Pan Fish pretax profits surge

NORWAY - The world's largest fish farming firm, Norway's Pan Fish (PAN.OL: Quote, Profile, Research), reported a sharp rise in second-quarter pretax profits on Wednesday and said it expected strong results for the second half, lifting its shares.

Pretax profit matched analysts' average expectation, rising to 215 million Norwegian crowns ($34 million) from a restated 4 million a year earlier.

Analysts in a Reuters survey had on average forecast the figure at 215 million crowns, with estimates ranging from 173 million to 246 million crowns.

Pan Fish ASA shares jumped as much as 4.6 percent to 6.12 crowns before easing back to 5.97 crowns -- still up 2.1 percent -- by 0710 GMT, outpacing a 0.5 percent rise in the Oslo bourse benchmark index <.OSEBX>.

Source: Reuters