Business as usual and further development of the salmon index

- It will initially be business as usual, says Jan Erik Øksenvåg. He has been an auditor for the index for many years, now having a shift in responsibility to cover more of an ownership responsibility of the index, as an employee of Kontali.

- Neither the customers, nor the users of the Nasdaq Salmon Index, will notice a difference when Kontali takes full ownership in May/June. Everything will remain as it is. We want to maintain external auditing of the Nasdaq Salmon Index and a dialogue with DNV has been established to ensure this, promises Øksenvåg.

The Nasdaq Salmon Index has been operated by Nasdaq since 2008. The index is a well-established benchmark for the entire salmon value chain. It serves as a price reference for physical contracts as well as a tool for analysts, academics, investors, and banks.

The index was sold to Kontali earlier this year, where publicly listed Arendals Fossekompani’s subsidiary Alytic is set as the presiding owner. This ensures Norwegian ownership while being rooted in a strong seafood professional environment. A close collaboration between Kontali and Nasdaq ensures robust operating routines are maintained to safeguard the trust and security that contributors and users have towards the index.

Kontali is in the process of getting its approval as a Benchmark Administrator from the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority. Once approved, Kontali will be able to deliver underlying spot prices to financial markets (stock exchanges) in and outside of Europe.

From day one, Kontali will deliver a benchmark for fresh salmon sold to Europe, as Nasdaq does today. Kontali will then strengthen the index by adding more European markets, including Norway. In order to provide the industry with more relevant reference values, Kontali will develop benchmarks for new markets, new species, and new input factors.

- Over time, we will also collaborate with exchanges to utilize these data banks to establish new products traded on financial markets, both in and outside of Europe. We will be more transparent than what one usually is when it comes to derivatives trading. Kontali is taking an aggressive stance to this as we want to increase the market impact for seafood data globally and in that way contribute to larger and more efficient markets for all players, says Kontali's CEO, Kjetil Kjerstad.

Kontali is currently present at the SEG 2024 fair in Barcelona, Spain. There, the company is meeting stakeholders and contributors who are positive about Kontali taking over the operational responsibility for the index.

- The feedback is very good! People seem to agree that Kontali is the best "home" for the index, and we look forward to delivering an ever better offer moving forward, says Kjerstad.

For further comments, please contact:

Chief Executive Officer of Kontali, Kjetil Kjerstad, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])