Scottish Salmon Company lowers harvest forecast

The Scottish Salmon Company has lowered its forecast for the amount of fish it expects to harvest this year, after facing "challenging conditions" in the second quarter.

The firm had previously expected to harvest 30,000 tonnes in 2015.

But it said a combination of "market factors and biological challenges" meant the annual total could be 10% less than envisaged.

However, it added export levels reached 49% of output for the first time.

The second quarter saw revenues fall year-on-year from £33.8m to £31.2m, while harvested volumes stood at 7,349 tonnes - down from just over 8,000 tonnes in the first quarter.

The Edinburgh-based company said the results reflected the impact of "unprecedented price volatility, fluctuating exchange rates and lower harvest volumes".

It added that spot prices were high at the start of the year but "fluctuated significantly" in the second period.

Managing director Craig Anderson said: "In the face of challenging conditions, which are being felt across the wider industry, these results reflect a stable performance in the second quarter of 2015.

"With greatly increased supply, fluctuating prices, a strong pound and biological challenges, Q2 (second quarter) proved to be a testing period, but our harvest volumes remain on a par with last year and we are confident about long-term future growth."