2024 was a challenging year for Royal Greenland, which has published its figures for last year with a pre-tax result of DKK196 million on a revenue of 5.6 billion. The company expects to be in profit in 2025 and last year’s improvements have been driven by strong development in core species such as snow crab, cod and cooked and peeled shrimp.
But acting CEO Preben Sunke warns that operations have not yet returned to previous levels, and combined with losses incurred, the 2024 result is not satisfactory, with a slight decline in the top line, despite a 2% increase in volumes sold.
‘I am pleased that we have achieved solid results in cod, halibut and cooked & peeled shrimp. Our land-based cod production in Greenland is in balance for the first time, and we see stable demand and increasing prices across Europe, Asia and North America. This gives us a good starting point for 2025,’ he said.
The overall cod category is now profitable, supported by trawling in East Greenland and the Barents Sea and an increase in production of Nutaaq cod to 10,000 tonnes. Halibut is seeing strong demand in key markets in China, Japan and Taiwan, and sales to the US market are growing. The cooked and peeled shrimp category is also showing positive trends, with efficient production and higher selling prices making it profitable again.
‘As part of our action plan, we have implemented extensive efficiency improvements in 2024, which has resulted in savings of DKK52 million, which together with the improved market conditions has improved operating profit by DKK116 million compared to 2023. The effects of the action plan will continue into 2025, and we expect to return to positive earnings in 2025,’ he said.
The overall result is negatively affected by challenges abroad. The expected returns from activities in Chile have not materialised, leading to a write-off of DKK220 million, while Royal Greenland’s Norwegian partner has not been granted access to the expected crab licenses, resulting in a DKK57 million, write-off.
‘Overall, these amount to DKK277 million, which of course has a significant effect on the annual result,’Preben Sunke said.
