The Scottish Salmon Company renames operations in Scotland to Bakkafrost

The Scottish Salmon Company has announced it will rename its operations in Scotland to Bakkafrost Scotland. The company was acquired by Bakkafrost in 2019, and the corporate focus for the past two years has been to align the businesses and develop its core capabilities in Scotland. “The renaming of the Scottish operations will ensure that the Group operates as ‘One Company’, with two regions of production. The ambition is to become Scotland’s leading most sustainable salmon producer and our sustainability strategy will totally transform the business, it’s impact on the environment and deliver leading standards of fish health and welfare,” they said.

As an integral part of the five-year investment and sustainability plan, the Bakkafrost Group has committed to an investment program of GBP 711 million to increase our output of premium salmon by more than 40%. A substantial proportion of this investment will be made in Scotland. 

The investment will create jobs, drive forward rural economies, develop business performance and improve day-to-day operations for Bakkafrost Scotland’s current 600 staff located across the West Coast of Scotland and the Hebridean Islands. The substantial investment in Scotland will also drive forward the wider salmon farming sector. 

Integration with third party partners, suppliers, and customers

Sustainable growth of Bakkafrost Scotland is a priority. This is being realised by introducing industry leading ‘recirculating aquaculture system’ (RAS) freshwater infrastructure for larger smolt production.

Applecross is home to the first Bakkafrost Scotland RAS facility, an innovative post smolt facility, which will produce 500 g smolt, leading on fish health and welfare, and low environment impact, with sustainable production, creating a circular economy on-site, alongside integration with third party partners, suppliers, and customers.

RAS technology will eventually be used across all freshwater production, transforming Bakkafrost Scotland’s operations. Further details on the second facility will be announced over the coming months. 

The announcement comes shortly after another investment milestone for the company with the opening of its new Scotland headquarters in Drumsheugh Gardens, Edinburgh.

An important milestone

Regin Jacobsen, CEO of Bakkafrost said: “When we acquired The Scottish Salmon Company, we saw the exceptional value of Scottish provenance and an opportunity to create the leading and most sustainable salmon producer in Scotland. The next step in realizing this potential is the renaming of our Scottish operations to Bakkafrost Scotland. This represents an important milestone in our ‘One Company’ strategic focus, as we continue to build on our strengths and best practices across the Group to fully benefit from the collective knowledge and competencies from our passionate and talented employees. The renaming also signals that we are fully committed to Scotland and look forward to realizing our investment plan that will create jobs and value in our local communities. Scotland is an integral part of our future plans for business growth.”

In the other hand, Ian Laister, Managing Director of Bakkafrost Scotland said: “The renaming of our Scotland operations to Bakkafrost Scotland and finalizing our larger smolt production strategy, represents our firm step into the future as part of the Bakkafrost family. Bakkafrost is the most vertically integrated salmon farming business in the world, allowing the Scottish operation full control and responsibility over all aspects of our supply chain and production. Bakkafrost Scotland cements our position on the global stage, while retaining our proud Scottish provenance. This is fundamental to our people, and the communities in which they live and work, and to our customers, who receive only the finest salmon from Scotland. This combined with our larger smolt strategy drives our journey to become Scotland’s leading and most sustainable producer of the finest quality salmon.”