It's a great pleasure for me to welcome you to Austevoll Seafood third quarter presentation. I will start off by giving the highlights of our operations. I will take you through the different segments we are operating within. Thereafter, our CFO, Britt Drivenes, will take you more in detail through the numbers, and I will end this presentation by giving our view on the different markets we are operating within. Starting up, I have to say that we have had a very good quarter, and it's been marked by a good price achievement for most of our products. If you look in our South American activity, there has been a seasonal low activity during third quarter.
However, we have committed a lot of sales to good prices during the quarter. We have had good activity in the pelagic segment in the North Atlantic, and it's been particularly marked by the early start of the mackerel season, and also herring season in the end of the quarter. If you look to Lerøy also, it's been a high volume slaughter during the quarter, and with the variable performance depending on the regions we are operating. I will come back to that. So summing up, if you look at the numbers, you can see that the revenue for the quarter is NOK 9 billion.
EBITDA is up by NOK 600 million to NOK 1.7 billion compared with the same quarter last year. An EBIT of just below NOK 1.3 billion and pre-tax profit of approximately NOK 1.34 billion . I would say it's three segments which has performed much better this quarter than last quarter, which is in particular our activity in Peru, the salmon activity, and also a better performance from Pelagia in the North Atlantic. If you take into account the 50% share of Pelagia, our EBITDA is surpassing NOK 2 billion , whereas NOK 1.2 billion is coming from salmon and approximately NOK 850 million is coming from the pelagic business.
Looking at year-end figures for the first nine months, you can see that our revenue is approximately NOK 23.5 billion. We have an EBITDA just south of NOK 5 billion, EBIT of NOK 3.6 billion, and a pre-tax profit of NOK 3.7 billion. Doing the same exercise in terms of including 50% of the EBITDA of Pelagia, you can see that the total EBITDA for the first nine months is NOK 5.5 billion, whereof NOK 3.6 billion is coming from the salmon segment, and approximately NOK 1.85 billion is coming from the pelagic segment.
Compare with the first nine months, you can see that we are delivering NOK 1 billion better in EBITDA from Lerøy, and NOK 570 million better from the pelagic segment. It's mainly driven by Peru, our Pelagia, and also our salmon company, Kobbevik og Furuholmen. You can also see that the balance sheet has increased. We have had an inflation in cost and also net interest-bearing debt is going up. It's a working capital demanding industry, and when we have inflation in cost, has also an impact on our working capital, but remains with a strong equity share of 58%.
Summing up, if you look at the operational overview, you can see on the right-hand side of that this year we're gonna catch approximately 400,000 tons of pelagic fish on our own license with our own fishing vessels. We are aiming to produce 1.9 million tons of pelagic fish in our processing plants. Handling white fish both on our trawlers and on our factories in Norway, approximately a volume of 100,000 tons, and aiming to slaughter 200,000 tons of salmon in 2022. Now starting up, having a look on the different subsidiary within the pelagic business. What you can say here when it comes to Peru is that we have had a seasonal low activity.
It's been off-season, and it's been a maintenance period both for our fleet and also for our factories. Saying that, we came into the quarter with a high stock of both fishmeal and fish oil, which we have sold for a better achieved prices than we did same time last year. Thus has also an impact on the result which Britt will take you through more in detail later on. We have acquired our second-hand fishing vessel in Norway, replaced by two existing vessels in Peru, and are hoping to get this vessel ready for the new seasons, which we believe will start up by the second half of November.
It's fair to notice also that we believe it's gonna be a bit later start up of the season than previously. The committed sales in the fourth quarter need to be produced before the 6th of December. I think mainly most of our sales is gonna be sold during first quarter and less is gonna be sold in fourth quarter. We don't know the result of the research yet. Hopefully within second half of 2023 it's gonna be announced. What we have put in here as a guidance is a quota of 2 million tons. Of course, that's subject to the result from IMARPE.
Looking into Chile, this is the fourth year we have increased quotas with approximately 50%. The biomass has been recovering from the collapse back in 2010. This year our own quota was 46,000 tons. We have been able to purchase from third-party players approximately 35,000 tons in addition. This we also aim to do during next season and aiming for a volume in 2023 of just north of 90,000 tons of mackerel and horse mackerel. I would say the operation has gone smoothly this year.
All the credit to the management in terms of handling I would say difficult logistical challenges to get transport the fish out in the main market. We also see that we have increased our percentage in for frozen products, which is also giving better margin than canned and fish meal and fish oil products. Looking forward to start up the new season again and have also increased capacity for freezing from 600 tons a day to 750 tons a day. When we look into the North Atlantic pelagic quotas for next year, it's still some quotas which is not finalized yet, but we have put in some estimates.
How it looks is that the ICES recommendation will increase the blue whiting quota with 81%, which is the main species going in for our fishmeal and fish oil activity. We are also seeing that all North Sea herring, NVG herring, capelin and mackerel is reducing the quota this year, which is the main species going in for our human consumption activity. Looking into Pelagia and when it comes to fishmeal and fish oil, I would say it's been a normal production quarter. Both when it comes to production of pelagic trimmings but also from salmon-based raw material has been normal. The volume is more or less same level as same quarter last year.
What I can say here on the fishmeal segment is that we have had increasing fishmeal and fish oil prices during the year, and it has also impacted good result from Pelagia also in third quarter where they are committing most of their sales. Human consumption activity mainly marked by mackerel season early start and also start producing from North Sea herring and also from spring-spawning herring. This continues into the fourth quarter and will probably end of November. I would say a good walk through this season as well.
You can see on the numbers, we have had a revenue in third quarter of just below NOK 3 billion, an EBITDA of just sort of NOK 600 million and an EBIT of NOK 500 million. Looking at the year end, our revenue is NOK 7.5 billion, EBITDA of just north of NOK 1 billion and an EBIT of NOK 780 million. Having a look into the salmon and whitefish segment. We have increased our EBIT from this quarter compared with same quarter last year. It's mainly related to increase of prices. The volume has more or less been the same this quarter than it was same quarter last year.
Approximately 15,000 tons of our 56,000 tons is coming from Lerøy Aurora, 22,000 tons from Lerøy Midt, and approximately 19,000 tons is coming from Lerøy Sjøtroll. The prices has a steep drop compared with same quarter. Now compared with last quarter, but an increase compared with same quarter last year. EBIT is up NOK 40 per kilo, where the highest EBIT per kilo is in the mid Norway than in Lerøy Aurora. We have biological challenges in particular in Lerøy Sjøtroll due to high sea lice treatment and also some biological issue on our biomass there. We are not 100% happy with the performance in Lerøy Midt either.
The growth has not been as good as we hoped it would be. If you look into Lerøy Aurora, I think we are on the right track with good biological performances in this region. Volume-wise, we are aiming to produce 175,000 tons in Norway this year, and approximately 20,000 tons in Scotland, leaving us a volume of 193,000 tons in total. Aiming to increase this volume for next year, up to 180,000 tons in Norway, and total just passing 200,000 tons.
We got presented a new tax proposal from the Norwegian government the 28th of September, where they want to implement a new resource rent tax with additional 40% tax on profit generated from the sea phase of farming. Again, I would say the process, the level, and the model has been extremely challenging for us both in short term and also in when it comes to long-term development of our company. We are present in 60 different municipalities in Norway up along the coast with good activity in farming in Lerøy.
This tax proposal will have an impact on how we are actually able to develop our company going forward if it's being implemented. Some of the chaos which this proposal has led to is that we are actually not at the present date 100% aware of what kind of taxes we're gonna have starting from the 1st of January 2023. We're gonna deliver our hearings to this new tax proposal by the 4th of January. Also the government is gonna discuss it with the Congress during the summer period. It's an extreme unpredictability when it comes to this suggestion.
Also, the level to triple the taxes in Norway is dramatic. The third aspect of this is that we are not actually sure if it's the Nasdaq prices which is gonna be the basis for the taxes. So a lot of uncertainties and a lot of discussions, and for the time being, this suggestion is challenging our activity along the coast of Norway. Looking at our whitefish segment, it is fair to say that the achievement has been good. Normally, third quarter is a seasonal low fishing quarter, but it's been better this quarter than it was same quarter last year.
Prices are extremely good, up over 50% on cod, approximately 20% up on haddock, and 40% up on saithe. A very good price achievement for our fishing vessels, but it also make it more challenging for our factories on shore, when raw material prices is increasing. All in all, a better performance this quarter and so far this year, compared with same period last year.
I will give the floor to Britt .
Thank you, Arne . This table sums up the activity in the different operational companies in the quarter. Shortly to sum up, a seasonal low activity in the south in South America within the pelagic segment, and a very good activity within the pelagic segment in north in the North Atlantic. Looking at the salmon business, the slaughtered volumes are almost at the same level as same quarter last year, but substantially up from second quarter this year. Arne Møgster has already taken you through the highlights and the key figures.
What we can say is that we have a higher revenue, and this comes as a consequence of a higher price achievement for the finished products that the company sells. The EBIT in the quarter was almost NOK 1.3 billion, up from NOK 741 million in the same quarter last year. The increase in EBIT are mainly coming from Austral Group in Peru and Lerøy Seafood Group here in Norway. And again, as a consequence of higher price achievements on the finished products. Income from associated companies are NOK 173 million, a little bit down from NOK 194 million. The decrease in income comes mainly from Norskott Havbruk.
There has been some biological challenges and also they have slaughtered fish on lower average weight. Net finance are minus NOK 113 million. Of that, minus NOK 94 million are net interest, and that is up from minus NOK 67 million in net interest same quarter last year. We have seen increasing interest rate and also we tie up some more working capital. The result, or the pre-tax result, is NOK 1.3 billion, up from NOK 839 million, and this gives an earnings per share of NOK 3.52, up from NOK 2.26.
In third quarter, the revenue was NOK 23.5 billion, up from NOK 19.6 billion in the first nine months of 2021. EBIT ex biomass adjustment and also settlement cost was NOK 3.6 billion, up from NOK 2.3 billion. The income from associated companies has increased. It was NOK 342 million, up from NOK 305 million, and the increase are mainly coming from Pelagia. It looks like the net finance are down here, but that is because of a positive currency effect year to date this year of NOK 9 million. Last year, we had a negative currency effect of NOK -56 million.
The net interest year to date are -NOK 272 million, up from -NOK 213 million in the same period last year. Again, increased interest level and also working capital. Pre-tax are in year to date Q3 2022 is NOK 3.7 billion, up from NOK 2.3 billion in same period last year, which gives earnings per share of NOK 8.28, up from NOK 5.39. The main value driver for Lerøy is EBIT per kilo. You can see that the slaughter volume this quarter is more or less the same as same quarter last year, a little bit over 56,000 tons.
The price achievement or the spot prices has been extremely volatile in 2022. We can see that there has been a decrease in spot prices quarter-over-quarter of NOK 37 , but there has been an increase of NOK 14 year-over-year. But of course, Lerøy's total price achievements are influenced by their contract share, and the contract share in third quarter was 37%, and the contract prices were lower than the spot prices. We also see inflation trend year-over-year. The production cost, looking at third quarter this year compared with last year, has increased by NOK 3.5, just because of the feed.
We see an increase in cost from the slaughter processing of NOK 1. Wild catch, there has been some higher volume this quarter compared to last quarter. The price achievement has been increasing on average approximately 25%, but for cod as much as 56%. We see the inflation trend here and especially for fuel. Fuel costs are up NOK 49 million in third quarter this year compared with last year. This even though the consumption has been a little bit lower than same period last year. Higher price achievement for the raw material has been very challenging for the onshore industry. We have been into this also in the previous presentation.
We see that the prices out to the end consumer has not had the same, increase in prices as we see for the raw material. This has given a pressure on the margin on the onshore industry. Lerøy's EBIT in the quarter was NOK 831 million, up from NOK 579 million in same quarter last year. Moving out over to South America and to Austral Group. There has as normal been a seasonal low activity in third quarter. The company caught 27,000 tons of its own quota in July. The remaining quota for the first season. They went into the quarter with a high inventory of finished products, and most of that has been sold in the quarter.
The price achievement has been 13% higher for fishmeal and as high as 80% up for the fish oil. The revenue in the quarter was NOK 1.2 billion, and the EBITDA NOK 446 million, and the EBIT NOK 396 million, up from NOK 145 million in same quarter last year. What I would like to mention is that we have a one-off effect of NOK 61 million in third quarter this year. Also in Chile low seasonal activity as normal. Chile have their main season in first half of the year. They finalized their horse mackerel quota. We managed in the end of the quarter to purchase an additional 3,600 tons from third party, which we expect to fish in December.
The company has sold a higher volume of frozen products, but the price achievements are down by 20% compared to same quarter last year. The revenue in the quarter was NOK 230 million, the EBITDA NOK 37 million, and the EBIT NOK 28 million, up from NOK 18 million in same quarter last year. Br. Birkeland Farming has slaughtered just below 1,200 tons this quarter, and that is down from 2,300 tons in the same quarter last year. However, third quarter last year was heavily impacted by an ISA outbreak, and they had to slaughter all their ISA fish in third quarter on very low average weights.
The company sells all its fish in the spot market, and the company has achieved an EBIT per kilo of NOK 7.2 in third quarter this year. Of course, as I said, third quarter last year was heavily impacted by this ISA outbreak. Br. Birkeland AS have had the two pelagic vessels in operation in the third quarter. The vessels started their mackerel season early August, and they almost finalized their mackerel quota by the end of third quarter. The price achievement has been good and better than last year. The two snow crab vessels do not have any operation in second half of the year. The quota was finalized in first half of the year, so they are doing maintenance and repairs.
Of course, they operates in very rough waters up north in Norway. There are substantial repairs to be done due to damages from the ice. The revenue in the quarter was NOK 100 million, the EBITDA was NOK 31 million, and the EBIT was NOK 17 million. We have also sold finished products of snow crab this quarter. What we can say is that the price achievement for snow crab are substantially lower compared to 2021. The group has a total asset of NOK 48 billion. I would like to mention that some of the group companies do have other functional currency than NOK.
Of course, converting from dollars to NOK will influence the size of the assets or the balance sheet. Besides that, we can see that the value of the biomass has increased from the end of the year with NOK 2.3 billion, and especially driven by the IFRS biomass adjustment, which alone is more than NOK 1.5 billion. The booked equity is NOK 28 billion, which gives an equity ratio of 58%. Net interest-bearing debt by the end of third quarter is NOK 4.9 billion, up from NOK 3.9 billion by the end of September last year.
I will give you a few comments on the cash flow when we look at year to date. The cash flow from operations is NOK 2.6 billion. As I have mentioned earlier, we tie up substantially more working capital, subject to inflation, this year compared with last year. The cash flow from operations is NOK 1.2 billion. We have received NOK 131 million in dividend from associated companies. The cash flow from financing is NOK 2.5 billion. Of this, dividend stands for NOK 1.7 billion, and that is dividend to the shareholders of Austevoll Seafood also, but also dividends to the minority shareholders of the group companies.
We started the year with a cash position of NOK 5.3 billion, and we end third quarter with a cash position of NOK 4.3 billion.
I will continue taking you through the different markets and the different segments, starting off with fishmeal. As you can see, it's been a great stable production of fishmeal in the largest producer countries, comparing this period to the same period last year. It's more or less same level, but you can see that fishmeal production is down, particularly in Peru. Prices has been quite good, I would say, and increasing during the quarter. Spreads at 13% up this quarter compared with same quarter last year. It's the main drivers behind the consumption is the Chinese market, which has consumed more than 75% of, or acquired more than 75% of the Peruvian production.
We are all waiting for a new season, and I would say it's limited stock available for new offers in Peru today. When you look at the fishmeal market, looking into China, you can see that the volume is a bit higher than it was last year in stock, but the daily offtake is also higher. We see that the prices obtained in China is marginally higher than what they are selling it in Peru. And we are also seeing that there's a devaluation of the Chinese yuan, which is also making it more expensive to import fishmeal from South America. But all in all, prices has increased and are still favorable using fishmeal in the diet versus soya meal.
Looking into the fish oil situation, you see it's an increasing production of fish oil with approximately 6%, but Peru is down by 34%. The yield from the first season in Peru was much lower than normal and has led to the increase in prices, as you can see on the graph on the bottom left. Limited, I would say difference between feed grade and Omega-3 grade at the moment, but are also a result of small volume traded from Peru. Looking at the volume, we are expecting this year that the production globally will be more or less the same as it was last year, and we don't foresee any huge changes in volumes for next year.
The underlying fundamentals in terms of supply is favorable for good price achievements also during next year. Saying that, if you look at prices, you can see that prices has come steeply down in third quarter versus second quarter. You can also see the challenges here in terms of hitting the markets. In our case, I would say that 40% of our volume is contract prices on fixed prices from six to 12 months. That's one of the challenges if they're gonna calculate the new taxes based on this Nasdaq prices and not achieved prices when you see the variation in prices which you are seeing on the graph here.
Market has been good. EU, main market for us, and the United States and other markets. Summing up, the proposed resource rent tax may impact from 1st of January. It brings significant uncertainties, and the outcome is not set yet. We will use the period in order to come with the hearing answer in terms of the proposed suggestions. One of the effects you can see, this quarter we had, or fourth quarter, we're gonna have 38% contract shares.
In first quarter next year, we have 1% contract share as a consequence that this contract market is taken away from us now, when we cannot commit the fixed prices, as it looks today. Whitefish, I would say, the performance has been good in 2022. You can see that cod quota is down by 20% for next year, and haddock is down by 5%, and saithe is up for next year. Pelagic, I would say, has been challenging, the last three years in terms of the logistics, shipping of products, out in the market. Seems like the situation is recovering, and I believe that this is gonna be better next year.
Overall, I would say that our companies, both in Peru, Chile, and in the North Atlantic are delivering good. We are looking forward now to start up the next season in Peru, and we are also happy that the indication for next year is a continuous up with 15% quota. North Atlantic quotas means that there's gonna be more fish for our fishmeal factories, and less fish, I would say, for our human consumption activity. That was all. Thank you for following.