About the Group
History Lerøy Seafood Group can trace its operations back to the end of the 19th century, when fishermanfarmer Ole Mikkel Lerøen started selling live fish at the fish market in Bergen. The fish was hauled in corfs behind Ole Mikkel Lerøen’s rowing boat from the island of Lerøy to the fish market in Bergen, a journey that could take between six and twelve hours, depending on prevailing winds and currents.
Lerøy Seafood Group Annual Report 2020
Ole Mikkel Lerøen’s operations came to include retail sales in Bergen, the sale of live shellfish and a budding export business. In 1939, two of his employees, Hallvard Lerøy Sr. and Elias Fjeldstad, established a wholesaler and seafood export company – Hallvard Lerøy AS. This company went on to invest in facilities where they could receive pelagic fish and whitefish, and in fish farming. Poor results and insufficient capitalisation forced the company to close down or sell these operations in the early 1990s in order to safeguard their core business: wholesale and exports. In 1994, the company carried out a last emergency share issue and started the process of reestablishing a healthy business. At that time, the company's equity was valued at NOK 20 million, prior to an issue worth NOK 5 million.
