Havida CEO is Enthusiastic: “And the Faroese are surprisingly good at understanding our dialect”

Havida is developing according to plan. With new owners, the range of opportunities has expanded significantly.

Last winter, the news broke that the Faroese technology company GroAqua had acquired Brønnøysund-based Havida. Considering last year’s numbers, it seems like it was a good investment.

The company nearly doubled its turnover last year to NOK 63.4 million. And operating profit increased ninefold. CEO Tomas Sund makes no secret of his satisfaction.

“We had a minor setback in 2023, the resource rent tax year. But we’re very pleased with last year. And the current year looks even better,” he told iLaks.

A Shared Worldview

According to Sund, the growth has been in line with a long-term strategy.

“And this strategy was laid by us, the owners of Havida, before we entered into dialogue with the group from the Faroe Islands,” he emphasizes.

As part of GroAqua’s acquisition, Havida’s founders received shares in the parent company, which in turn owns four subsidiaries 100 percent. Besides Havida, operations in the Faroe Islands, Scotland, and Poland are each organised in separate companies.

Havida has developed its own technology and infrastructure for fish pens. When GroAqua’s owners showed interest in them, it was recognized as an unusually good match.

“We discovered that we had a very similar worldview. And the Faroese are surprisingly good at understanding our dialect. We communicate easily in our respective languages,” says Sund, adding:

“It’s been a big need and desire for us to have feeding technology and barges. That was our entry point with them. Because that’s what they’re really good at,” says Sund.

Canada Next

Naturally, last year focused on developing the new setup.

“2024 has primarily been spent working together and integrating technologies, as well as getting to know each other, building trust, and collaborating,” he explains further.

Tomas Sund believes the cooperation has been successful so far.

“Now there are big ambitions, and projects are underway. And it’s definitely barges and their feeding technology that will be the focus going forward,” he says, adding:

“We have a board where owner interests from all the different geographies are represented. And we work well together. It has, for example, made it possible for us—for the first time in history—to have a proper export order, which is going to Canada this year.”

Feeding Technology and Barges for Exposed Sites

Now, the Havida CEO looks forward to improving existing products and developing new ones under the Gro Aqua umbrella.

“The ambitions going forward are undoubtedly feeding technology and barges. That’s where the Faroese excel. Rough weather is their area of expertise,” says Sund.

“So far, they’ve been fully booked with all their capacity. And they’ve just delivered the largest feed barge ever in the Faroe Islands, to Bakkafrost. But we’re in dialogue and have ongoing projects, especially for exposed barge sites in Norway,” he notes.

GroAqua has also delivered the feed barge at Mowi’s site at Sandoy. Additionally, they are involved in Bakkafrost’s newest feed center.

“When it comes to software development, we’ve succeeded very well with the integration of the two companies. So there’s a lot going on there as well. And at Bakkafrost’s grow-out center, which iLaks visited, Gro Aqua solutions are being used. We at Havida are involved there, in the sense that our developer also contributed,” he concludes.

Ilaks news by Kjartan Aa Berge – June 30, 2025

Original article: Havida-sjefen lar seg begeistre: – Og så er jo færøyingene forbausende flinke til å forstå dialekten vår | iLaks