HB Grandi

ABOUT HB GRANDI

HB Grandi produces high-value products from fish harvested in Icelandic waters. The company focuses on innovation and sophisticated fishing and processing technology and continuous production development. Respect for the environment and the marine ecosystem form the foundations for HB Grandi operations, and the company makes every effort to use marine resources with respect and to fully utilise the catches that its vessels bring to shore so that future generations may continue to enjoy the resource. Furthermore, HB Grandi has its social responsibilities. As a result, it is the company’s policy to ensure that its operations reflect its responsibility toward resources on land, at sea and the society as a whole.

HB Grandi has operating units in Reykjavík, in Akranes and in Vopnafjörður. The company operated eight fishing vessels during the year. With the new purchase of Ögurvík ehf., however, the freezer trawler Vigri RE was added to the operation at the beginning of 2019.

The company’s main offices are at Norðurgarður in Reykjavík. These house the executive management of the company together with the finances, groundfish, pelagic, marketing and human resources management departments. The number of full-time positions were 773 on average in 2018. Employee roles are spread out over the entire value chain, i.e. fishing, processing, sales and distribution of the company’s products. The company is listed in the main market of the Icelandic NASDAQ exchange.

Products were sold to 34 countries in 2018. Sales to the ten largest amounted to more than 83% of the sales value. The largest market areas in 2018 were France, Norway, Germany and the UK. Increases in the sale of fresh products were 24% last year. HB Grandi subsidiaries at year end were: Vignir G. Jónsson, Norðanfiskur, Blámar and Ögurvík. In addition, the company owns a 20% shareholding in Deris S.A. in Chile, 33.33% in Laugafiskur and 25% in Marine Collagen ehf.

THE COMPANY MAKES EVERY EFFORT TO USE MARINE RESOURCES WITH RESPECT AND FULLY UTILISE THE CATCHES THAT ITS VESSELS BRING TO SHORE SO THAT FUTURE GENERATIONS MAY CONTINUE TO ENJOY THE RESOURCE

STRATEGY AND VISION

Following changes to the company’s group of owners and management, its policies and future vision are under revision. HB Grandi focuses on sustainability and respect for the environment in all its operations.

Areas of importance include streamlined and sustainable operations, careful use of catch quotas, growth and increased profitability and dynamic collaboration with other companies in the fields of research, marketing and sales.

ABOUT THE REPORT

The information in the report relates to HB Grandi without its subsidiaries in 2018, unless otherwise specified. This is the second sustainability report issued by HB Grandi, with the first being for the year 2017.

Over the past few years, HB Grandi has built up considerable in-house knowledge on issues relating to sustainability and has been working on mapping the effects and responsibility of the company. These efforts are far from being complete.

Indicators are examined annually in relation to changes in operations and increased access to information. Several new indicators have been added , and more will be added in the next few years. During 2018, efforts were made to improve information systems to gain a better overall view of the indicators that apply to the company. This work has gone well but has not yet been completed. The following report is in principle constructed the same as the one last year, except that safety issues are now addressed in the section dealing with employees. This change was made due to organisational restructuring, and safety issues are now the responsibility of the human resources department.

The report summarises the knowledge that has been built up within the company but is not an exhaustive examination of all the effects that HB Grandi has on its environment, community and economy. All the information is in accordance with the knowledge we have at the time that the report was written. Environmental information was collected directly from suppliers into the environmental database of the company. The report is not reviewed by a third party.

HB Grandi’s sustainability report has been prepared in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Global Reporting Initiative, G4. The results of the environmental aspects have been prepared from the company’s environmental management systems, Klappir Core. Information on social and economic aspects come from the information systems of HB Grandi.