Royal Greenland has delivered a three-digit DKK million profit, despite challenging international markets in 2022.
In 2022, Royal Greenland achieved a profit before tax of DKK 235 million, with revenue amounting to DKK 5.8 billion. “This is a satisfactory result,” explains Susanne Arfelt Rajamand, CEO of Royal Greenland.
- “The year’s satisfactory result is based on our core Greenlandic species, which have performed well. This has continued the positive development that began at the end of 2021, after sales had been under severe pressure during the Covid-19 pandemic,” says Susanne Arfelt Rajamand.
“This means that shell-on prawns, cooked and peeled prawns, and Greenland halibut have returned to normal earnings levels, and even the loss-making cod activity performed positively.
- In recent years, we’ve invested in a number of modern new trawlers, which have already had a positive effect, supporting positive sales development in the markets,” Susanne
Arfelt Rajamand explains.
For Greenland halibut, and shell-on prawns in particular, it is positive that sales to China are growing and are back at previous levels.
Revenue of DKK 5.8 billion reflects a 2 percent increase compared to 2021.
Challenging cost increases
Even though 2022 presented several positive results, it was also a challenging year, in view of the sharply increasing costs.
- The development is due to rising inflation and particularly the increasing energy prices as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The crisis has also led to an uncertain market situation in Europe, with a slowdown in recent months,” explains Susanne Arfelt Rajamand.
This affects Royal Greenland, as Europe is one of the Group’s most important markets.
In addition, Royal Greenland stopped all sales to the Russian market at the beginning of March 2022, which represented a revenue loss amounting to DKK 100 million.
Sales in North America declined
At the same time, sales of snow crab declined. This is in contrast to previous years’ performance, when snow crab was the cornerstone of Royal Greenland’s earnings.
- “Sales were challenged as a consequence of very high raw material prices and a weakened North American market. Sales prices have fallen by more than 50 per cent compared to 2021, as demand in the food service and retail segments declined significantly,” says Susanne Arfelt Rajamand.
However, the profit for the year matches the previous levels achieved by Royal Greenland, despite the aforementioned challenges in 2022.