Welcome to Lerøy Seafood Group's fourth quarter presentation for 2025. My name is Henning Beltestad, CEO in Lerøy Seafood Group, and with me today, I have Sjur Malm, CFO. I will take you through the highlights in the quarter, then Sjur Malm will take you through the key financial highlights, then I will come back and talk a little bit about the outlook going forward. Our goal is to create the world's most efficient and sustainable value chain for seafood. We are a fully integrated company, both in red fish and in white fish, and are a total supplier of seafood. Our fully integrated value chain is our competitive advantage.
Our customers are seeking sustainability and health, quality and traceability, stability and availability, and convenience, and we, as a partner, can help our customers with that. Highlights for the quarter: a high profitability on higher spot prices for salmon and trout. Cost development in farming, better than expected. Strong profitability in VAP, Sales and Distribution , surpassing 2025 target of NOK 1.25 billion. Low quotas in Wild Catch, somewhat offset by significant price increase. The harvest guidance for Norway in 2026 rate will be around 195,000 tons, as guided earlier. The board propose NOK 2.5 per share as a dividend for 2026.
For fourth quarter, we had an operational EBIT of NOK 758 million, compared to NOK 799, fourth quarter, 2024. We report in 3 segments: Farming, Wild Catch, and VAP, Sales and Distribution. I will start with the highlights for the farming. Fourth quarter 2025 marks the end of the best year ever, biologically, and we are very happy to see that. A record growth rates and biomass production, low mortality, higher SUP share, and higher harvest weights. Gradually improving prices through the quarter. The weighted SSI prices 2025 is NOK 8 lower than 2024. For the fourth quarter, it's NOK 5 higher than same quarter, 2024.
The cost in fourth quarter is down, and better than guided. There has been a strong biological development year to date in 2026, and guidance for 2025 reached, and we were on a harvest volume for Norway in 2026 of 195,000 tons. Then we go into the different regions, we start with Lerøy Aurora, a strong biological development in 2025, record net growth, high survival rates, high superior share, and a continued high license utilization. The harvest profile in the fourth quarter is impacted by ISA detection in October of 2025, which have given us higher volume in the beginning of the quarter with the lowest prices.
The cost in 2025 and fourth quarter is significantly down year-on-year. We expect a cost increase first quarter 2026 on lower capacity utilization. So far this year, a strong biological development year to date, 2026. Estimated harvest volume is 49,000 tons for 2026. If we look at the harvest volume in the fourth quarter, we had 16,395 tons and a harvest weight of 4.3 kilo, compared to 3.7 kilo last year. EBIT per kilo value chain of NOK 20.6, compared to NOK 15.3 for same quarter 2024.
A good performance in Lerøy Aurora, and we are very proud of the development and the high volume that we achieved this year of close to 55,000 tons, which is up 10,000 tons from year 2024. Lerøy Midt improved the biology, increasing standing biomass during fourth quarter of 2025. Cost development better than expected, with a quarter-on-quarter decline. Expect a slight quarter-on-quarter cost increase in first quarter 2026. Strong biological development year-to-date 2026, and harvest guidance unchanged at 73,000 tons for 2026. The harvested volume in fourth quarter was 16,000 tons, compared to 22,000 tons in 2024, and an average weight of 3.8, which is the same level as the fourth quarter of 2024.
During the quarter, we have step-by-step built biomass. Yeah. The operational EBIT is 19.6 compared to 19.8 in fourth quarter 2024. A good performance in Lerøy Midt. For Lerøy Sjøtroll, we have had a strong biological development in 2025. Record net growth, harvest volume up 20%. Cost up quarter-on-quarter on higher cost generation of trout. The trout represented 47% of the harvest volume in Q4 2025. Same generation to be harvested the 1st quarter, but expectation for significant reduction in cost from 2nd quarter 2026. Strong biological development years to date, 2026, and a harvest guidance is unchanged at 73,000 tons for 2026.
Fourth quarter harvest volume 16,800 compared to 18,800 in same quarter 2024, with a significantly higher harvest weight of 4.4 kilo compared to 3.9 kilo in 2024. We see a underlying good development in Lerøy Sjøtroll, with an EBIT of NOK 13.7 compared to fourth quarter 2024 of NOK 10.7. Scottish Sea Farms, a more challenging quarter. Low harvest volume in the period. Weak result driven by biological challenges. Gill health challenges led to incident-based mortality at several sites and lower harvest rates impacting cost and sales price.
The biological performance is improved at the end of the period and going into 2026, the situation is under control. We expect a harvest volume of 43,000 tons, which is down 2,000 tons, mainly because of the incidents that we had in fourth quarter last year. The harvest volume in fourth quarter was 5,500 tons and operational EBIT of minus 33.8 NOK, a very challenging quarter for Scottish Sea Farms. We are sure that, you know, the trend going forward, we are in a good place now, and we believe that we will deliver 43,000 tons with a good performance in 2026.
Farming volumes, the guidance for 2026, 49,000 ton, in Lerøy, in Lerøy Aurora, 73,000 ton in Lerøy Midt, and 73,000 ton in Lerøy Sjøtroll. A total in Norway of 195,000 ton, comparable to 196,000 ton last year. We are in a good situation. We have good biology, and we believe that it might be upside on this volume as it looks today. For Scottish Sea Farms, our 50% share is 22,000 ton and a total of 217,000 ton farming volumes in Lerøy Seafood Group. We look at the Wild Catch, highlights this quarter, it's been a quarter with a lower volume, and that's also seasonal.
In general, for white fish, the quota is significantly down, prices significantly up. A clear operational improvement in the land-based industry, with 10 factories in North of Norway. Operational EBIT increased from NOK 130 million in 2024 to NOK 270 million in 2025. I will say that the general performance in 2025 is really good. We expect further quota reduction for 2026, which might mark the bottom of the quota situation. We expect higher quotas going forwards, especially for the cod.
Wild Catch quotas and catch volumes, fourth quarter, a total of 7,600 tons, 2,700 tons cod, 1,900 tons saithe, and 0.7 thousand tons of haddock, compared to 9,800 tons total in fourth quarter 2024, and a total volume caught in 2025 is 58,000 tons, compared to 65,000 tons in 2024. Sales and processing operation in 18 countries and sales to more than 80 markets. This is what we represent in this segment. It's built up over the last 25 to 30 years.
position in all our key markets, and step by step also, expanding with branches in new, to new markets like Vietnam, Thailand, and India, which is, of course, a great potential, challenging market, but we believe that we can be a strong partner with strategic customers in this in this country, and to find a good way of doing distribution into the India market. The highlights for the quarter. The quarter is, it's, surpassing ambitious target of NOK 1.25 billion, presented in 2022. We are really happy with that. Record 12-month rolling operational EBIT.
It's due to effect, to effects of structural improvement work, detail work in all operations, strong demand in end markets, strong positioning with strategic customers, globally. New branches open in Asia, starting to show results at the, as I mentioned, and the lower than expected salmon and trout prices has some positive impact in 2025. For 2026, the expectation of continued revenue growth at slightly lower margin. If we look at the total EBIT for 2025, it's NOK 1, 290 million, which is the highest result ever in this segment, and a step-by-step going up. It's good to see the development in this segment.
It's working really hard out in all the markets, improving, and getting more and more customers connected to our fantastic value chain. Sjur will take you through the key financial highlights, and I will come back with outlook afterwards.
Yes, thank you, Henning. Following some 45 quarters with reduced cost, and a positive development, we were a bit disappointed with development in Q3 of 2025, which, following high seawater temperatures, made production a bit lower and cost a bit higher than we had anticipated. It's good to be back on a positive track now in Q4, and obviously our ambition is to continue that positive track into 2026. Looking into our P&L, this sums up what Henning has commented already. Key earning drivers are shown on the lateral lines. We see that our harvest volume in salmon and trout are 13% below last year.
That is related to challenges, and high sea lice pressure in Q3 and start of Q4, and also then that we have built biomass, standing biomass in sea, in particular in Lerøy Midt, during the quarter. If you look at the margin, and this margin includes the profitability downstream, we see that the margin is up around two and a half kroner, which is positive. The spot price for salmon is up NOK 5 compared to the corresponding quarter last year. The price realization in farming is up two and a half NOK, but there's also an element that the cost is up somewhat from last year, and the profitability and value-added sales and processing is up somewhat compared to last year. In sum, we see we have a higher margin on a lower volume.
Looking into Wild Catch, quota is the big reason for the lower catch volumes. When it comes to profitability, the key reason is that prices for whitefish developed very positively toward end of the year, but that was a challenge for the land-based industry. Quarterly numbers in this operation is always a bit challenging, but it's positive to see on annual basis that profits, despite lower quota, are significantly up compared to last year. In sum, lower volumes and higher margins, good activity in downstream means our revenue is up 4% compared to the corresponding quarter last year.
We see that our operational EBIT is down 5% from the drivers already explained. We also see that the EBITDA is flattish from last year, indicating that the investments we have done, we have not fully yet taken out the potential. In that, Henning will comment more on submerged farming later. We are happy with development, but there is further potential, which we will realize during 2026 and the years to come. EPS this quarter is impacted in particular by a weak quarter from Scottish Sea Farms. Looking at the year, the adjusted EPS is NOK 2.12, and the suggested and proposed dividend to the general assembly will be NOK 2.50. Looking at our balance sheet, we have invested significantly in new technology in farming recent years.
That is the key reason for the higher fixed asset base. If you look on working capital items, we've done a good job this year. In Q4, compared to Q3, you will see a significant rise in customer receivables, and that is related to high prices towards the very end of the year. That draws some working capital in this quarter, but for the year, the development is positive. We have a strong balance sheet. We are investment grade, and obviously our aim is to minimize the asset base and maximize the profitability. We will continue to work on increasing returns and profitability in coming years. This slide shows development in net interest-bearing debt from previous quarter to this quarter. I already commented on working capital.
I will comment next slide on CapEx, but overall, the theme here is that the net interest-bearing debt is basically unchanged. Looking into CapEx, we have a maintenance CapEx of around NOK 1 billion. We see that we have invested significantly into shielding technology, and that is still a new technology. Henning will comment on performance so far. There is further potential. In 2026, we guide for NOK 1.7 billion in CapEx. Please note that CapEx in 2025 was around NOK 200 million lower than what we had previously guided, and that NOK 150 million of those are periodization effects included in the NOK 1.7 billion in for 2026. We will invest in Aquatraz, which is a closed containment system for farming during 2026.
First fish expected in 2027. We will continue to invest in small upgrades in our downstream segment, and we're making some investments to further increase the profitability potential of the catches in the factories on the trawlers. This slide is to show that we have a significant activity in Norway, all across the country, and this industry is a very important industry for the Norwegian nation. We are around 6,000 employees in Lerøy, and on a daily basis, we work to supply the world with sustainable, high-quality food, and we are very proud of that. Value generation for Norway is significant. With that, Henning, I'll give the word back to you.
Okay, I will take you through the outlook. First of all, have a look at the strategic targets that we set in 2022. We see for the NOK 50 billion goal in 2030, it's within reach. We are on a good direction there. If we go to EBIT for farming and VAP, Sales and Distribution, and being number one on EBIT, we are not, w e did not achieve the first position, you know, but we believe it's possible to do that, but this target was is not within the reach in 2025, but step by step, we will work hard to get the number one position.
That's our goal, and we believe it's possible to get there, but we will see when. We have a good structure of how we work to get into that position. For VAP, Sales and Distribution, as we mentioned, we set a goal in 2021 of EBIT of NOK 1.25 billion , and we achieved this goal, and we had a EBIT of NOK 1.29 billion in 2025. A very good performance, good work for the last five years, you know, to achieve this goals, goal.
Congratulations to everyone working in this segments, working structured in a way to achieve this goal. We are very satisfied by that. We also had a goal of 200,000 ton in 2025 for the farming operation, and we achieved 195,600 ton, which is close to goal achievement, and also are very happy with this achievement in 2025. If we look at the EBIT, the VAP, Sales and Distribution, and the EBIT target that we set in 2020, it was presented in 2022, but it was set in 2025, and we worked structurally, improving and focusing on achieving this goal in 2025, and we are very satisfied.
Congratulations to everyone working in Lerøy, and especially into this segment, achieving this goal, and achieving a EBIT of 1.29 billion NOK. Congratulations to everyone working in this segment out in front of our value chain. Also, we have had a great development in farming and in biology in 2025. It shows clear improvement. We see that the net growth rate compared to the average of the last five years is up 7%. The mortality is down 10%. The superior, the quality, is up 4%, and the biomass at sea is up 3%. A good performance in farming here.
we have worked structural, is in a structural way to improve our performances in and better bio-biology, we see that this is getting results. For the genetics, we see that in. It's a, it's a good improvement. Second half, 2025, we see for a row, quality and the performance, it's also giving a good effect and also on the quality of the smolt, shielding technology, and also the implementation of Lerøy Way, the way that we improve the whole company. I will say, we see that when we work structurally with the improvements, we also are achieving the goals that we set. We are on a good route to a great performance going forward.
If we look at farming shielding technology, we see in the fourth quarter, we reduced the lice treatments with 24% compared to traditionally. Superior share is about the same, but we also reduced the mortality by 9%. So that's a good performance. If we look at, you know, the fourth quarter was a more challenging quarter in with the submerged technology. If we look at, you know, the 2025, the whole year, we reduced the lice treatment by 60% in submerged. Superior share up 2%, and mortality about the same level. This is showing that this technology is really helping us achieving our goal going forward.
The share of harvest that we have in our operation in the farming side is now end of 2025, 27%. It's submerged farming, it's semi-contained farming, it's laser delousing. Also now we are investing into closed contained farming, and we will put fish into the sea first quarter, 2027, which also will improve our performance in farming and a better biology. If we look at this, the supply of Atlantic salmon, we saw that the 2025, there was a global increase in demand of 10.6%, and in Norway, 11.6%.
For 2026 we expect a stable level and maybe a little bit up 1.3% globally. In Norway, a - 1.4%. We also see the beginning of this year, it's been a significant growth in the harvest, so it might, yeah, give an effect on the rest of the year. We will see a higher demand than and a lower supply that we might see a situation where price increases can come. Outlook for farming, we see strong biological improvements in 2025. We expect lower cost in 2026 compared to 2025, with further long-term potential
Expect the harvest volume of 195,000 tons in 2026 for Norway, and 216,500 GWT, including Lerøy shares in Scottish Sea Farms. We have a good base in farming, and we believe that this segment will perform going forward with stable biology, good quality, and also high average weights on the fish. For Wild Catch, of course, it's been a challenging years for the Wild Catch with the lower quota situation. We have had a strong development in 2025. It's even more challenging quota situation for 2026, but indication for 2026 will mark the bottom, we believe.
An indication for quota 2026 is cod, -16%, haddock, +18%, saithe north, -19%, and saithe south, 27%. For VAP, Sales and Distribution, we expect profitability surpassing ambitious targets, and we see that profitability is surpassing ambitious targets set in 2022. We, the lower salmon and trout price are building in markets, increased demand for integrated sustainable value chain, and a strong demand in emerging markets. Some tailwind on the lower-than-expected prices in 2025. For 2026, expectation of a continued growth and a slightly lower margins, but good performance also going forward. That was all. Thank you very much.
Also, the ones that's coming to our Capital Markets Day next week can get the deep dive into our value chain. Thank you very much, and have a nice day.