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Mowi Asa

Q12022

5/11/2022

speaker
Ivan Windheim
CEO

Good morning, everyone. My name is Ivan Windheim, and I'm the CEO of Moe. And it's my pleasure to wish you all welcome to the presentation of Moe's first quarter results of 2022. With me today to walk us through our financial figures and fundamentals, I have, as usual, our CFO, Christian Ellingson. And after the presentation, our IRO will host a Q&A session, where those of you who are following the presentation on webcast can submit your questions in advance or as we go along. via email. Please refer to our website at moe.com for the necessary details. The disclaimer I think we leave for self-study. Then highlights. The prices we saw towards the end of last year, they continued into the first quarter, i.e. they were increasing. On lower seasonal supply and global supply contraction of 7%, year over year, and not least a continued strong demand, partly driven by Lent and Easter season. And in case of the latter, notwithstanding spillover effects from the war in Ukraine, and still some scattered pandemic restrictions in some markets. Against this backdrop, MoE recorded record high first revenues and an operation profit of 207 million euro, also at record high levels, almost doubled year over year, and in line with the trading update of the 13th of April. Then the farming cost was 4.78 euro per kilo in the quarter, up from 4.62 euro per kilo in the fourth quarter on lower seasonal harvest volumes and thereby less dilution of costs along with increasing input prices. Furthermore, we harvested 97,000 tons in the quarter, which was approximately in line with the harvest guidance. Consume products deliver another set of good results, I would say, considering the record high raw material prices. For our field division, the first quarter is low season and both our profit volumes and our volumes are colored by that. Other than that, field performance was good in the quarter, which is of utmost importance to us. Last but not least, the Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of 1.95 NOK per share. which is equivalent to 68% of underlying earnings per share, of which 50%, or 1.44 NOK, is ordinary dividend, i.e. 51 EUR, and 0.51 is extraordinary dividend. I think that does it for highlights. Then over to key financial figures. Christian will, as usual, go in-depth on financial figures under his session, so to not disrupt the course of events, we will just touch briefly upon the most important ones now. MAUI recorded an operational revenue of 1.095 billion euro in the quarter, which is, as already said, a record high for the first quarter, up 7% year-over-year on 23% lower harvest volumes. Operation EBIT of 207 million euro we have already commented on, almost doubled year over year. Cash flow was good in the quarter, and net interest bearing debt came in at 1.18 billion euro, well within our long-term target of 1.4 billion euro. Underlying earnings per share in the quarter was 29 euro cents, and annualized return on capital employed was 23.4%, above our long-term target of 12%. In terms of regional margins through the value chain, they were good in Norway, Canada, and Ireland in the quarter, whereas the other farming regions were more of a mixed bag. We will get back to the explanation shortly when we go through the various business entities. But first, briefly about prices. As already said, the increasing prices we saw towards the end of last year continued as expected into the first quarter on low supply and strong demand. Compared to the first quarter last year, prices were up by an impressive 55% in Europe and 33% and 40% respectively for salmon of Chilean and Canadian origin in the American market. undoubtedly a very strong salmon market the way we see it. Kristian will elaborate more on prices and supply-demand under his session. Then our own relative price performance. Overall price achievement was 9% below the reference price in the quarter due to record high spot prices and knock-on effects from fixed contracts. In addition to that, price achievement was negatively impacted by quality downgrading due to winter source in Norway and source from SRS and Tennessee Baculum in Chile. In terms of winter sores, I think it's right to say that we have had more problems in Norway this year than last year due to a cold winter and many storms. Conditions under which its main causative agent, Moritella viscosa, becomes more pathogenic. So much about prices, then briefly about the EBIT waterfall. Overall, operation EBIT increased from €109 million to €207 million year-over-year. This was in its entirety driven by increased earnings in farming as a result of higher prices. Farming volumes are in the same period down and farming costs up. Other businesses contributed with €14 million less year-over-year. Then it's time to address the various business entities, and as usual, we start with the largest and most important one, Mowi in Norway. Operation EBIT was 151 million euro in the quarter, up from 73 million euro in the comparable quarter last year. Both prices and earnings were record high for our first quarter for Mowi in Norway. EBIT margin was 2.55 euro per kilo in the quarter this year versus 0.98 euro last year, i.e. an improvement of 160% year over year. As the graph clearly demonstrates, this is caused by higher prices. Volumes are down from 75,000 tons to 59,000 tons, and cost is up on lower dilution of cost, higher input prices, and a more challenging biology. Particularly issues with winter source impacted our operation performance negatively this year. Other than that, production has been very good in the quarter and to date. Due to low volumes, we expect further increase in cost in the second quarter on said low volumes, and that said, we expect them to increase into the second half of the year on higher volumes. Then, the breakdown of the margins for the different regions in Norway. Margin-wise, it was a mixed bag also this time around, following to a large extent the coastline. Region off stands yet again out as the margin winner with 2.93 euro per kilo on lowest cost. Although it was adversely impacted by, as already said, more issues with winter source than normal this year. In addition to a less favorable site mix with a higher proportion from production area 7. Region Mid achieved a margin of €2.61 per kilo, realised cost was negatively impacted by low volumes and harvesting out a site with small fish due to CMS. Overall production and seawater performance were relatively good in the quarter for Region Mid. Region West achieved a margin of only €2.07 per kilo in the quarter, driven by very low volumes and where the lion's share of the volumes were harvested in January on lower prices. Other than that, operation performance has been relatively good in the quarter for Region West. Region South had a margin of 2.35 euro per kilo, negatively impacted by gill issues, winter sores and CMS. Then, our Norwegian contract portfolio. Due to our optimistic market view for this year, we decided last fall to keep our contract share for Norway low at 26% or 70,000 tons to capitalize on this. This strategy obviously treated us well in the first quarter, although seasonal low volumes took the contract share to 31%. When it comes to the second quarter, contract share is 29% and contract prices are in line with the first quarter. Done capex in Norway. It was with great pleasure we decided recently to build a new state-of-the-art 100,000 tons primary processing plant at Gjøsnøya Hittra to accommodate our harvest volumes in production area 6 and 7. Finally, I guess we could add to this, anyway, the plant is scheduled for commissioning in the first quarter of 2024 and will replace our dilapidated primary processing plant at Ulvanfrøya. Furthermore, and further to our post-mold program in Norway, we have also decided a post-mold expansion at our Hauko facility outside Flore in production area 4. With this, we are now undertaking projects accounting for 41% of the post-mold program in Norway, We launched at the Captain Markets Day last year, a program which is aimed to give us 40,000 tons extra harvest volumes in Norway by 2027, all else being equal, at very attractive terms. That, I think, does it for Mowi Norway. Then over to Mowi Scotland. Operational profit for Moe Scotland was €11 million in the quarter, down from €27 million last year on almost a halving of volumes, 10,000 tonnes versus 18,000 tonnes. Margin was €1.0 per kilo versus €1.46 per kilo last year. Both volumes and earnings in absolute and relative terms were negatively impacted by poor production on stocks grown from externally sourced eggs we introduced in Scotland in lack of other opportunities in the aftermath of the Norwegian egg export ban in 2019. As previously said, we have already moved towards more Mowi eggs from Ireland, but we will struggle with this stock for yet another quarter before it's harvested out. Accordingly, we expect significant improvements for Mowi Scotland for the second half of this year. In terms of prices, prices are up in Scotland as well, but with a business model with a much higher share of contracts as much as 77% in the quarter on those very low volumes. There are obviously less tailwinds from the record high spot prices for Mowi Scotland than for our other regions. For better or worse, I guess I could add to this, over time it goes both ways and it makes the business more predictable. Then Mowi Chile. Moetilla more than doubled its earnings year-over-year in the first quarter from €8 million to €20 million, due to higher prices driven by a very strong American market. Volumes are on the other hand down from 19,000 tons to 16,000 tons, whereas cost is up, partly driven by less dilution of cost. Margin increased year-over-year from €0.40 per kilo to €1.26 per kilo. to some extent held back by our contract share of 50% in the quarter, as opposed to last year when contracts contributed positively to the margin achievement. In terms of biology, the first quarter is summer season in Chile, and we have been through yet another dry and warm summer in Chile, leading to issues related to low DO and algae. However, all things considered, I think we have managed to reasonably well in Chile also this summer, though with some elevated mortalities and downgrading due to sores from SRS and tansybaculum. Further north to Canada. Mowi Canada turned a profit of €23 million in the first quarter against a loss of €4 million last year. This was driven by significantly higher prices, 100% spot exposure and lower costs. Volumes, on the other hand, were somewhat down from 11,000 to 9,000 tonnes as we harvested a minimum in Canada East in the quarter. Canada West had an impressive margin of 2.93 euro per kilo in the quarter, similar to Moe in Norway, region North. Overall production and biological performance improved for Canada West compared with the first quarter of 2021. As far as Canada East is concerned, we will not harvest any meaningful volumes before the fourth quarter this year. Meanwhile, the turnaround process initiated last year continues unabated. And as previously announced, until satisfactory biological control is attained, we will hold back on our growth ambitions in this region. Then it's time for Moet Ireland and Moet Faroes. For the salmon of Irish origin, we made an operation EBIT of 2.5 million euro on impressive 3.71 euro per kilo in margin, partly driven by egg sales. Biology has been good in Ireland in the quarter, providing good growth conditions. In the Faroes, operation EBIT came to 1.8 million euro, or 1.53 euro per kilo, negatively impacted by low volumes, of which close to 100% were harvested in January on lower prices, in addition to gill issues at one site. We expect to see improvements for Mowi Faroes in the second quarter. So much about farming. Then over to Mowi Consumer Products. Consumers made an operational profit of €21 million in the quarter, down from pandemic-boosted €32 million last year on higher price volatility and lower volumes. In case of the latter, we sold 56,000 tonnes product weight in the first quarter, versus 62,000 tonnes in the comparable quarter last year, following the drop in farming volumes. Return on sales in total and for value added only, they were 2.9% and 4.0% respectively in the quarter. The high raw material prices make it undoubtedly more challenging for consumer products in the short term. That said, I think we have managed reasonably well so far, so kudos to the organization for this. It's much appreciated. In terms of overall demand, it was strong in more or less all markets in the quarter, partly driven by, as already said, Lent and Easter season. We also see good development in demand so far in the second quarter. In the first quarter, we also had the pleasure to open a brand new highly automated factory in Golonia, in Poland, to produce meal and oil of offcuts from Moe Ötska, also formerly known as Morpol, for human supplements, pet food, and aquatic feed. This goes directly into the circular economy and is securing 100% utilization of the raw material for Mowi Utzka. It's also a very good business as this raw material is already paid for. For those of you who do not know, Mowi Utzka is the world's by far largest secondary processing plant for Atlantic salmon, handling approximately 100,000 tons of raw material annually. Then, our latest addition to the Moe family, Moe feed. As said initially, the first quarter is characterized by low season for Moe feed, but all that entails. Operation EBIT of negative 4 million euro is largely in line with the first quarter of last year of negative 3 million euro. The same goes for sole volumes of 88,000 tons. And overall, field production has been satisfactory in the quarter. Field performance has also been very good in the year so far. Thank you, Christian. The floor is all yours so you can walk us through our financial figures and fundamentals. Thank you so far.

speaker
Christian Ellingson
CFO

Thank you very much, Ivan. And good morning, everybody. Nice to see you again here in Oslo this time. So as usual, we start with the statement of profit and loss, where the top line shows an all-time high Q1 revenue of 1.1 billion euro, 7% increase from Q1 last year on higher prices driven by the very strong market. And this also led to an increase in operational EBIT, which was up by as much as 98 million euro, or close to 90%. When it comes to the items between operational EBIT and financial EBIT, the net fair value adjustment of biomass was positive this time around, 55 million euro, based on the favorable development in price assumption. Income of associated companies, that's mainly related to our associated company NovaSea, which had a good quarter and delivered a solid operational EBIT margin of 2.81 euro per kilo, although somewhat below Norway region north. Net financial items, minor this time around, as interest costs were offset by currency gains. Underlying earnings per share, 29 euro cent, and the generated cash flow per share, 30 euro cent in the first quarter. Return on capital employed, 23.4%. That's almost double of the figure in Q1 last year. The balance sheet is relatively stable versus year end with assets around 6.3 billion euro and the financial position for Moe is very strong with a covenant equity ratio of as much as 56.2%. Net interest bearing debt 1.177 million euro which was well below the 1.4 billion euro target. We had a good cash flow in the quarter, 152 million euro before a dividend payment of 72 million euro. This translates into the 30 euro cent per share. Cash flow from operations include change in working capital, minus 11 million euro. There was a seasonal release in farming and sales and marketing, but a tie up in feed. Taxes paid includes the production fee accrued for 2021. CapEx we see somewhat higher than the same time last year. And when it comes to the 2022 guiding for the cash flow, this is unchanged from the previous quarter. We continue to invest in our value chain. This ties up working capital and, of course, CapEx. When it comes to financing, this is also unchanged from the previous quarter. We have good and solid financing in place. The bank syndicate loan is the backbone of the financing. And we have a good cooperation with our lenders, which are listed here. DNB, Nordea, ABN Amro, Rabobank, Danske Bank, SCB and KD AG Corp. We also see here that no debt is maturing until 2023 for Norway. Supply chain, supply and demand developments, market fundamentals is what we will discuss now on the coming slides here. And we see that there was a global supply contraction of 7% in the first quarter of 2022 versus the same time last year. The guidance was between minus 7% and minus 11%. We see that Norway is down 4% in the quarter, lower biomass going into the quarter following 2021 with strong volumes. When we look at the end of the first quarter, biomass for the Norwegian companies estimated to be 1% lower than last year, which indicates modest volume growth going forward. In Chile, we see that the volume contraction in the first quarter was 11%, less of a reduction than guided in the previous quarter, and this was first and foremost due to more fish than expected being harvested, most likely as a measure ahead of the algae season in Chile, and probably also to benefit from strong prices. Standing biomass in Chile is also down 1%, which should also result in modest volume growth in the time ahead. The consumed volumes in the market, we see that that's also down 7%, so consistent with supply developments. But the blended prices are up 40%, and the estimated global value of salmon consumed was a record high, confirming the very strong underlying growth for salmon. In the EU plus the UK, we saw further reopenings of the food service segment. Following the pandemic, this had a positive effect on demand, although of course the reduced available volumes took down consumed volumes. In the U.S., consumed volumes increased, we see here, plus 1%. Despite the volume contraction, that's impressive. Chilean volumes destined for Russia have to a large extent been redirected to the U.S. The food service segment has been open in the U.S. in a quarter, and the retail segment also maintained its growth from an already high base. We saw increased volumes also in our consumer products operation in the U.S., producing very popular, convenient and healthy products for the U.S. retail market. You see that Asia is impacted by lower available volumes. and rising air cargo costs, closure of parts of the airspace available for air cargo to Asia following the Russia-Ukraine conflict. China increased from a low base when comparing to Q1 last year, when that quarter was very much impacted by COVID-related restrictions. And we now see more restrictions in China. Then over to prices. The tight market balance has, of course, resulted in record high prices, up 55% in Europe, 33% in Miami for Chilean origin in the North American market, and 40% on the East Coast for Europe. 40% in Seattle, Boston for Canadian markets. So very strong prices. The good prices have continued into the second quarter, and we see a strong market also going forward with strong demand and low supply growth. For the rest of 2022, the expected supply growth for the remainder of the year is 0%. For a total year 2022 as a whole, the expectation is minus 1%, as we see is stated here. And for the second quarter specifically, the volume contraction is between minus 4% and minus 9%, as we see in the mid table here. So limited volume growth in the time I had for the market. When it comes to Maui's own volumes, we maintain the guiding of 460,000 tons for the year of 2022. We guide Scotland down 5,000 tonnes on production challenges on the stocks grown from externally sourced eggs. But Canada West is up 5,000 tonnes on improved biology. Then Yvonne, it's over to you for the outlook statement.

speaker
Ivan Windheim
CEO

Thank you, Christian. Much appreciated. Then it's time to conclude with some closing remarks before we wrap it all up with our Q&A session hosted by our IRO, Kim Dusvik. As I said a few times already, we are very optimistic about the market prospects going forward. Current prices are extremely good and the supply side is constrained. The latest Contalia figures suggest no growth for the remainder of the year, and our internal figures indicate the same. So, we believe in continued good price achievements in the time ahead. And with Moe's diverse and integrated value chain and low contract share, we think we are in a great position to capitalize on this. The only gray cloud in the sky, the way we see it, is the current inflationary pressure that is riddling the world economy. But so far, soaring salmon prices have more than offset the increase in input prices for the salmon. salmon is a fantastic product with great product features and the beneficiary of strong megatrends and we firmly believe the salmon will continue to stand out versus other animal protein sources due to its low feed conversion ratio low energy use and its superior sustainability credentials In terms of harvest volume guidance for 2022, we have, as Kristen just showed us, maintained at 460,000 tonnes, though with a 5,000 tonnes reshuffle from Scotland to Canada West. And finally, the Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of 1.95 NOK per share, which is equivalent to 68% of underlying earnings per share, of which 50% is ordinary dividend, i.e. 1.44 NOK per share. The rest is extraordinary. Then, I think we are ready for the Q&A session, Kim. So if Christian can please join me on the stage. Just give me one minute so I can catch up. I have something to write with.

speaker
Alex Ochner
Analyst, D&B Markets

I apologize. Alex Ochner from D&B Markets. Two questions. Could you give any flavor on the customer's reactions to the recent price increases? And secondly, you mentioned the inflationary pressure. With the current input prices to feed and other parts to the production cost, what's the effect going to be once that feeds into your P&L? And what kind of mitigating factors do you have to deal with this?

speaker
Ivan Windheim
CEO

Right, so maybe you, Chris, can take the second part of the question, and I can start off on the first part and the customer reaction. So the prices we have seen recently, they have not been there for long. So the end customers, they haven't faced these prices. That I think we must say. At the same time, we see that over time, the customers are willing to pay more and more for the salmon. So each time we set new records, we have the same debate. Is this disrupt demand? And I think over the salmon's 50, at least the salmon's 50 years of life, this has gone bad so far. So I think we will manage this time around too. But again, the current prices we see, they haven't been pushed onto the end customer. So there is no profit in the entire value chain right now. We know that we have had too little salmon to sell so far this year. So the only way to clear the market has been through the prices we have seen. So if you, Christian, can follow up with the second part of the question.

speaker
Christian Ellingson
CFO

Yes. So when it comes to cost inflation, that is, of course, impacting all industries, including salmon farming. We believe, however, that we still have a potential. We still have measures we can take throughout the value chain to further address costs and reduce costs. We see that we have come some way with the productivity program, but we still have a potential to realize more of that. We have the ongoing cost savings program. We also have discussed today the post-malt program, which is of course an important measure to address biological costs in addition to volumes. So that will also take down the farming cost. And we have also, since the capital markets day, we presented a smart farming concept and that's some work that's ongoing in the background. rolling this out, and that's also expected to address biological costs, feeding costs, and costs in farming. Of course, salmon is a very efficient protein. It has a very low feed conversion ratio, 1.3 versus 8 for beef and 3.9 for pork, 1.9 for chicken. So the salmon is more resilient to the increases in feed prices versus other proteins. And that's important. And that's beneficial for our company and for the industry. So the message is that the inflation impacts everybody, also us. But we work hard to address costs. And we see that there is still a potential to get the benefits from many of our ongoing projects.

speaker
Ola Troaten
Analyst, D&B Markets

Yes, Ola Troaten, D&B Markets. Just a question on page 10 on the sales contract portfolio from Norway. Can you comment on this profile, and isn't this kind of the opposite profile that we would like to see, given the price pattern to the year?

speaker
Ivan Windheim
CEO

Yeah, of course. If you could cherry-pick, I... I am 100% in agreement with you, but you also have someone on the other side of the table. So when you contract, you contract a year, and the volumes are flat, stable. So what impacts the contract share in the end of the day is actually the harvest profile. And that follows, at least to some degree, model nature and seawater temperature. So I'm afraid this is the best you get with our business model. So... But of course, ideally, theoretically, it could have been better. But in practice, I'm afraid that's not feasible.

speaker
Aksel Jakobsen
Analyst, Arctic Securities

Hi, Aksel Jakobsen in Arctic Securities. So how should we think about downgrades for Norway in the second quarter? And what is typically the price discount versus the spot price given the elevated levels? And also on costs for Norway in the second half. Do you expect a similar level as in Q1? Or is there further downside potential? And also, what is your assumption on the feed cost for the second half?

speaker
Ivan Windheim
CEO

That was a lot. I'm not sure I got it. But let's start off. And if you missed anything, then please give us a heads up. In terms of winter source, that follows by name, seawater temperatures. So that will improve going forward. So the worst part is always in the first quarter. And then it gradually improves. But some of the fish is already downgraded in sea because of the skin sores. But some of it can be healed. So you will see improvements. In terms of the price discount, I think we cannot share that with this audience. That's something we have to keep to ourselves for business reasons. And the rest of the question, could you please repeat that?

speaker
Aksel Jakobsen
Analyst, Arctic Securities

Yeah, that was on costs for the second half. So we expect to drop, but do you expect to come back to the level that we saw this quarter, or is there further downside potential? And also the comment on lower costs, do you have an assumption on higher feed prices in the second half, or is that kind of based on the prices that we saw this quarter?

speaker
Ivan Windheim
CEO

In general, I think you must expect higher farming blended cost going forward because of input prices. There's nowhere to hide in this environment, whatever you hear someone else say. So again, there's nowhere to hide. When I said it during the presentation, my point was that we will be lower on volumes in the second quarter in Norway. That will drag or push the cost even higher compared to the first quarter. But on higher volumes, we expect lower realized costs in the second half due to more dilution of costs, more dilution of fixed costs. inflationary pressure we have again there's nowhere to hide I'm afraid so that's the sad part so in the end of the day I think it's All about the salmon's relative position to other animal protein sources, first and foremost. So as long as we can do better than the rest, then I think we are fine. But if you lose that battle, then we are in trouble. And our take, to put all doubt aside, is that we are in good shape. But I'm afraid that we must adapt to different levels going forward. But of course, it can change maybe some of the input prices, drop in cost, then you will see cost improvements. But right now, it's hard to see any light in the tunnel. I don't know if you have any further comments to that, Christian. You work with cost day and night. So can you deliver some real improvements?

speaker
Christian Ellingson
CFO

Yeah, no, of course, I agree with your comments. And to us, it's about combating it and also taking as much as we can. But the underlying picture is very clear for us and for everybody else. There is an underlying pressure on feed, of course, and also on other input factors. And then, of course, normally you see that these supply chain constraints, these pressures, they are often the biggest in the beginning of different situations, and then often the picture improves over time. So let's hope that's also the picture this time around.

speaker
Ivan Windheim
CEO

I've been in the industry for 15 years, and the cost increase we saw last year was equal to my first 14 years, really. So I think that tells a lot. It tells a lot. And this is not only for the salmon. You see the same for all other animal proteins.

speaker
spk01

With these high prices, can you give some flavor on the demand side, as in is it food service that's bidding up and primarily buying on these high prices, and retailers are sort of surfing on lower contracts, or how is the dynamic working on the demand side there?

speaker
Ivan Windheim
CEO

We see good development in both channels. But of course, going out of the pandemic and coming back with food service, that helps a lot, really. But retail is still strong. And this shift we saw during the pandemic, of course, some of it we will lose, relatively speaking. But I think the pandemic built... the retail channel stronger for us. So maybe there was a silver lining in this, although it was not worth it.

speaker
spk01

And do you think the retailers will be willing to participate on the higher prices next year as well, should the prices stay at 7.5 euros or whatever they're going to be?

speaker
Ivan Windheim
CEO

Salmon is the captain of the category. So being a retailer, you cannot do it without salmon. Then you lose your customers. So yes, we strongly believe they will... continue to support the salmon going forward. Because the end customers, they want this product. It ticks all the boxes.

speaker
Nils Thomason
Analyst, Foreign Securities

Nils Thomason, Foreign Securities. I was wondering if you could give a comment on the verdict that went in your favor in British Columbia recently and what impact that can have for Norway and if it changes your view on the operations in Canada West in any way.

speaker
Ivan Windheim
CEO

It's a very good question, and I think we have to be honest and say that the situation is a bit unclear right now, so we don't know. But it was very encouraging to have this rule from the federal court that the government, they failed to give us a fair treatment in the process leading up to the decision in 2019. So if anything, I think the government in Canada has to lay down a very different type of methodology than they have done so far. And they have to start to consult with experts and also with the farmers. So this was absolutely positive for us. And also for the communities in British Columbia. This is a very important industry for them. But the final outcome, we don't know yet. But I can promise you one thing. We will continue to pursue our interests also legally. So the last word is not said in this case.

speaker
Martin Karlang
Analyst, ABG

Martin Karlang, ABG. It seems like you have improving biology in the second half in Scotland, at least outlook for that, and improved biology in Canada. While in Chile, you mentioned that you had a tough summer, but could there still be improvements there as well, going into the second half, into the winter season? Could you comment on how it could develop there?

speaker
Ivan Windheim
CEO

Yeah, normally that takes place in Chile because of seasonality. So absolutely, now we are finished with the worst part of the year. And you always struggle with allergies in Chile, and some years it can be very harmful, as you are all aware of. So a knock on wood, now we are good. And now we are entering into a better part of the year in terms of biology and growth. So yes, we expect to see improvements in Chile as well. So I apologize for not saying so during the presentation. and say if it's possible then to offset some of the cost inflation that you mentioned in fee that it could be normally this help on cost too in the short term but that said in general with increasing input prices over time I think we just have to expect that farming costs goes up There's nowhere to hide. And the comment that I said about the feed prices, it's unprecedented. But of course, if that changes, you will also see a significant change in real life costs after a while.

speaker
Nils Thomason
Analyst, Foreign Securities

Okay, so I think that concludes the Q&A session.

speaker
Ivan Windheim
CEO

Dan, it only remains for me to thank everyone for the attention. We hope to see you all back in August at our second quarter release. Meanwhile, take care and have a great day ahead. Thank you.

Disclaimer

This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.

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