Pingo Doce owner invests a further €20 million in Norwegian salmon and ‘fishes’ for croaker in Morocco

The Jerónimo Martins (JM) group continues to increase its stake in Norway’s Andfjord Salmon. After investing €45 million last year in two capital increases that raised its stake to 35.11% by the end of the financial year, the owner of Pingo Doce received an additional 9 million shares at the start of this year, bringing its total stake to 39.72%.

This new capital increase by the aquaculture salmon producer was initiated in the final month of 2025, with the Portuguese group, through its agri-food arm led by former Portuguese Minister of Agriculture António Serrano, making an advance payment of €20 million to the Nordic company of which it was already the largest shareholder.

Speaking to ECO, an official source stated that “the Jerónimo Martins Group has been increasing [its stake in the Norwegian company] during the various capital-raising rounds, to a total of around €115 million since 2022, as it considers the project to be highly innovative in terms of its production model and believes in the high level of differentiation of the resulting product”.

The Jerónimo Martins Group has been investing in the various stages of the capital increase, totalling around €115 million since 2022, as it considers the project to be highly innovative in terms of its production model and believes the resulting product offers significant differentiation.

It is on the remote island of Andøya, part of the Arctic archipelago of Vesterålen, that the group led by Pedro Soares dos Santos has been investing in salmon farming for over four years, following an initial failed attempt to do so in Aveiro. A business that has so far incurred losses, whilst production for the market has yet to begin, with the first revenues from salmon sales expected in 2026.

From salmon to cod, without leaving Norway, the group – which saw its profits rise by 8% to €646 million in 2025 – acquired an 18% stake in Norcod, the second-largest player in the sector, for €13 million in the final stretch of last year. With several production centres in the centre of the country and along the Helgeland coast, the Nordic company’s other shareholders include High Liner Foods and the Danish firm Sirena.

António Serrano, who gained a seat on the board of directors of the aquaculture cod producer following the capital increase fully subscribed by the Portuguese company, emphasised that “this financial investment is in line with [the group’s] long-term vision regarding the innovative production of animal protein, against a backdrop of intense pressure on wild fish stocks, particularly a species as strictly regulated as cod”.

Still on the subject of aquaculture, where international expansion began in 2021 with the acquisition of a company in Morocco for offshore production in the Mediterranean, the latest management report estimates that a total of 3,015 tonnes of sea bream and sea bass were sold in 2025. And the fish basket is set to expand by the end of this year with these species and another new one: not only has the number of cages doubled and the packing facility in that region been refurbished, but the company will also begin producing sea bass in Moroccan waters.

Through Seaculture, the group that owns the Biedronka (Poland and Slovakia) and Ara (Colombia) supermarkets also operates an offshore aquaculture production facility in Vila Real de Santo António, in the Algarve, which has acquired a fish processing facility. “In addition to controlling the supply chain, from the start of production through to packing in boxes and dispatch to customers, (…) this ensures the freshness of the fish, enabling it to reach Pingo Doce and Recheio customers within 24 hours”, the document highlights.

Taking control of fruit and vegetables, expanding with meat and dairy

In the fruit and vegetable sector, the main developments were the acquisition of the combined 50% stake held by Ricardo Costa and Mário Gemperle in Tastyfruits – the company now has 100% control of this business, which is establishing an organic citrus orchard covering nearly 300 hectares in the Lower Alentejo – and, above all, the purchase of the Luís Vicente fruit and vegetable group from the Nuvi holding company, which has operations in Angola.

The transaction was carried out through the subsidiary Supreme Fruits, which both parties had established in 2023 and in which JM held an 80% stake. However, the agreement provided for the acquisition of the remaining 20% in the joint venture with businessman Luís Vicente, which has already received the ‘green light’ from the Competition Authority, with the transfer of the business having been signed on 9 January.

Without disclosing the value of the transaction, the group told ECO that “it has acquired a full stake in Supreme Fruits and purchased the assets of Luís Vicente’s fruit and vegetable business in Portugal, which includes a fruit packing and processing plant, a dried fruit factory (Frubis) and logistics and administrative facilities in the Lisbon region, the Azores, Madeira and Madrid”.

The same source describes that “this was an opportunity to strengthen the integration of the production and trading components within the company”. As part of the acquisition of Luís Vicente’s fruit and vegetable operation in Portugal, Plump was also integrated, “a small company within the Luís Vicente group operating in Spain, dedicated to the trading of fruit and vegetables, which “[continues] to operate”.

The acquisition of Luís Vicente’s trading business is expected to significantly strengthen commercial capabilities and access to international markets, enabling the company to accelerate growth and enhance integration between production and sales.

António Serrano, managing director of Jerónimo Martins Agro-Alimentar (JMA), emphasises in the annual report published this week that “the acquisition of Luís Vicente’s trading business is expected to significantly strengthen commercial capabilities and access to international markets, enabling accelerated growth and reinforcing the integration between production and trading”.

Meanwhile, in its first financial year as the sole owner of Outro Chão – having purchased the remaining 20% from businessman António Silvestre Ferreira, founder of the Vale da Rosa group – the retail group, which has expressed interest in certain Carrefour assets in Poland, reports that the sales campaign for seedless grapes in Portugal and Poland – produced between July and October across 115 hectares and marketed under the “hey,vita!” brand – exceeded 2,100 tonnes in 2025, representing a 42% increase on the previous year.

From fruit and vegetables to livestock farming, via the original Best Farmer, which sold 13,679 head of cattle last year, and the company Ovinos da Tapada (Murça) – in which it invested in 2021 and which has a herd of 250 Serrana breed goats –, the main development was the acquisition of a new property in Fundão to “increase the dairy farm’s capacity and [create] the conditions for significant growth in milk production in the coming years”.

Finally, in the dairy sector, with Terra Alegre ending the year having sold 88 million litres of milk, it highlights a partnership with the Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre on an artificial intelligence project that “will enable data processing at the dairy plant, with the aim of generating relevant information for management and supporting the optimisation of processes at the facility, leading to cost reductions and gains in energy efficiency”.

Looking ahead to the 2026 financial year, António Serrano explains in this statement to investors that JMA “is entering a phase of greater maturity, with a solid foundation on which to consolidate its existing businesses, accelerate value creation and strengthen its presence in the markets where it operates, whilst maintaining a long-term vision based on operational discipline, financial rigour and the creation of sustainable value”.