Good morning everyone, both in the room and online. That was a little taste of some of the marketing activities ongoing for the Mowi salmon these days. My name is Ivan Vindheim and I'm the CEO of Mowi and it's my pleasure to wish you all welcome to the presentation of Mowi's Fourth Quarter Results of 2024 and together with our CFO Kristian Ellingsen, I will take you through the numbers and fundamentals this morning and to the best of my and our ability add a few appropriate comments to them, and after presentation our IRO Kim Galtung Døsvig will routinely host a Q&A session where those of you who are following the presentation online can submit your questions or comments in advance or as we go along by email. Please refer to our website at mowi.com for necessary details.
The disclaimer, I think we leave for self-study so for the pleasantries, practicalities and the disclaimer out of the way. I think we are ready for the presentation. What could be more appropriate this morning than to start off with our recently announced agreement to acquire the remaining shares of Nova Sea, a 52,000-tonne fully integrated, state-of-the-art salmon farmer in Production Area 8 in Norway. Norway, known for its consistently industry-leading margins and biological metrics. Further on that note, I think it's fair to say that Production Area 8, Northern Norway is one of the best places in the world for farming of Atlantic salmon. Mowi has been a large minority shareholder in Nova Sea since as long ago as 1995, so this is a company we know well.
I have to say it was a day of joy when we finally decided to fully join our forces after 30 years. Good things come to those who wait, they say. I think that's particularly true in this case because together we will have 157,000 tonnes harvest volumes in Northern Norway if you use 2025 figures. Then we define Northern Norway as Production Area 7 to Production Area 12 and these volumes will provide the basis for significant synergies across the value chain including improved MAB utilization and biological performance, in addition to enhanced license and site portfolio, not to mention reduced cost and our preliminary estimate amounts to NOK 400 million . This transaction will also strengthen Mowi as a global and national powerhouse for innovation and sustainable aquaculture, including fish welfare, as well as being instrument and a catalyst for further sustainable growth in Northern Norway.
So the industrial rationale for the transaction is very very strong which will benefit all our stakeholders. Otherwise the transaction is conditional upon customer consent by relevant competition authorities including the EU Commission in addition to certain other closing conditions. And we expect the closing to take place sometime in the second half of this year. And finally, total payment for the remaining shares, including the 5% voluntary offer is NOK 8.2 billion or EUR 694 million of which NOK 2.2 billion or EUR 188 million is through a so-called contribution in kind share issue, that is through a share settlement where we pay with Mowi shares then from Mowi to the fourth quarter release. The fourth quarter release means it's also time to take stock of the year we have just left behind us. And we stand here today and look in the rearview mirror.
I think it's fair to say that 2024 was another record-breaking year for Mowi. And what really stands out, at least in my view, is that we, for the first time in Mowi's 60-year history, crossed the famous 500,000-tonne mark in harvest volumes. 502,000 tonnes to be precise, which is equivalent to a growth of 5.7% year-over-year, which is a lot in a low-growth industry such as the salmon industry, because the industry at large only grew by negligible 1% last year following several years when in practice no growth. And these harvest volumes translate into a record-high turnover for Mowi last year of EUR 5.62 billion. And the record-high standing biomass in the sea at year-end of 342,000 tonnes live weight, which is up by 30,000 tonnes year-over-year.
We have found ourselves obliged to up our harvest volume guidance for this year from originally 520,000 tonnes to now 530,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to a further growth of 5.7% year-over-year. Having Nova Sea on board, we now expect to harvest 600,000 tonnes already next year and not in 2029, which was the original target. Which means that we increase our 2029 harvest volume target accordingly to at least 650,000 tonnes.
And this we will achieve through increased smolt stocking and by means of post-smolt because we have still unutilized license capacity in Norway, in several of the countries where we operate and at post-smolts we can increase the productivity on licenses already in operation, because as this slide reads, a quarter of smolt in Mowi this year we name it post-smolt and in Norway as much as half of the smolt if we take Northern Norway out of the equation for natural reasons. So I think we can say that our extensive investments in smolt and post-smolt over the past few years have borne fruit. I also think it's fair to say that we have come a long way in Mowi since we launched our Productivity Program a few years back.
Because truth be told, not much happened on the volume side in Norway for several years after the big merger in 2006 due to a confluence of factors. Some were within our control and some were beyond, but which are now in the rear view mirror because we are going from lagging behind our listed peer farming volume growth to be ahead. So I would like to take the opportunity to thank my 11,000 colleagues in 26 countries for the invaluable efforts to make this happen. Thank you is of course much, much appreciated.
Then from the grand scheme of things to more specifically about the fourth quarter and as the first bullet point on this slide reads, Mowi posted EUR 1.50 billion in operating revenues in the fourth quarter, which translated into an operational profit of EUR 226 million and harvest volumes were 134,000 tonnes. To which it can be added, that's operating revenues in the quarter was a record high for a quarter for Mowi, propelled by seasonal record high harvest volumes. Otherwise prices increased as expected in the quarter from the third quarter on lower supply in combination with good Christmas demand and our realized blended farming costs. The farming cost for seven farming countries was slightly lower quarter over quarter and down compared with the first half of the year due to lower feed prices and improved biological metrics.
We expect this trend to continue in 2025, although the first quarter will be impacted by seasonally lower harvest volumes and therefore less economies of scale which will weigh on realized blended farming cost in this quarter. Furthermore, consumer products and feed delivered yet another strong quarter, I would say. Just before Christmas, Mowi was once again ranked as the world's most sustainable animal protein producer by the prestigious Coller FAIRR Protein Producer Index among the six largest listed animal protein producers in the world. This is the sixth year in a row, which I have to say is a nice encouragement for our sustainability work because as you said numerous of times, sustainability, including fish welfare, is deeply ingrained in the Mowi culture and at the heart of everything we do. We care for salmon and we care about nature.
Then last but not least, our board of directors has decided to distribute a quarterly dividend of NOK 2 per share after the fourth quarter. I think that does it for the highlights of the quarter. So now on to key financial figures. Kristian will as usual go in depth on these numbers later this morning. So as not to be too repetitive, we will just touch briefly upon the most important ones now, and turnover profits I think we skip as you have just been through them. So let's start with cash this time around. Net interest-bearing debt stood at EUR 1.87 billion at year-end, impacted by seasonal working capital tie-up in our downstream business of EUR 80 million which we will get back during the first half of this year. That's the dynamic of that seasonality.
I mean obviously our net interest-bearing debt would have been EUR 2.42 billion year-end and equity ratio almost unchanged at 46%. So we still have a strong balance sheet, I would say at a sustainable debt level. And further on that note, we will revert to a new long-term debt target post-closing. But as you can hear we are comfortable with our current pro forma debt level. Furthermore, overall earnings per share was EUR 0.31 in the quarter while annualized return on capital employed was 17%. And in terms of regional margins for the value chain, I would say all regions did reasonably well in the quarter given the prevailing market conditions. Maybe with the exception of Mowi Ireland which suffered from very low harvest volumes. In addition to issues with Rickettsia.
The market conditions in the quarter, I would characterize as good on increasing prices as said earlier this morning due to lower supply coupled with good Christmas demand. I think it's fair to say that the first quarter has offered a positive price sentiment so far, adjusted for high supply. Although America is still lagging somewhat behind Europe and Asia in the wake of the cost of living crisis there, but better year-over-year and the ongoing tariff situation we have now, we hope it does not escalate because tariffs are not good for anyone, neither for the imposer nor the addressee. Our own price performance in the quarter, which I would say was strong as it was 15% above the reference price, which is the stand that we like to hold ourselves to.
Internally positively impacted by contract share, 25% in the quarter and contract prices above the prevailing spot prices in addition to good spot price performance in the quarter and a high superior share and good harvest rates across the board. Then it is time to address the different business entities. Let me start as usual with Mowi Norway, our largest and most important entity by far and the locomotive of our business model. And if you take the bigger picture first, 2024 was a milestone year for our Norwegian operation as we crossed the 300,000 tonnes harvest volume line for the first time. 304,000 tonnes which was put on our guidance having Nova Sea on board we are now on course for 400,000 tonnes in Norway. Norway, as you can see from the chart here, as recently as in 2017 we harvested only 210,000 tonnes in Mowi Norway.
So I think we can say things are moving along well in our largest and most important entity. I also think it's fair to say that the fourth quarter was another strong quarter for Norway with an operational profit of 184 million EUR through the value chain by means of a margin of EUR 2.20 per kilo on 84,000 tonnes harvest volumes. And on the back of good biology, which has continued into the new year. And the winter sores situation is much better this year than last year, knock on wood. In terms of regional margins in Norway in the quarter, as you can see from this chart, all regions did well in the quarter apart from the mid. We suffered from issues with string jellyfish and gills.
And I'm afraid that the after effects of these issues will follow Region Midt in the coming months in the form of a low and expensive biomass. Because in our long production cycle, such as in salmon farming, there is no quick way out of biological setbacks. Biology is a law and everything else is just a recommendation. So this we just have to work our way through. Then the last slide on Mowi Norway, our sales contracted portfolio contract share was 22% for Mowi Norway in the quarter and was spot on our guidance. And these contracts contributed, as said earlier this morning, positively to our earnings. And as for 2025 contracts, we have maintained the contract strategy we have had in recent years and it has served us well so far with slightly better contract prices year-over-year.
Then it's time to have a look at our six other farming countries and we start as usual with Mowi Scotland. Mowi Scotland leaves behind a good quarter on year biologically, I would say with good help from low sea temperatures in Scotland last year. And this manifested itself in the best financial and operational results seen in our Scottish operation for many years. And by extension, operating profit came to EUR 23 million in the quarter and EUR 111 million for the year, which is up from minus EUR 1 million and EUR + 77 million respectively in 2023. On higher harvest volumes, lower cost and slightly better prices, which are always a strong combination.
We have a post-smolt program in Loch Etive, large smolt in Loch Hourn, and a broodstock facility under construction at Ardessie. The future looks bright for our Scottish operation, and with almost 40,000 tonnes in harvest volumes in the first half of the year, I think we have a few good months ahead of us now financially. Then over to Chile. Mowi Chile was not far behind Mowi Norway, Scotland on operational profit in the quarter. There was EUR 19 million on 22,000 tonnes harvest volumes, and with a strong finish last year 2024 and at almost equal to 2023 profit-wise for the first time since the ISA crisis in 2008. We were above 70,000 tonnes in harvest volumes in Mowi Chile last year, 73,000 tonnes to be precise. So it took a while.
Otherwise biology was satisfactory in Mowi Chile in the quarter despite its summer down there now and it has developed satisfactorily so far this year, then from Q4 to Mowi Canada, Mowi Canada went from losing EUR 5 million in the fourth quarter 2023 to make a profit of EUR 2 million in this quarter due to lower cost and better prices because harvest volumes are relatively stable year-over-year, and biology was good in Canada in the quarter, both in the west and in the east, and in terms of tariffs, it looks like we didn't get tariff on our Canadian salmon into the USA in the first round after all because it was postponed by one month, so let's hope that postponement can become permanent because as we said earlier this morning, tariffs are not good for anyone, neither for the imposer nor for the addressee.
But the situation is unstable so we'll continue to monitor it closely and take necessary actions including shuffling around with our seven origins for the best of our customers and our shareholders, whatever that might be at any given time. Which brings us to our two smallest farming entities, Mowi Ireland and Mowi Faroes. And if you take Mowi Ireland first, our Irish operation was loss making in the fourth quarter due to said already very low harvest volumes in the quarter in addition to issues with sea lice. But the year as a whole was a good year for Mowi Ireland I would say and the record high standing biomass at year end I would say we have a good starting point for this year as well. Mowi Faroes also had low harvest volumes in the quarter in addition to being hit by harvesting out our highest cost site in the Faroes.
So both earnings and margin in a quarter were lower than what we're used to in this entity. But on a positive note however, we are now harvesting from our best performing site in the Faroese which should provide the basis for once again industry leading earnings and margin in this entity. Then it's time to move on to Iceland and Atlantic operation. Arctic Fish operation profit was EUR 2.7 million for Arctic Fish in the fourth quarter and was almost identical with the fourth quarter of 2023. On 3,500 tonnes harvest volumes margin was EUR 0.77 per kilo in the quarter. To which it can be added that the main deviation from the Norwegian margin is cost. So cost is therefore high on our agenda in Iceland.
Going from 10,000 tonnes harvest volumes last year to 15,000 tonnes this year should obviously help us up to a certain point, but we have to do more. With that I think we can conclude more with farming and move on to consumer products, a downstream business operation. Profit was record high EUR 53 million for consumer products in the fourth quarter, capitalizing on good demand and record high sold volumes of 71,000 tonnes product weight which is up from EUR 38 million in the comparable quarter of 2023 on then 65,000 tonnes product weight. I think we can say we still see good demand for our products partly with the help of a constantly evolving product portfolio in the wake of our branding efforts.
While we are at it, we also continue to make progress on our smart factory concept in our 19 value added factories spearheaded by our Processing Excellence Team. The last one out this morning, Mowi Feed also continued to break records this time around with a seasonally record high operational EBITDA of EUR 21 million on seasonally record high sold volumes of 164,000 tonnes. For the year operational EBITDA was record high EUR 62 million on record high sold volumes of feed of 585,000 tonnes which is equivalent to a growth of 12% year-over-year. With this growth and we know, as I see on board, we need more feed capacity in Norway. We will therefore break ground on our 60,000 tonnes feed expansion project in Bjugn in March and we expect commissioning to take place sometime in the second quarter next year.
So I think we can say things are moving along well in our feed operation too. So with that Kristian, the floor is all yours. You can take us through the financial figures and fundamentals. Thank you so far.
Thank you very much, Ivan. Good morning everyone. Hope you're all doing well as usual. We start with the overview of profit and loss which shows all-time high Q4 revenue of EUR 1.5 billion and full year revenue of EUR 5.6 billion . Operational EBIT was EUR 226 million in Q4 up from 203 in the comparable quarter on record high volumes and the strong performance in all business areas. This translates into underlying earnings per share of EUR 31 and annualized return on capital employed of 17% for the full year. Earnings were somewhat down driven by lower price achievement with regards to the items between operational EBIT and financial EBIT. The positive fair value adjustment of biomass due to higher prices was partly offset by impairment of licenses in Canada West. This is related to the changed framework conditions announced by the government back in 2024.
The impairment is in accordance with our prudent approach and could potentially be reversed should there be any positive changes to framework conditions. The strategic review is still ongoing. Income from associated companies is mainly related to Nova Sea. As Ivan mentioned, we expect the acquisition to be closed sometime in the second half and from that point Nova Sea will be fully consolidated into group figures. Until that it will continue to be presented as an associated company. We then move on to the balance sheet as we have continued to invest in our value chain. Invested in growth, there has been an increase in fixed assets and also biological assets as we see here from the numbers. Core equity ratio is 49.8% so the balance sheet remains strong.
Performing covenant equity ratio including the effects of the acquisition of Nova Sea would have been 49% so not as significant effect when it comes to the cash flow. The contribution from EBITDA was partly offset by a seasonal working capital tie-up of which approximately EUR 80 million is related to downstream that is accounts receivable and inventory for the full year. Working capital tie-up is EUR 44 million. That's a tie-up related to more biomass in sea increased activity in the value chain and this was partly offset by a reduced cost at stock of approximately EUR 41 million or EUR 0.13 per kilo live weight with regards to tax payments. This includes prepayments of tax of EUR 81 million in Norway which will reduce 2025 tax payments accordingly.
Net CapEx and financial items paid were in line with guidance, and net interest-bearing debt at year-end would have been EUR 2.4 billion including the effects of the acquisition of Nova Sea, and we are comfortable with our balance sheet. We then proceed with our cash flow guidance for 2025. Working capital tie-up is estimated to EUR 50 million related to biomass growth and growth through the value chain. CapEx is estimated to EUR 310 million, interest EUR 90 million and taxes around EUR 190 million to support all of our business initiatives and or growth projects. We need a solid financing in place. Since last time the 2020 bond has matured and has been repaid and apart from this there are no changes on this slide, and we will come back with a revised NIBD target in due course when a Nova Sea transaction is closed.
We will then give some comments on costs. The top graph shows the development in full cost per kilo in Mowi farming. This development is linked to feed prices which increased significantly 2021 to 2022 but were stable in 2023 and decreased 8% in 2024. This is the main driver behind the cost in stock reduction effect during 2024 and we believe in a further positive cash effect in 2025. We expect full P&L cost to be reduced in 2025 as also indicated on the graph, although cost in Q1 isolated as usual will be impacted by seasonally lower volumes and less dilution of cost and we maintain a strong focus on cost containment on cost leadership as communicated on our capital markets day last year. We have identified a cost reduction potential of EUR 300 million-EUR 400 million in the next five years with two main components.
The main one is of course operational improvements including post-smolt, Mowi 4.0 and other initiatives and the other main component which is also very important is the cost saving program including the productivity program. We have a good starting point. As the graph below here illustrates, we are the number one or the number two performer on cost in the seven farming countries we operate, but we always strive for further improvements when it comes to the cost saving program. We realized EUR 42 million in annualized cost saving in 2024. Total cost savings 2018-2024 then amount to EUR 327 million of which EUR 215 million in farming. There is a total of around 1,800 different initiatives across the company including boats, treatments, nets, health, automation, productivity, procurement, energy savings, travel costs and a lot more.
One important result of this cost focus and all these cost improvement projects we have run is a more cost aware organization. Our teams across the company have a stronger cost culture than some years ago and we of course think it's very important to maintain this focus and continue to monitor and to follow up on various improvement initiatives and we have initiated a new EUR 30 million cost saving program for 2025. An important part of the cost saving program is the productivity program. Salary and personnel expenses represents the second largest cost item in Norway, EUR 706 million for the full year of 2024 and this cost item is something we can influence through our efforts to work smarter, become more productive. Since 2019 we have achieved as much as 21% productivity increase based on 15% more volumes with 6% less nominal FTEs.
We have set ourselves a new target for 2025 of reducing FTEs by 300 through their Productivity Program. And this is to be achieved through natural turnover through retirement, reduced overtime, reduced contracted labor and automation. We then move on to market fundamentals. Market supply increased by 3% versus Q4 2023 or 5% adjusted for inventory movements. Harvest volumes in Norway for the industry increased by 6% compared with the same period last year. There was some early harvesting at the start of the quarter, but then growth and production in Norway improved markedly and by year end the number of efficiency for the industry in Norway was up 1% and biomass up 5%. Biological conditions also improved in Scotland which led to growth. Volumes were down in Chile as harvesting was postponed to Q1. Global consumption increased 5%. Year on year consumption in Europe increased by 4%.
Demand trends in key European markets remained strong. There was a clear positive Christmas demand effect. The food service sector in Europe saw some higher activity, indicating some rebound from the downturn caused by the higher cost of living. US consumption decreased by 2% compared with Q4 last year. That's mainly related to less volumes available from Chile and Canada. The US market still lags somewhat behind Europe when it comes to demand recovery. But the retail channel experienced volume growth in Q4 and the fresh pre-packed category continued to develop drive. The volume increase in retail consumption in Asia demonstrated significant growth during the quarter as we see here as much as 19% compared to the same period last year.
All key markets in Asia showed positive consumption trends and primarily driven by more larger size salmon available which was a good fit with the strong demand in the foodservice segment. With regards to prices, we saw the usual uptick in prices in Q4 versus Q3 and the estimated total value spent on salmon in the market reached a new record high level for a fourth quarter. When it comes to volumes for the industry, according to our estimates, global industry supply growth for 2025 is expected to be modest around 2%-3% which should be supportive of continued good supply and demand balance. This is an increase from last quarter's estimate following good biology in the northern hemisphere over the past few months. When it comes to our own volumes, we have further increased our 2025 volume guidance by 10,000 tonnes to 530,000 tonnes.
This gives a growth of 5.7% from 2024 to 2025. With regards to Q1 volumes, we are up 12% Q1 2025 versus Q1 2024 and up 13% for Norway. This means that we are on the right track to increase H1 volumes, which is something we have worked on and our volume guidance is supported by all-time high biomass in sea of 342,000 tonnes live weight. As this slide shows we have a track record of actually delivering on our volume guidance with a positive 0.3% deviation last five years versus negative 7.9% for listed peers. With that I conclude this walkthrough of financials and fundamentals and then we are ready for Ivan and some comments on the outlook.
Thank you, Kristian. Much appreciated. Then it's time to conclude with some closing remarks before we wrap it all up with our Q&A session hosted by our IRO Kim Døsvig. I said earlier this morning, the fourth quarter marked the end of another record-breaking year for Mowi in terms of top line and volumes across the board. I also think it's fair to say that we did well versus our previous margin last year. But perhaps most satisfying of all, we crossed the 500,000-tonnes mark in harvest volumes for the first time in more than 50 years' history. 502,000 tonnes to be precise, which is equivalent to a growth of 5.7% year-over-year, which is a lot in a low growth industry such as the salmon industry.
And while we are on the subject, we have upped our harvest volume guidance for this year from originally 520,000 tonnes to now 530,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to a further growth of 5.7% year-over-year. So Mowi's idiosyncratic growth continues unabated and we normally see on board. We now expect to harvest 600,000 tonnes already next year, not in 2029 which was the original. This transaction will also strengthen Mowi as a global and national powerhouse for innovation and sustainable agriculture, including fish welfare, as well as being an instrument and a catalyst for further sustainable growth in Northern Norway. So the industrial rationale for the transaction is very, very strong. It's also satisfying to see that the cost has leveled out and is now coming somewhat down on lower feed prices after a few years of unprecedented inflation.
As Kristian just showed us here, we continue to take further cost measures on our end. Individually they do not always amount to much, but combined they are very, very important for us purely from a cost generic nature as every little counts, particularly with our size, but also because they help us build and maintain a cost conscious business culture in Mowi. Culture eats strategy for breakfast, they say. That's not only a cliché, there is a lot of wisdom embedded in it. Finally it looks like the market is working its way out of the cost of living crisis all around and we still believe in a modest supply growth in the coming years. Fundamentally I would say things are looking good.
Let's hope this tariff situation we have ongoing does not escalate because as we said early this morning, tariffs are not good for anyone, neither for the exporter nor the importer. But the situation is unstable. We will continue to monitor it closely and take necessary actions, including shuffling around with our seven origins for the best of our customers and our shareholders, whatever that might be at any given time, from one thing to another. This is Karin Kjølmoen. She works as a farming technician in Mowi Norway, Region South, and when the rest of us were celebrating Christmas with great food and drink in front of the fireplace, she was celebrating Christmas completely alone in the icy wilderness of Antarctica in - 30 degrees Celsius.
On 13th of January she arrived at the South Pole as the youngest ever to ski solo after 54 days and 1,130 km on Antarctic ice. She is just tougher than the rest of us and I think Karin is one of them. As you can see from the picture here now, the Mowi flag is planted on the South Pole. With that Kristian and Kim, I think we're ready for the Q&A session. If Kristian can please join me on the stage and Kim can administer the mic and the question.
Christian Nordby, Arctic Securities. One question regarding your net debt target. I know that you will address it later, but how do you think about a net debt target? Is it primarily on a per kg basis or is it more on a net debt to EBITDA basis? Or what are your thoughts regarding a revised sort of the methodology behind realizing.
It's EBITDA and then we convert it to per kilo.
So it's fair to say that also excluding Nova Sea, you would have probably revised it anyhow based on the strong growth you're getting.
That's true.
Second question in terms of tariffs, what are your thoughts if Chile avoids the tariffs and all the other countries get it?
For Mowi, I think that's bad for everyone. But of course for Mowi it's an advantage versus peers. But we don't like quotas. Salmon is an extremely international product. So open market, zero tariffs, zero friction. That's what we want.
Thank you.
Alexander Aukner, just a question on the supply guidance. So on industry supply it's been up to roughly 1% on good biology in the Northern hemisphere, but your own guidance, Norway and Scotland is not increased. Any comments to that?
Not really. Still early days, Alexander. So I think if we have to revert to this, we have obviously a lot of fish in the sea right now. So going forward with 520, even for us, that's too prudent. So we had to up it. But there is still potential in this. But again, early days, so let's revert to this at a later stage.
Thank you.
Welcome.
Martin Kaland, you comment that the winter sores situation is much better than last year, but could you give some more details? And perhaps, I know it's early days, but whether some of this also could be explained by temperature, higher temperature than last year, or vaccine and so on.
I can put it into perspective for you. I think that's the best way to answer that question. In January in Region North, we had a survival share of 94% and 100% of the fish was vaccinated. I won't tell you what we had last year, but it was a very different number. So for the vaccinated fish, things are so far going very well. We see for the fish we haven't vaccinated, it's very different. So I think we have to thank the vaccine for the lion's share of this improvement. But of course, sea temperatures are lower year-over-year, so still they are one and a half to one degree lower. So that helps. But the main driver here is, at least in our view, the vaccine.
So then on price achievements for Q1 so far, it's much better than last year, but still we should assume some negative effects from downgrades.
That's true. You have seen the industry numbers, so typically there was no 100% access to this vaccine for the fish we are harvesting now. So for the fish that was not vaccinated, we see downgrades. But the situation again is much better year-over-year. We have also increased our processing capacity. So in that way we are much better off than last year. We had a drawback last year and the year before that versus our peers. So our situation is much better. But also biologically things look better. So hopefully this we can put behind us and then we can spend the time on other issues.
We have a question from the web. Alexander Jones, Bank of America on U.S. Demand. If you can comment on the recent developments there, please.
Yeah. So what we see is that there is positive development in the retail channel. We see that on our own numbers, we see around 13% increase Q4 versus Q4 last year in skin pack. And we also see some positive movements in food service, especially when it comes to E-commerce home delivery, that segment of the market which is more important in the U.S. than in Europe. But still, as I also said earlier, they are somewhat behind Europe on the recovery curve when it comes to demand. But we are very confident that that will work itself out in due course.
Then a question from Alexander Sloane from Barclays on cost. If you can give us a sense o f how much lower feed costs could contribute to lower planetary farming costs in 2025 versus 2024.
We have indicated cost at stock reduction in the presentation and in the report material we said that also feed prices is the main driver behind that cost decrease of EUR 0.13 per kilo liveweight. And we also say that we believe that 2025 feed prices are expected to also continue that trend. So this will of course translate into a P&L cost savings in 2025 and the magnitude is something I think we need to come back to. But at least we have given some input on the level we are talking about when it comes to cost at stock reduction, which is then driven by the 8% lower feed prices we have seen during 2024.
Okay, thank you. That concludes the questions.
Okay then, it only remains for me to thank everyone for the attention. We hope to see you back in May at our first quarter release, if not before. Meanwhile, take care and have a great day ahead.
Thank you.