frozen products, down from 33,000 tonnes in same quarter last year.

However, the tightening of the market for both fishmeal, fish oil, but also frozen products has given us higher prices. Frozen prices are up 84%, fishmeal prices up 54%, and fish oil prices up 167% compared to same period last year.

Revenue in the quarter was 406 million, EBITDA was 134 million, and the EBIT was 119 million, up from 80 million in same quarter 2025. Kobbevik og Furuholmen Oppdrett, they have harvested 2,100 tonnes of salmon, that is up 7% compared to same quarter last year.

Spot prices in line with same period last year, but cost are significantly lower year-on-year. That gives an EBIT per kilo in the quarter of NOK 7.8, up from a negative EBIT per kilo of -4.3 in same quarter last year.

In total, revenue of 149 million, EBITDA adjusted of 29 million, and EBIT adjusted of 16 million, up from a negative EBIT of 8 million in same quarter 2025. The group has a very strong balance sheet, and the equity ratio is 52%.

The total assets are 50.3 billion, that is down 3% compared to end of second quarter last year. Some of the group companies have other functional currency than NOK, and of course, weakness or strengthening of the NOK will impact the conversion of the functional currency into NOK.

By the end of June, the group had a net interest-bearing debt of 8.8 billion, that's in line with the end of 2025, but it's down from 9.1 billion by the end of June 2025. We have had a very strong cash performance from operating activities, and that was 1.7 billion.

That is supported by a significant release of working capital in the quarter, both from farming, but also from the pelagic activity. Cash from investing activity is -219 million, and that is lower compared to same quarter last year, but this is more or less timing.

We expect that our capex in 2026 will be in line or a little bit lower than 2025. Cash from financing activity is -2.2 billion, and you can see that the dividend paid out is the largest amount here.

It's over 2 billion, and of this, 1.3 billion was paid to the shareholders of Austevoll Seafood ASA. We ended the quarter with a cash position of 4.6 billion, which is up from 4.5 billion in same quarter last year.

Thank you very much. Then

I will give you the view on the different market for the different segments we are operating within, and start to give our reflection on the fishmeal market. Among the largest fishmeal producers, you can also see here that it's not only in Peru where production is much lower than it was compared with last year, you also see same development in Chile, Denmark, and Norway, and also the rest of the North Atlantic.

Volume is down, I would say, up to August among the biggest producer with 54%, and that has been one of the reasons why we have seen increasing prices. Then the prices we are announcing here is not updated because it's related to the latest trade which has been done in Peru, which was done in the beginning of the season before fishing were failing.

Again, the supply remains tight, and that's the reason why we have seen now fishmeal prices increasing to all-time high at current present day. Also on fishmeal consumption, we also look into China, which normally consumes 25% of the total volumes being produced.

You can see here that the stock in China is 54% down. The weekly offtake is of course less as a consequence of the stock situation.

Prices is higher than what it was traded in Peru, and we have also seen that as a consequence of the volume, the imports to China has also gone down, mainly driven by lower volume from Peru. If you look at Chilean fish oil production, it's not that much down compared with the fishmeal production, and that's mainly due to quite high oil yields, in particular in the fisheries in the south.

The production there is only down by 3%. Peru is down by 68%.

If you look at total production of 4- to 500,000 tonnes and an oil yield of less than 2%, the total production season has been approximately 8,000 tonnes, which is very low compared with a normal season in Peru. That's the reason why you in particular see that the omega-3 grades is showing a $12,250 per ton.

I would say the feed grade is not representative because I think it's less volumes sold in that period, and prices for feed is higher than what you see here in the picture. Then to talk about salmon supply, if you look from '24 to '25, the global supply of salmon had a growth of 12%, which were tremendously high.

At 2026, the supply is expected to be around 3% and in '27, 3%. If you look at the volumes from Norway, I would say that this growth is already taken out, and we are expecting, I would say, negative growth on the volumes in the continues of 2026.

I would also say that market sentiments, in particular on the supply side, is favorable for stronger prices going into the end of the year, also compared with the same period last year. We see second quarter prices is more or less in line with 2025.

That's in NOK, and if you consider that the NOK has been strengthening to euro, I would say the underlying prices in euro is 6% higher in the quarter than how it was in second quarter 2025. Then we have had a good increase in the EU market, which is important for the Norwegian salmon production, and we also see that China and Hong Kong is up with 22% in the period, which is going to be an important market for the Norwegian salmon production going forward.

Summing up, I would say we have had a good biological performance. We have had a summer with lower temperatures than normal, I would say bringing our biomass in a better state into the autumn which we are heading, and we are a bit optimistic in terms of improving our performance this autumn compared with the last autumn in 2025.

Cost per kilo is down from first quarter to second quarter, and we're also expecting to continue this development with a bit lower cost, also when you take into account that fish feed seems to be more expensive at least to the end of the year. Whitefish, good performance.

I would say also it's very positive that the land-based industry are also showing improvements, which does the total pictures better. You see the recommendation both for cod and haddock for next year will probably continue a new path with a bit better development on the cod quota, which is important, in particular for this segment.

Then in Peru, we're expecting that 2026 is going to be a challenging year, and I would say the most exciting this year is if it's going to be a second season or not. If it's going to be a second season, I think it's going to be less than it will be in a normal year, but at very high prices.

Both Chile and our activity in the North Atlantic is contributing by the fact that there is less volume and we are achieving fantastic prices both for fishmeal, fish oil, and also for frozen at the time. All in all, it's fair to say that although that Peru is down, we expect a better quarter in third quarter than we did third quarter last year.

Also I would say on the pelagic side that although the reduction in Peru will be offsetted by the price achievements we have both in Chile and in the North Atlantic compared with second half last year. Thank you, and have a good day.