The World of Seafood as an Equity Analyst

Shopping for Seafood

As an equity analyst at Liechtenstein-headquartered asset manager Bonafide, Emil Fiskå – the only one of these interviewees not to have previous NSC experience – sees the macro everywhere: From his desk research into the fish and seafood sector and associated value chains, to his experiences shopping for seafood. 

Landlocked Countries

‘I find it exciting to visit grocery stores in new places. Switzerland and Liechtenstein are, of course, landlocked countries, so all fish is imported.’ He sees big differences in the consumer experience compared to his native Stavanger, or Tromsø where he completed a master's degree in fisheries and aquaculture science.

‘First and foremost, fresh fish is not associated with any brand – unlike, for example, Scottish smoked salmon.’ Instead, fresh salmon is just presented in transparent plastic boxes. ‘Norwegian salmon is available, but unbranded,’ he continues. This adds to the thrill of spotting new products.

‘I was at the store with some colleagues, where there was fresh gadus morhua (cod),’ he recalls. ‘I told them it is not in season, so it must be farmed – and it was. It was very exciting and everyone had to have it. Again though, it was without branding. The Snow Cod brand has not yet reached the continent, but it is probably in the process and it was very fun to see.’

Anecdotes like this point to how seafood is part of the day in, day out of Emil’s world. And how, even though his work as an equity analyst is very much about the financials, it is about much more too.

‘My job is to follow companies worldwide that have a role in the seafood value chain,’ he explains. ‘I spend a lot of time on financial analysis, going through accounts, calculating multiples and such. But to be able to assess what something is worth, you also need to spend a lot of time understanding the macro: what kind of global trends and fundamental factors affect our portfolio. 

‘This includes everything from currency, interest rates and commodity prices to fish quotas, politics and climate.’

Headwinds and Bottlenecks

He also talks about the headwinds the sector is facing, from the ‘obvious bottlenecks’ such as diseases and parasites to the search for cost-effective new feeds.

‘There have been many cool, new ingredients such as yeast, algae oils, fish trimmings, insects,’ he points out. ‘But the problem was price, especially in 2022/2023, where vegetable oils became very expensive due to the invasion of Ukraine, combined with a bad El Niño season, which created a bad anchoveta season.’

This ‘double whammy’ also reignited the conversation around genetically modified rapeseed, though Emil says ‘you almost have to be careful to say it out loud,’ because the issue of GM feed remains controversial.