Half Year 2026 Icelandic Salmon AS Earnings Call
Bjørn Hembre: My name is Bjørn Hembre, and with me today I have our CFO, Róbert Róbertsson. After the presentation, there will be a Q&A session where you can ask questions by raising your virtual hand or typing the questions in the chat of the meeting. First, a brief overview of Icelandic Salmon. Icelandic Salmon AS is a company that is listed on the Euronext Growth Market in Oslo and also on the Nasdaq First North Market in Reykjavik. The company is the sole owner and parent company of Arnarlax ehf that performs all operational activities in the group. We are presented through the value chain with our own smolt production, with smolt capacity sufficient for 25,000 to 30,000 tonnes of harvested biomass.
Bjørn Hembre: My name is Bjørn Hembre, and with me today I have our CFO, Róbert Róbertsson. After the presentation, there will be a Q&A session where you can ask questions by raising your virtual hand or typing the questions in the chat of the meeting. First, a brief overview of Icelandic Salmon. Icelandic Salmon AS is a company that is listed on the Euronext Growth Market in Oslo and also on the Nasdaq First North Market in Reykjavik. The company is the sole owner and parent company of Arnarlax ehf that performs all operational activities in the group. We are presented through the value chain with our own smolt production, with smolt capacity sufficient for 25,000 to 30,000 tonnes of harvested biomass.
Speaker #1: My name is Bjørn Hemre, and with me today I have our CFO, Róbert Róbertsen. After the presentation, there will be a Q&A session where you can ask questions by raising your virtual hand or typing the questions in the chat of the meeting.
Speaker #1: First, a brief overview of Icelandic Salmon. Icelandic Salmon AS is a company that is listed on the Euronext Growth market in Oslo, and also on the Nasdaq First North market in Reykjavík.
Speaker #1: The company is the sole owner and parent company of Arnarlax AHF, which performs all operational activities in the group. We are present throughout the value chain with our own small production facility with a capacity sufficient for 25,000 to 30,000 tons of harvested biomass.
Speaker #1: We have our farming operations at sea in three fjords in the Westfjords of Iceland, with a maximum biomass load of 23,700 tons, and all our production at sea is ASC certified.
Bjørn Hembre: We have our farming operations in sea in three fjords in the Westfjords of Iceland, with a Maximum Allowable Biomass of 23,700 tonnes, and all our production in sea is ASC certified. We also do our own harvesting in our harvest plant in Bíldudalur in the Westfjords of Iceland, and the capacity of the harvesting facility is 30,000 tonne per year. The harvesting plant is BRCGS certified, which is a food safety standard. We also perform all the sales in the global and domestic market with our own sales department located just outside Reykjavik, and see big benefits of doing that. If we jump to the highlights of the quarter, the harvested volume in the quarter was 5,500 tonnes compared to 4,000 tonnes in Q2 2025.
Bjørn Hembre: We have our farming operations in sea in three fjords in the Westfjords of Iceland, with a Maximum Allowable Biomass of 23,700 tonnes, and all our production in sea is ASC certified. We also do our own harvesting in our harvest plant in Bíldudalur in the Westfjords of Iceland, and the capacity of the harvesting facility is 30,000 tonne per year. The harvesting plant is BRCGS certified, which is a food safety standard. We also perform all the sales in the global and domestic market with our own sales department located just outside Reykjavik, and see big benefits of doing that. If we jump to the highlights of the quarter, the harvested volume in the quarter was 5,500 tonnes compared to 4,000 tonnes in Q2 2025.
Speaker #1: We also do our own harvesting in our harvest plant in Bildudalur in the Westfjords of Iceland, and the capacity of the harvesting facility is 30,000 tons per year.
Speaker #1: And the harvesting plant is BRCGS-certified, which is a food safety standard. We also perform all the sales in the global and domestic market with our own sales department located just outside Reykjavík, and we see big benefits in doing that.
Speaker #1: So, if we jump to the highlights of the quarter, the harvested volume in the quarter was 5,500 tons, compared to 4,000 tons in Q2 2025.
Speaker #1: Harvest was from the 2024 generation, and we had an average weight of the harvested volume of 6.2 kilos head-on-gutted. The 2024 generation will be harvested out in Q3 this year.
Bjørn Hembre: Harvest was from the 2024 generation, and we had an average weight of the harvested volume of 6.2 kg head on gutted. The 2024 generation will be harvested out in Q3 this year. Q2 was a quarter where the EBIT wise ended at a negative EBIT of EUR 3.2 million, improving from negative EUR 8.3 million in Q2 2025. Prices in Q2 2026 was significantly higher than Q2 2025, and as predicted in our Q1 presentation, the cost of our biomass taken out of stock was slightly up in the quarter. This was due to biological challenges experienced in the beginning of the quarter on our spring 2024 generation, resulting in an extraordinary expense of EUR 2.2 million. There was a good underlying performance on biology in sea, but still see some challenges related to low winter temperatures.
Bjørn Hembre: Harvest was from the 2024 generation, and we had an average weight of the harvested volume of 6.2 kg head on gutted. The 2024 generation will be harvested out in Q3 this year. Q2 was a quarter where the EBIT wise ended at a negative EBIT of EUR 3.2 million, improving from negative EUR 8.3 million in Q2 2025. Prices in Q2 2026 was significantly higher than Q2 2025, and as predicted in our Q1 presentation, the cost of our biomass taken out of stock was slightly up in the quarter. This was due to biological challenges experienced in the beginning of the quarter on our spring 2024 generation, resulting in an extraordinary expense of EUR 2.2 million. There was a good underlying performance on biology in sea, but still see some challenges related to low winter temperatures.
Speaker #1: Quarter 2 was a quarter where the EBIT ended at a negative €3.2 million, improving from negative €8.3 million in quarter 2, 2025.
Speaker #1: Prices in Q2 2026 were significantly higher than Q2 2025, and as predicted in our Q1 presentation, the cost of our biomass taken out of stock was slightly up in the quarter.
Speaker #1: This was due to biological challenges experienced at the beginning of the quarter, on our spring 2024 generation, resulting in an extraordinary expense of €2.2 million.
Speaker #1: There was a good underlying performance on biology in sea, but we still see some challenges related to low winter temperatures. The temperatures were lower than normal in the first half of the quarter, but increased to normal levels at the end of the quarter.
Bjørn Hembre: The temperatures were lower than normal in the first half of the quarter, but increased to normal levels at the end of the quarter. The biomass in sea was 19% higher at the end of Q2 this year compared to Q2 2025. Financial performance improved year over year. This was driven by reduced cost base, good capacity utilization and the market price in the quarter was stronger than Q2 2025, or price achievement was EUR 8.58 cents up between years. The price achievement towards market price was good, driven by big fish sold into the North American and Asian market. The share of down grades in the quarter was 12%. We see that there are still room for biological improvements during wintertime, where extra winter wound vaccine and larger size of fish going into the first winter in sea are important mitigating measures.
Bjørn Hembre: The temperatures were lower than normal in the first half of the quarter, but increased to normal levels at the end of the quarter. The biomass in sea was 19% higher at the end of Q2 this year compared to Q2 2025. Financial performance improved year over year. This was driven by reduced cost base, good capacity utilization and the market price in the quarter was stronger than Q2 2025, or price achievement was EUR 8.58 cents up between years. The price achievement towards market price was good, driven by big fish sold into the North American and Asian market. The share of down grades in the quarter was 12%. We see that there are still room for biological improvements during wintertime, where extra winter wound vaccine and larger size of fish going into the first winter in sea are important mitigating measures.
Speaker #1: The biomass in sea was 19% higher at the end of Q2 this year compared to Q2 2025. Financial performance improved year over year.
Speaker #1: This was driven by reduced costs, good capacity utilization, and the market price. The quarter was stronger than Q2 2025. Our price achievement was 58 euro cents, up between years.
Speaker #1: The price achievement towards market price was good, driven by big fish sold into the North American and Asian markets. The share of downgrades in the quarter was 12%.
Speaker #1: We see that there is still room for biological improvements during wintertime, where extra winter wound vaccine and larger size of fish going into the first winter in sea are important mitigating measures.
Speaker #1: And we also have sites that are performing very well through the winter, and especially our spring 2025 generation, where we saw a mortality ratio of 0.55 throughout Q2 this year.
Bjørn Hembre: And we also have sites that are performing very good through the winter, especially our spring 2025 generation, where we saw a mortality ratio of 0.55 throughout Q2 this year. We saw a good performance cost-wise in all parts of the value chain, with good utilization of capacities strongly affected by our cost saving program that was implemented in Q3 2025. Yearly effect of the cost saving program have resulted in reduced cost base of EUR 5.5 million for the coming years so far. This is, of course, an ongoing project also going forward. Smolt production was operating well and we are in line of putting out planned amount of smolt for 2026. I like to mention that none of the fish groups we have in our smolt facilities at the moment have ever detected poxvirus.
Bjørn Hembre: And we also have sites that are performing very good through the winter, especially our spring 2025 generation, where we saw a mortality ratio of 0.55 throughout Q2 this year. We saw a good performance cost-wise in all parts of the value chain, with good utilization of capacities strongly affected by our cost saving program that was implemented in Q3 2025. Yearly effect of the cost saving program have resulted in reduced cost base of EUR 5.5 million for the coming years so far. This is, of course, an ongoing project also going forward. Smolt production was operating well and we are in line of putting out planned amount of smolt for 2026. I like to mention that none of the fish groups we have in our smolt facilities at the moment have ever detected poxvirus.
Speaker #1: We saw good performance cost-wise in all parts of the value chain, with good utilization of capacities. This was strongly affected by our cost-saving program that was implemented in Q3 2025, and the yearly effect of the cost-saving program has resulted in a reduced cost base of €5.5 million for the coming years.
Speaker #1: So far, this is, of course, an ongoing project going forward. Small production was operating well, and we are on track to put out the planned amount of smalls for 2026.
Speaker #1: I would like to mention that none of the fish groups we have in our smolt facilities at the moment have ever detected POX virus. This means that we now have that under good control, and this virus has, over the last year, caused us major challenges in the smolt production.
Bjørn Hembre: This means that we now have that under good control, and this virus has, over the last year, caused us major challenges in the smolt production. We also got a renewal of our 10,000 tonne Maximum Allowable Biomass license in Arnarfjörður, and that license is then valid for another 16 years. I will then give the word to you, Róbert.
Bjørn Hembre: This means that we now have that under good control, and this virus has, over the last year, caused us major challenges in the smolt production. We also got a renewal of our 10,000 tonne Maximum Allowable Biomass license in Arnarfjörður, and that license is then valid for another 16 years. I will then give the word to you, Róbert.
Speaker #1: We also got a renewal of our 10,000-ton maximum load biomass license in Arinafjordur. That license is now valid for another 16 years. I will then give the word to you, Robert.
Speaker #2: Thank you, Björn. Good morning, everyone. Here you can see the first slides of two, providing a high-level overview of the group's balance sheet, which remained broadly stable quarter over quarter.
Róbert Róbertsson: Thank you, Bjørn. Good morning, everyone. Here you can see the first slides of two, providing a high-level overview of the group's balance sheet, which remained broadly stable quarter-over-quarter. Total assets decreased by EUR 3 million and ended around EUR 270 million at the end of the quarter. This change sits entirely in current assets. Fair value adjustment during the quarter contributed to EUR 1.9 million. Total liabilities were broadly unchanged, with a small shift from non-current into current liabilities. The equity ratio moved from 44% to 43%, a marginal change and comfortably within our covenant framework. We expect pressure on covenant compliance to remain limited through 2026. Available liquidity stood at EUR 46 million at the end of the quarter. On the next slide, we present the development in net interest-bearing debt during the quarter.
Róbert Róbertsson: Thank you, Bjørn. Good morning, everyone. Here you can see the first slides of two, providing a high-level overview of the group's balance sheet, which remained broadly stable quarter-over-quarter. Total assets decreased by EUR 3 million and ended around EUR 270 million at the end of the quarter. This change sits entirely in current assets. Fair value adjustment during the quarter contributed to EUR 1.9 million. Total liabilities were broadly unchanged, with a small shift from non-current into current liabilities. The equity ratio moved from 44% to 43%, a marginal change and comfortably within our covenant framework. We expect pressure on covenant compliance to remain limited through 2026. Available liquidity stood at EUR 46 million at the end of the quarter. On the next slide, we present the development in net interest-bearing debt during the quarter.
Speaker #2: Total assets decreased by €3 million and ended around €270 million at the end of the quarter. This change was entirely in current assets.
Speaker #2: Fair value adjustment during the quarter contributed €1.9 million. Total liabilities were broadly unchanged, with a small shift from non-current into current liabilities. The equity ratio moved from 44% to 43%.
Speaker #2: A marginal change, and at the comfortably within our covenant framework. We expect pressure on covenant compliance to remain limited through 2026. Available liquidity stood at €46 million at the end of the quarter.
Speaker #2: On the next slide, we present the development in net interest-bearing debt during the quarter. Net interest-bearing debt came down by €7 million, from €131 million down to €124 million at the end of June.
Róbert Róbertsson: Net interest-bearing debt came down by EUR 7 million from EUR 131 million, down to EUR 124 million at the end of June. Leasing was flat quarter-over-quarter, so the full reduction sits in net debt. So we walk through the net interest-bearing debt. Starting from left, EBITDA reached roughly EUR 100,000 in the second quarter. No tax was paid in the quarter. The production tax for the H1 2026 falls due in August, so you'll see the outflow in the third quarter. The largest single driver is working capital, which released EUR 11.2 million during the quarter, reflecting the 5,500 tonnes harvested during the quarter. Against that, net interest paid of EUR 2.3 million, leasing and other items of EUR 1 million and CapEx investment of EUR 1.1 million, making the total CapEx investment year to date EUR 1.6 million. The CapEx investments are deliberately low.
Róbert Róbertsson: Net interest-bearing debt came down by EUR 7 million from EUR 131 million, down to EUR 124 million at the end of June. Leasing was flat quarter-over-quarter, so the full reduction sits in net debt. So we walk through the net interest-bearing debt. Starting from left, EBITDA reached roughly EUR 100,000 in the second quarter. No tax was paid in the quarter. The production tax for the H1 2026 falls due in August, so you'll see the outflow in the third quarter. The largest single driver is working capital, which released EUR 11.2 million during the quarter, reflecting the 5,500 tonnes harvested during the quarter. Against that, net interest paid of EUR 2.3 million, leasing and other items of EUR 1 million and CapEx investment of EUR 1.1 million, making the total CapEx investment year to date EUR 1.6 million. The CapEx investments are deliberately low.
Speaker #2: Leasing was flat quarter over quarter, so the full reduction sits in net debt. So, as we work through the net interest-bearing debt, starting from the left, EBITDA reached roughly €100,000.
Speaker #2: In the second quarter, no tax was paid in the quarter. The production tax for the first half of 2026 falls due in August, so you'll see the outflow in the third quarter.
Speaker #2: The largest single driver is working capital, which released €11.2 million during the quarter, reflecting the 5,500 tons harvested during the quarter. Against that, net interest paid of €2.3 million, leasing and other items of €1 million, and capex investment of €1.1 million, making the total capex investment year to date €1.6 million.
Speaker #2: The CapEx investments are deliberately low. Our investment program is weighted to the second half of 2026, so you should expect the run rate to step up from here.
Róbert Róbertsson: Our investment program is weighted to the H2 of 2026. You should expect the run rate to step up from here. The total planned CapEx for 2026 will be limited with only around EUR 4.1 million planned investment for the full year, which is approximately one third of projected depreciations of the year. With that, I conclude the group's financials and hand the word back to you, Bjørn.
Róbert Róbertsson: Our investment program is weighted to the H2 of 2026. You should expect the run rate to step up from here. The total planned CapEx for 2026 will be limited with only around EUR 4.1 million planned investment for the full year, which is approximately one third of projected depreciations of the year. With that, I conclude the group's financials and hand the word back to you, Bjørn.
Speaker #2: The total planned CapEx for 2026 will be limited, with only around €4.1 million planned investment for the full year, which is approximately one-third of projected depreciations for the year.
Speaker #2: With that, I conclude the group's financials and will hand the word back to you, Björn.
Speaker #1: Thank you, Robert. So, if you take an update on sales and the market, there was a negative development in market price from Q1 to Q2, representing a €0.44 decrease on our volume-weighted average on our own sales.
Bjørn Hembre: Thank you, Róbert. If you take an update on sales and market, there was a negative development in market price from Q1 to Q2, representing EUR 0.44 decrease on our volume weighted on our own sales. Compared to Q2 2025, the price was up with EUR 0.58 between years volume weighted for our own sold volume. The price achievement was affected that we had increased share of bigger sizes that mainly go into the North American market where we have a logistic advantage that is reflected in the achieved FOB price back to Iceland, and also the Asian market where China is dominant and Iceland have a Free Trade Agreement with China that makes us very competitive in that market. The volumes sold to North America increased from 10% in Q1 to 16% in Q2.
Bjørn Hembre: Thank you, Róbert. If you take an update on sales and market, there was a negative development in market price from Q1 to Q2, representing EUR 0.44 decrease on our volume weighted on our own sales. Compared to Q2 2025, the price was up with EUR 0.58 between years volume weighted for our own sold volume. The price achievement was affected that we had increased share of bigger sizes that mainly go into the North American market where we have a logistic advantage that is reflected in the achieved FOB price back to Iceland, and also the Asian market where China is dominant and Iceland have a Free Trade Agreement with China that makes us very competitive in that market. The volumes sold to North America increased from 10% in Q1 to 16% in Q2.
Speaker #1: Compared to Q2 2025, the price was up by 58 euro cents year-over-year, volume-weighted for our own sold volume. The price agreement was affected by an increased share of bigger sizes, which mainly go into the North American market, where we have a logistical advantage that is reflected in the achieved FOB price back to Iceland.
Speaker #1: And also the Asian market, where China is dominant, and Iceland has a free trade agreement with China that makes us very competitive in that market.
Speaker #1: The volumes sold to North America increased from 10% in Q1 to 16% in Q2. This increase was mainly due to a higher share of 6-kilo-plus fish available in the harvest volume.
Bjørn Hembre: This increase was mainly due to higher share of 6 kilo plus fish available in the harvest volume. We also in the Q2 felt that the US market was a bit slow due to the 15% tariff that we have at that time. The access to 6 kilo plus fish also increased the volume to the Asian market, and that increased from 14% in Q1 to 19% in Q2. In total, into the European market, we sold 67% of the volume. The contract here ended at 6% for the quarter, and the contracts gave a positive contribution to our price achievement. We also saw an increased volumes on trade sales after entering into a trade sales contract with a third party producer in Q1 this year, and see that as a growing part of our activity within our sales department.
Bjørn Hembre: This increase was mainly due to higher share of 6 kilo plus fish available in the harvest volume. We also in the Q2 felt that the US market was a bit slow due to the 15% tariff that we have at that time. The access to 6 kilo plus fish also increased the volume to the Asian market, and that increased from 14% in Q1 to 19% in Q2. In total, into the European market, we sold 67% of the volume. The contract here ended at 6% for the quarter, and the contracts gave a positive contribution to our price achievement. We also saw an increased volumes on trade sales after entering into a trade sales contract with a third party producer in Q1 this year, and see that as a growing part of our activity within our sales department.
Speaker #1: And we also, in Q2, felt that the US market was a bit slow due to the 15% tariffs that we had at that time.
Speaker #1: The access to 6-kilo-plus fish also increased the volume to the Asian market, and that increased from 14% in Q1 to 19% in Q2.
Speaker #1: So in total, into the European market, we sold 67% of the volume. The contract share ended at 6% for the quarter, and the contracts gave a positive contribution to our price agreement.
Speaker #1: We also saw increased volumes on trade sales after entering into a trade sales contract with a third-party producer in Q1 this year, and see that as a growing part of our activity within our sales department.
Speaker #1: If we then move to the outlook as we see it, we keep the guided volume for 2026 at 21,300 tons. We still see the potential for harvesting 26,000 tons on our existing licenses.
Bjørn Hembre: If we then move to the outlook, as we see it, we keep the guided volume for 2026 to 21,300 tonnes. We still see the potential for harvesting 26,000 tonne on our existing licenses, and most CapEx to reach that goal is done, and remaining CapEx needed to reach that goal is put on hold until new framework for the industry is known. We foresee a decrease in cost in Q3 when we start harvesting on our 2025 generation, and the cost reduction is driven by better biological performance on the 2025 generation with improved survival and growth ratios, and also expecting high superior shares on the harvested volume.
Bjørn Hembre: If we then move to the outlook, as we see it, we keep the guided volume for 2026 to 21,300 tonnes. We still see the potential for harvesting 26,000 tonne on our existing licenses, and most CapEx to reach that goal is done, and remaining CapEx needed to reach that goal is put on hold until new framework for the industry is known. We foresee a decrease in cost in Q3 when we start harvesting on our 2025 generation, and the cost reduction is driven by better biological performance on the 2025 generation with improved survival and growth ratios, and also expecting high superior shares on the harvested volume.
Speaker #1: And most CapEx to reach that goal is done. The remaining CapEx needed to reach that goal is put on hold until a new framework for the industry is known.
Speaker #1: We foresee a decrease in cost in Q3 when we start harvesting on our 2025 generation, and the cost reduction is driven by better biological performance on the 2025 generation, with improved survival and growth ratios, and also expected higher superior shares on the harvested volume.
Speaker #1: And the second thing is the earlier-mentioned cost-saving program, from which we are seeing better and better effects in the P&L, as well as generally better capacity utilization due to higher volumes produced in the second half of the year.
Bjørn Hembre: The second thing is the earlier mentioned cost-saving program that we see a better and better effect of in the P&L, as well as generally better capacity utilization due to higher volumes produced in the H2 of the year. We expect higher feed prices going forward. We also expect that this increase will be offset with improvements that we see in the operation. This is at least with the feed price increases that we foresee at the moment. Biomass in sea was, as mentioned, 19% higher at the end of Q2 2026 compared to Q2 2025, enabling improved MAB utilization in 2026 compared to previous years. This contributes to reducing the fixed cost per kilo produced significantly. The contract share for the year is expected to be 10%.
Bjørn Hembre: The second thing is the earlier mentioned cost-saving program that we see a better and better effect of in the P&L, as well as generally better capacity utilization due to higher volumes produced in the H2 of the year. We expect higher feed prices going forward. We also expect that this increase will be offset with improvements that we see in the operation. This is at least with the feed price increases that we foresee at the moment. Biomass in sea was, as mentioned, 19% higher at the end of Q2 2026 compared to Q2 2025, enabling improved MAB utilization in 2026 compared to previous years. This contributes to reducing the fixed cost per kilo produced significantly. The contract share for the year is expected to be 10%.
Speaker #1: We expect higher feed prices going forward, but we also expect that this increase will be offset by improvements that we see in the operation.
Speaker #1: This is at least with the feed price increases that we foresee at the moment. Biomass in sea was, as mentioned, 19% higher at the end of Q2 2026 compared to Q2 2025, enabling improved MIB utilization in 2026 compared to previous years.
Speaker #1: This contributes to reducing the fixed cost per kilo produced significantly. The contract share for the year is expected to be 10%. On the 24th of July, we got a pleasant surprise when the tariffs to the US market were set to 0%.
Bjørn Hembre: On 24 July, we got a pleasant surprise when the tariffs to the US market was set to 0%. This gives us a significant benefit compared to, for example, Norway and UK into that market, and we see an immediate effect of this on our price achievement in that market. We are now adapting our production to benefit from a stronger US demand. This means we are adjusting what days we are harvesting and have increased the capacity for flight packing and more deliveries both to North America and also China. For the first time, we are also expecting direct flights from Iceland to China, and this is expected to strengthen our access to the Chinese market going forward. This will happen in October with three weekly flights between China and Iceland.
Bjørn Hembre: On 24 July, we got a pleasant surprise when the tariffs to the US market was set to 0%. This gives us a significant benefit compared to, for example, Norway and UK into that market, and we see an immediate effect of this on our price achievement in that market. We are now adapting our production to benefit from a stronger US demand. This means we are adjusting what days we are harvesting and have increased the capacity for flight packing and more deliveries both to North America and also China. For the first time, we are also expecting direct flights from Iceland to China, and this is expected to strengthen our access to the Chinese market going forward. This will happen in October with three weekly flights between China and Iceland.
Speaker #1: This gives us a significant benefit compared to, for example, Norway and the UK in that market. And we see an immediate effect of this on our price achievement in that market.
Speaker #1: We are now adapting our production to benefit from stronger US demand. This means we are adjusting the days we are harvesting and have increased the capacity for flight packing and more deliveries, both to North America and also to China.
Speaker #1: For the first time, we are also expecting direct flights from Iceland to China, and this is expected to strengthen our access to the Chinese market going forward.
Speaker #1: This will happen in October, with three weekly flights between China and Iceland. The risk assessment for sailing for the 10,000-ton license application in ESAfjordur is now being finalized.
Bjørn Hembre: The risk assessment for siting for the 10,000 ton license application in Ísafjörður is now being finalized, constituting the final step towards approval for the license. The license was awarded in 2024, but revoked due to, among other things, missing risk assessment of siting. At the end, I want to mention the work with the new aquaculture law in Iceland. A new aquaculture law was presented to the Parliament, Alþingi, in June, containing many positive elements, but was not approved. This has resulted in continued uncertainty on key regulation for both the industry and also for Icelandic Salmon. The lack of clarity on key regulation is unsustainable and is sadly making it irresponsible and impossible for us to command to further growth and CapEx at the moment. There is a clear need for change in the regulation and particularly a change in the unfortunate and excessive high industry-specific taxes.
Bjørn Hembre: The risk assessment for siting for the 10,000 ton license application in Ísafjörður is now being finalized, constituting the final step towards approval for the license. The license was awarded in 2024, but revoked due to, among other things, missing risk assessment of siting. At the end, I want to mention the work with the new aquaculture law in Iceland. A new aquaculture law was presented to the Parliament, Alþingi, in June, containing many positive elements, but was not approved. This has resulted in continued uncertainty on key regulation for both the industry and also for Icelandic Salmon. The lack of clarity on key regulation is unsustainable and is sadly making it irresponsible and impossible for us to command to further growth and CapEx at the moment. There is a clear need for change in the regulation and particularly a change in the unfortunate and excessive high industry-specific taxes.
Speaker #1: Constituting the final step towards approval, the license was awarded in 2024 but revoked due to, among other things, a missing risk assessment of sailing.
Speaker #1: At the end, I want to mention the work with the new aquaculture law in Iceland. A new aquaculture law was presented to the Parliament, Althingi, in June.
Speaker #1: Containing many positive elements, but it was not approved. This has resulted in continued uncertainty on key regulations for both the industry and also for Icelandic Salmon.
Speaker #1: The lack of clarity on key regulation is unsustainable and is, sadly, making it irresponsible and impossible for us to commit to further growth and capex at the moment.
Speaker #1: There is a clear need for change in the regulation, and particularly a change in the unfortunate and excessively high industry-specific taxes. A more predictable, reasonable, and compatible tax regime—with the potential for growth and more optimized monitoring by the authorities—is key to continuing the development of fish farming in Iceland.
Bjørn Hembre: A predictable, more reasonable, and competitive tax regime with the potential for growth and more optimized monitoring from the authorities are key to continued development of fish farming in Iceland. We therefore hope for a resolution soon, putting in place a framework for the industry that will enable continued investments and growth, value creation, and creation of local jobs in the communities we are operating. I will then thank you for listening to the presentation. We will now move into the Q&A session. Please raise your hand if you want to ask the question orally, or you can type the questions in the chat of the meeting. Please feel free for questions. The first question, why do you cut the smolt release guiding from 5.4 million to 5.1 for 2026? How much do you plan in 2027? We will plan to increase that in 2027.
Bjørn Hembre: A predictable, more reasonable, and competitive tax regime with the potential for growth and more optimized monitoring from the authorities are key to continued development of fish farming in Iceland. We therefore hope for a resolution soon, putting in place a framework for the industry that will enable continued investments and growth, value creation, and creation of local jobs in the communities we are operating. I will then thank you for listening to the presentation. We will now move into the Q&A session. Please raise your hand if you want to ask the question orally, or you can type the questions in the chat of the meeting. Please feel free for questions. The first question, why do you cut the smolt release guiding from 5.4 million to 5.1 for 2026? How much do you plan in 2027? We will plan to increase that in 2027.
Speaker #1: We therefore hope for a resolution soon, putting in place a framework for the industry that will enable continued investments and growth, value creation, and the creation of local jobs in the communities where we are operating.
Speaker #1: I will then thank you for listening to the presentation. We will now move into the Q&A session, so please raise your hand if you want to ask a question orally, or you can type your questions in the chat of the meeting.
Speaker #1: So please feel free to ask any questions.
Speaker #2: So, the first question: why did you cut the small-release guiding from 5.4 million to 5.1 million for 2026? And how much do you plan for 2027?
Speaker #1: We plan to increase that in 2027. We haven't communicated any number there, but we expect an increase. And the correction in 2026 is related to adoptions in the small production.
Bjørn Hembre: We haven't communicated any number there, but we expect an increase there. The correction in 2026 is related to adaptions in the smolt production. We foresee that within the MAB, it should be possible to reach their production goals going forward with a multi-product in 2026. I don't see any further questions, so if you have any further questions after the meeting, please feel free to contact me via email or Bjørn. We'll try to answer further questions. Then again, thank you for watching our Q2 presentation, and wish you all a great day. Thank you.
Bjørn Hembre: We haven't communicated any number there, but we expect an increase there. The correction in 2026 is related to adaptions in the smolt production. We foresee that within the MAB, it should be possible to reach their production goals going forward with a multi-product in 2026. I don't see any further questions, so if you have any further questions after the meeting, please feel free to contact me via email or Bjørn. We'll try to answer further questions. Then again, thank you for watching our Q2 presentation, and wish you all a great day. Thank you.
Speaker #1: But we foresee that within the MIB, it should be possible to reach the production goals going forward with the amount we put out in 2026.
Speaker #2: I don't see any further questions. So if you have any further questions after the meeting, please feel free to contact me via email or through Björn.
Speaker #2: We will try to answer further questions.
Speaker #1: And again, thank you for watching our Q2 presentation, and we wish you all a great day. Thank you.
Róbert Róbertsson: Thank you.
Róbert Róbertsson: Thank you.
