It's a pleasure for me to welcome you to Austevoll 's Second Quarter Presentation. I would first start taking you through the highlights of the quarter. Thereafter, I would go through segment by segment and our performance in the quarter and try to give some insights in the quarter we are in now. Britt Kathrine Drivenes, our CFO, will take you through more in detail the numbers for the second quarter and end this session by giving our view on the different segments we are operating within. Starting off, I would say we are quite satisfied with the volumes we have pushed through, I would say, all our different subsidiaries in the quarter. Again, we have been harmed by falling prices both on salmon and trout and on fish meal and fish oil this quarter versus the same quarter last year, which has been putting pressure on margins.
We are delivering a weaker financial result in this quarter versus the same quarter last year. I will take you more in detail when I'm going through the different segments. All in all, a revenue of NOK 10 billion, EBITDA of NOK 1.3 billion, and EBIT of NOK 754 million. Last year, we had a gain of sales of two fishing vessels on NOK 1.2 billion. Comparing this quarter with last quarter, you have to take that into consideration. Going down on the bottom left on the table, we have excluded the gain of sales and included the 50% share of Pelagia numbers. You can see we have an EBITDA of NOK 1.3 billion, where salmon and whitefish segments are contributing with NOK 1.1 billion.
The pelagic segment is down by NOK 450 million to NOK 200 million, mainly driven by the performance in our Peruvian entity and in our Norwegian activity, mainly because of a reduction in the fish meal and fish oil, marine oil prices in particular. Looking at the first half year, just below NOK 20 billion in revenue, EBITDA of NOK 3.2 billion, and an EBIT of NOK 2.1 billion. We have a total asset of NOK 52 billion, equity share of 52%, and net interest-bearing debt of NOK 9 billion. It's also satisfying to see that despite the reduction of prices we have seen in the first half, we are now delivering a better contribution from the earlier first half, comparing with the first half 2024. Austevoll Seafood is all about volumes.
We are now aiming to catch in 2025 just below 500,000 tons of pelagic fish on our own quotas. If you include the fish we are purchasing from third parties, we are aiming to handle 1.9 million tons in both Chile, Peru, and here in the North Atlantic. We are the largest whitefish producer in Norway and aiming to catch and produce approximately 80,000 tons in total. This year, we also have ambitions to slaughter just below 220,000 tons of salmon. Starting up, going through segment by segment, starting up in Peru. I would say in advance of the first season in Peru, they had a record high biomass measure of just over 11 million tons, and the quota was set on 3 million tons. The season started up the 22nd of April and stopped 23rd of July .
As you can see, it was only approximately 83% of the total quota which we have harvested. Approximately 17% were left in the ocean from the first season. This is also reflecting the performance of Austevoll , our company. I would say that the season started up extremely well. In the first half of the season, our catch level was extremely good. I would say the oceanographic condition changed. The fishery was impacted by a high presence of juveniles, meaning that the area was closed and also a higher salinity level was pushing the fish closer to shore where we do not have access. In that case, we were happy, I would say, with the volume we were able to catch. I would say second half, the costs were much higher than it was in the first half, which also reflected those margins.
If you compare with last season in 2024, you can also see that the yields are considerably lower, both I would say for fish meal and in particular on fish oil, which also impacted the margins. Also, the fish oil prices were approximately 50% of the fish oil prices we had in second quarter 2025. All in all, volume was okay, but the result is impacted by increasing cost, second half, lower yields, and also falling prices. In Chile also, we have seen falling prices both on fish meal, fish oil, and also on frozen products. I would say Chile is delivering better this quarter than last quarter. Britt will take you through that afterwards. In terms of volumes, more or less on the same level, and first half is a record year for us with 84,000 tons versus 75,000 tons same period last year.
When we did our first quarter presentation, we did know when the new fishing law was coming into place, and we guided on 65,000 tons for 2025. The new fishing law is not counting before 2026, meaning that the volume this year is going to be a bit higher than we guided last quarter. All in all, we are expecting in 2025 to produce 140,000 tons of jack mackerel, a bit higher than last year as a consequence of the new volume coming in. The new fishing act will come into force in 2026. Of course, I would say the fishing industry is a capital-intensive industry. We are doing investments for 20- 25 years depreciations. It's, of course, not ideal for us changing the distribution from 90% of the industry to 70% of the industry. The predictability is challenged. It's getting more difficult to do investment based on that.
In addition to the change of distribution, it's also implemented in 2026 a new international quota tax when you are buying quota from outside Chilean waters on $95 per ton, which is, of course, also changing the predictability and might impact the financial result also for 2026. When it comes to the North Atlantic pelagic quotas, previously, if you look from 2014- 2024, it's been a quite stable outtake with an average of 3.5 million tons in the North Atlantic. While you see in 2025, the volume is down by approximately 500,000 tons, mainly driven by the Barents Sea capelin is down, sand eel quota is out, and mackerel quota is down by 22%. North Sea herring quota is down by 21%, meaning that it's a higher competition in order to get raw material.
For Pelagia segments, again, looking at volumes, it's not far away from the volumes we had last year. I would say we have received blue whiting and trimmings from both herring and salmon in the quarter. It's also fair to say that we have experienced decreasing prices, in particular on marine oils, both on salmon oils and fish oil, which has put pressure a lot on margins and also total earnings this year versus the same period last year. I would say the drop in the financial result in Pelagia is mainly in this quarter coming from the drop in margins from the fish feed or fish meal segment. When it comes to the direct human consumption production, volume-wise, better than last year. We have committed a good North Sea herring season.
It's also fair to say that the period we are now entering into is the most critical period for this segment when the mackerel season is starting up and also the herring by the end of the year. I would say so far, the feed segments or food segment is delivering according to the expectation. Now looking at the result, you can see that the result is down by NOK 260 million. Again, the majority of the explanation is that the raw material has been too high priced according to what the market is paying for, in particular fish oil and marine oil in the quarter. Entering into the salmon and whitefish segments, I would say it's fair to say that Lerøy has shown a quite good biological performance compared with the same quarter last year.
I would say the growth, mortality, superior share, and also the slaughtering in the quarter has been far better than it was the same quarter last year. We are also seeing that the underlying result now is improving as a consequence of the different measures which have been done in Lerøy. That's more than compensated by a drop of the spot price. Spot prices are down NOK 30 per kilo versus the same quarter last year. You can also see that EBIT per kilo is down by approximately NOK 15 per kilo, meaning that we are performing much better if you look at the reduction of prices. Volume-wise, up with 33% is double volume in Lerøy Aurora in the quarter, 11,000 tons. Lerøy Midt, 19,000 tons, and Lerøy Sjøtroll, 21,000 tons in the quarter.
EBIT per kilo of NOK 12.4, which is distributed with NOK 19 per kilo in Lerøy Aurora, NOK 11.5 per kilo in Lerøy Midt, and just below NOK 10 per kilo in Lerøy Sjøtroll and Lerøy Vest. Maintaining the guidance, 195,000 tons in Norway and 16,000 tons in our share in Scotland, bringing the total volumes of Lerøy to 211,000 tons, expecting slaughter in 2025. It's also comforting looking at the financial performance on the wild catch side of Lerøy Seafood Group. Although we have a reduction of the filet mignon in the whitefish segment, cod quota of 31%. We are seeing that the increase of prices is more than compensating for the drop of the quota. We have an increase of cod prices of 22%, the increase of haddock quota of 55%, and the saithe quota of 69% comparing with the same quarter last year.
You also see that we are more or less having the same volumes left for the remaining of the year. I would say the two first quarters in the wild catch segment is the most important quarter for the financial result of the wild catch. I will give the floor to Britt Kathrine.
Thank you, Arne. As usual, we start by looking at the table that summarized the volumes for the different companies in the quarter. I would like to highlight that we have a substantial increase in slaughtered volume of salmon and trout, 57,000 tons, compared to 45,000 tons in the same quarter last year. That is due to a clear improvement in biology in Lerøy, and also the increase is coming from Lerøy. Arne has taken you through the key figures, so I will not repeat too much. This graph includes 50%, the 50% share of Pelagia in the revenue and the EBITDA and shows the changes in revenue and EBITDA from the second quarter last year. I would like to highlight that in the second quarter in 2024, we had a large one-off, Brødrene Birkeland AS, sold shares in two pelagic companies.
You can see the change in the graph here, which, of course, affects the Q2 in last year substantially, so it's not quite comparable. If we look at the revenue and look at the revenue excluding this one-off, there is a 12% increase in revenue this quarter compared with the same quarter last year. I will comment a little bit more in detail on the earnings when we come to the different companies. The operating revenue in the second quarter was close to NOK 10.1 billion, up from NOK 8.6 billion, which is an increase of 17%. As you can see here, we have the total gain from the sale of shares, the one-off in the second quarter last year, of close to NOK 1.3 billion.
The EBITDA in the quarter was NOK 1.3 billion compared to EBITDA of NOK 1.8 billion if we exclude the one-off related to the sale of shares. That is down NOK 480 million. As Arne has mentioned already, we have seen a significant reduction in the prices for salmon and trout, which, of course, has impacted the earnings from the farming activity. In addition, there has been a decrease in prices for fish meal and fish oil, which has also affected our earnings in South America. Depreciation has increased. It's NOK 544 million, up from NOK 502 million, and can be explained by an investment program in new technology in farming, but also some investment in increased capacity related to service and treatment vessels. Income from associated companies are substantially down, NOK -13 million, down from NOK 142 million.
The two largest associated companies are Pelagia and the Norskott Havbruk , which owns the Scottish Sea Farms, the Scottish farming company. Arne has already commented on Pelagia and the result there and the reason for the decrease in earnings from that company. When it comes to Norskott, the reason behind the reduction in earnings there are, of course, linked to the substantial reduction in the salmon prices in the quarter. We have a negative fair value adjustment related to biological assets, and I have to comment that this biomass adjustment does not have any cash effect. It was NOK -513 million in the quarter. It was positive same quarter last year, NOK 178 million. To sum up, this gives us an operating profit of NOK 128 million, down from NOK 2.8 million.
I have to remind you that last year we had a one-off related to gain from sale of shares of close to NOK 1.3 billion. Net profit is NOK 106 million, and that gives an earnings per share of NOK 0.3. If we adjust for the biomass adjustment, the earnings per share is NOK 1.3, down from NOK 5.10 in the same quarter last year. The main value drivers for Lerøy is, of course, the slaughtered volume of salmon and trout, and also the catch volume in the wild catch segment. The slaughtered volume is up 33% and close to 49,000 tons. There has been, as I mentioned, a clear improvement in biology, and this has also given us lower cost per kilogram year- on- year. Prices, however, have been substantially lower.
Spot price is down NOK 30 in the quarter, and this has given us a substantial decrease in earnings related to the farming part of the segment of the company. If you look at the EBIT adjusted per kilo and this in the value chain, and this includes the earnings from farming and the VAP, S ales and Distribution segment, that is NOK 12.4, down from NOK 27.1. The VAP, Sales and Distribution segment has continued its positive development, had a record quarter. There have been structural improvements and also a strong demand in the end market. The EBIT from this segment is NOK 351 million, up from NOK 217 million in the same quarter last year. Within wild catch, there has been a significant quota reduction, and that, of course, impacts the catch volume for the trawling fleet.
We have seen also a substantial increase in prices for our raw material, and that has compensated for the reduction in quotas. However, this is quite challenging for the onshore activity because a combination of lower raw material and also combined with higher raw material prices is extremely challenging. The catch volume is more or less in line with the same quarter last year, and the increase in prices has given a quite good contribution to the segment. The EBIT there is NOK 148 million, up from a EBIT of NOK -4 million in the same quarter last year. Going into looking at the Austral Group in Peru, the first fishing season started up 22nd of April. Austral caught 160,000 tons in Q2. In the beginning of the season, during April and May, we had a very high daily catch rate.
However, due to sea conditions and other factors, the daily catch rates slowed substantially in June and July, which, of course, has impacted our cost on this production from the season. Sales volumes are substantially up. However, prices are down. Fish meal prices down 11%, fish oil 58%. That, of course, impacts quite significantly the earnings in the quarter. Revenue in the quarter of NOK 691 million, EBITDA of NOK 85 million, and an EBIT of NOK 26 million, down from NOK 233 million in the same quarter last year. Our inventory by the end of the second quarter is a little bit over 42,000 tons of fish meal and over 5,000 tons of fish oil.
Chile had high activity in the quarter despite the stop in fishing for 27 days in May, waiting for the final quotas to be settled for 2025, as Arne has already explained when he went through the operation in Chile in the quarter. We have had higher sales volumes for frozen products and fish meal and a little bit decrease in sales volume for fish oil. Price achievements are down. Fish meal down 17%, fish oil down 68%, and frozen down 16%. The revenue came in at NOK 400 million, the EBITDA at NOK 94 million, and the EBIT at NOK 80 million, an increase from the NOK 61 million in the same quarter last year.
Kobbevik og Furuholmen is a small farming company on the west coast of Norway, and they have slaughtered a little bit less than 2,000 tons in the quarter, which is 25% down compared to the same quarter last year. The company sells all its fish in the spot market and, of course, are significantly impacted by the decreases in spot benchmark prices of NOK 30 in this quarter compared with the same quarter last year. In addition, we have had a cost increase year- on- year due to slaughtering from a high-cost site. The EBIT per kilo is NOK -4.3, down from a positive of NOK 45.2 in the same quarter last year. Last year, we had the opposite situation. We were slaughtering from a low-cost site in addition to a substantially higher price achievement. The company has finalized their slaughtering from this high-cost site now in Q3.
Revenue in the quarter was NOK 160 million, EBITDA NOK 4 million, and a EBIT of NOK -8 million. Brødrene Birkeland, second quarter this year is not comparable with the second quarter last year. As you can see, we had this one-off because we sold the shares in two pelagic companies in the second quarter in 2024. The remaining operation in Brødrene Birkeland is two vessels, fishing snow crab, and they finalized their quota now in the second quarter. As we also commented when we reported our first quarter figures, there has been a substantially higher price achievement in 2025 compared with 2024. Since they have finalized their quotas for the year, there will be no activity for the remaining 2025, and necessary maintenance is carried out in this laid-up period.
Revenue in the quarter was NOK 55 million, EBITDA of NOK 11 million, and EBIT of NOK 6 million. Looking at our statement of financial positions, we have total assets close to NOK 52 billion by the end of June this year, compared to close to NOK 54 million by the end of June last year. As you can see, we have had an increase in tangible fixed assets, and I mentioned it already. We have been investing in new, in addition to the CapEx, maintenance CapEx, we have invested in, among others, shielding technology in farming. We have bought two secondhand fishing vessels this quarter, one for Peru and one for Chile. Looking at the biological asset at cost, we have a higher standing biomass, and that increased this line, the line biological asset at cost.
There is a sharp reduction in fair value adjustment of biomass, looking at this by the end of this quarter compared to the same quarter last year. Finally, our cash position is down, and the cash position by the end of June in 2024 was highly impacted by the income from the sale of shares in the two pelagic companies, and that was close to NOK 2 billion. Net interest-bearing debt by the end of June is NOK 9.1 billion, up from NOK 6.1 billion by the end of June last year. We have a very strong balance sheet, and we have an equity ratio of 52%. Looking into our cash flow, the cash from operating activity was NOK 1.2 billion in the second quarter this year. Looking at the first half, it was close to NOK 2.8 billion.
That is substantially up compared to the same periods in 2024 and reflects a very positive development in working capital now in 2025. Cash from investing activity is NOK -430 million. In addition to the maintenance CapEx, we have also, as I mentioned, bought two secondhand fishing vessels in the second quarter. Last year, the cash from investing activity was impacted by this one-off sale of shares, which was close to NOK 2 billion. Cash from financing activity is NOK -1.5 billion. As you can see, we have paid a dividend of close to NOK 2.1 billion, and that is up from NOK 1.6 billion in the same quarter last year. To sum up, we started the quarter with a cash position close to NOK 5.2 billion, and we ended the quarter with a cash position of close to NOK 4.5 billion.
Arne, I give the floor to you.
I am shortly going to take you through the outlook in the different segments we are operating within, starting up with the fish meal segments. As you can see, fish meal volumes among the largest producers is up by 13%, mainly driven by an increase of 21% from Peru and 16.5% from Chile. Repeatedly, you can see that volumes are more or less on the same level from Peru in the second season than the same season last year. Prices now are $1,740 for high-quality fish meal and approximately a discount of $220 for standard. Also, looking into China, which is the main market for fish meal, we are seeing that stock-wise it's 27% up versus the same period last year.
I think China has been taking approximately 80% of the volumes from the Peruvian production, and the offtake is on a high level, and there's limited volume left to be traded. We are concentrating on the next season's quota to sell to China. You can also see prices are a bit higher in China, also stimulating to additional trade. Fish oil, less increase than fish meal, 4.5% up, and you can see it's negative due to the low yield in the seasons in Peru. Prices have been dropping, $2,400 per tonne for feed grade and over $3,000 for Omega-3 grade in the quarter. Taking a look into the salmon supply, I can see in 2025, it's a 9% increase in the total supply worldwide. In Europe, 10% up, and Norway, 10.4% up.
I would say we are coming from three years with zero growth to a year with approximately 10% growth. Looking into 2026, the expectation out of Europe is just below 1% and Norway more or less on the same level, meaning that the MAB regulation is, I would say, fully utilized in 2025, and there is limited room to grow based on the license we are having in Norway for 2026, which, of course, could also give some basis for improving prices. We do not expect the same supply increase in 2026 as it was in 2025. One of the explanations behind the lower prices we are experiencing now is the volumes coming out of Europe, which has been tremendously higher on a monthly basis than it was, I would say, the last three years before. You can see also that volumes continue to increase in July.
Thereafter, you see that the expectation is a zero growth for the remaining of the year. I would say we are expecting a flat supply going forward from August until December. As a consequence of the higher volume coming in, you can also see that spot prices are considerably lower in the second quarter. Now you can see that spot prices are lower than the operational cost of raising a kilo of salmon. What we are experiencing now is, as an industry, too low prices versus the cost it is to produce. Market-wise, EU, again, the main market for Norwegian salmon, increased by 9% during this year. Other markets, mainly driven by demand from Asia, is up by 15%, and the U.S. market is up by 12%.
Summing up, I would say we are satisfied with the biological performance in Lerøy , and you can also see that the measures we have initiated are now showing and also reflecting in the financial result. We have had a contract share of 30% in the second quarter, expecting 25% by the end of the year. Spot prices now we are seeing are below production cost. That will, of course, impact profitability. When it comes to whitefish, the cod quota, as I mentioned, was down by 31%. I would say that the increase of prices has more than contributed to the reduction of quota. You also see that the 2026 quota is down by 21%. We are expecting that that will be the floor, and we are expecting also volumes to come up after that.
South America, we are satisfied with the volume, but not happy with the profitability for the season. We have to admit that the costs by the second half of the season were higher than what we were expecting, and it's also impacting the financial result together with the lower prices achieved, in particular for the fish oil. Chile, again, we are going to have a good year in Chile. New changes in the fishing law will have a new distribution. Depending on the increase of quota for next year, we are expecting that the volume drop will go anywhere from 13,000 tons to 6,000 tons, depending if we have a 5% increase of quota or a 15% increase of quota. The North Atlantic, we are into the most important period for our food.