The fish was hauled to market in a corf behind Ole Mikkel Lerøen’s rowing boat, a journey that could take between 6 and 12 hours, depending on prevailing winds and currents.
Over time, Ole Mikkel Lerøen’s operations gradually 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 what today has become one of the Group’s principal sales companies - Hallvard Lerøy AS. Since its establishment, the company has been a pioneering enterprise in a number of fields in the Norwegian fishing industry. The main focus has always been on developing markets for seafood products, and the company has frequently led the way into new markets or been the first to commercialise new species. This pioneering spirit is still very much alive in the Group.
Since 1999, the Group has acquired substantial interests in various domestic and international enterprises. Late in 2003, the Group acquired all the shares in Lerøy Midnor AS and acquired Lerøy Aurora AS in 2005. The companies Lerøy Fossen AS and Hydrotech AS were acquired in 2006, whereas Lerøy Vest AS was acquired in 2007. In 2010 the Group continued expanding its fish farming activities by acquiring 50.71 % of the company Sjøtroll Havbruk AS. The Group’s investments in downstream activities over this period have established the Group as a national and international distributor of fresh fish. Because of these and similar investments over the last ten years, the Group has now developed into a totally integrated seafood group with a solid foundation for further development. At the end of 2010 the Group had 1,794 employees.
Up to 1997, the Group was a traditional family company. In 1997, a private placing with financial investors was carried out for the first time. In connection with this placing in 1997, the company was reorganised as a public limited company. The company was listed on the stock exchange in June 2002. Since then, the company has introduced several cash issues, most recently in March 2007. The availability of capital has been an essential ingredient in the Group’s development from a seafood exporter to a wholly integrated seafood group. Stock exchange listing of the parent company Lerøy Seafood Group ASA provides access to venture capital and, in selected cases, the shares are used as payment in kind in connection with acquisitions, most recently with the acquisition of shares in Sjøtroll Havbruk AS. At the beginning of 2011, the Group is well situated to further strengthen its position as a central actor in the international seafood industry.