VARDIN | Seafood from the Faroe Islands

What VARDIN | Seafood from the Faroe Islands does

Varðin P/F (commercial brand VARDIN) is a privately held, family-controlled pelagic fishing and seafood processing company headquartered in Gøta, Faroe Islands, with a flagship processing plant in Tvøroyri, Suðuroy. The company was founded in 1985 by Jákup Jacobsen and transitioned to second-generation leadership when his son Bogi Jacobsen was appointed CEO in August 2020. Operations are vertically integrated across four state-of-the-art fishing vessels (Tróndur í Gøtu, Gøtunes, Finnur Fríði, and Tummas T, plus the 3,600-metric-ton-capacity Gitte Henning 1 built in 2018) and an automated processing facility equipped with Refrigerated Sea Water (RSW) cooling, horizontal plate freezers, and Individual Quick Freezing (IQF) systems that together deliver 1,200 metric tons of daily freezing capacity and a 15-minute landing-to-freezer cycle across 16 processing lines and 9 packaging lines.

The product portfolio is narrowly focused on four pelagic species from the North Atlantic: Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus), Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus), blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou), and capelin (Mallotus villosus). The company employs approximately 350 people and reported 2025 vessel revenue of 634 million krónur with EBITDA of 368.4 million krónur and profit after tax of 231 million krónur, up materially from the prior year. The customer base is described as international B2B seafood buyers, supplemented by a secondary push into the health, wellness, and nutritional supplement verticals, particularly omega-3 and protein ingredients.

The commercial model is direct B2B, with sales handled via email inquiry to [email protected] and supported by participation in four anchor industry trade shows annually: Seafood Expo Global (Barcelona), Seafood Expo North America (Boston), Vitafoods Europe (Geneva), and China Fisheries & Seafood Expo (Qingdao). The company is incorporated as a Faroese private limited partnership (P/F) and operates no public listing; the core operating subsidiary is Varðin Pelagic, with associated brands Faroe Marine Products and Faroe Origin also active in the group. No external institutional, private equity, or venture capital investors are disclosed, and pricing is not publicly listed.

Name

VARDIN | Seafood from the Faroe Islands

Legal name

P/F Varðin

Website

https://vardin.fo

Company type

Private

Founded year

1985

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Varðin P/F is a privately held, family-owned Faroese pelagic fishing and seafood processing company that vertically integrates four fishing vessels and an automated processing plant to supply Atlantic mackerel, herring, blue whiting, and capelin to international B2B buyers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Pelagic Fish Processing

NAICS

Seafood Product Preparation and Packaging (3117), Finfish Fishing (114111)

SIC

Prepared Fresh Or Frozen Fish & Seafoods (2092), Fishing, Hunting And Trapping (900)

akta.pro primary industry

Aquaculture Harvest, Processing & Packing (Farmed Finfish/Shellfish; On-Farm Plants) (AFANADAL)

Keywords

• Pelagic fish processing
• Wild-caught seafood
• Frozen fish wholesale
• Atlantic mackerel supply
• Vertically integrated fishing

Headquarters

HQ city

Gøta

HQ country

Faroe Islands

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Pelagic Fish Products: Sale of premium pelagic fish including Atlantic mackerel, Atlantic herring, blue whiting, and capelin. The company operates fishing vessels and a processing plant, enabling full vertical integration from catch to finished product.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Varðin (VARDIN) is a vertically integrated Faroese fishing company that catches and processes premium pelagic fish — Atlantic mackerel, Atlantic herring, blue whiting, and capelin — at its automated processing plant in Tvøroyri. The company operates a fleet of four state-of-the-art fishing vessels equipped with RSW (Refrigerated Sea Water) cooling systems and lands catch that is processed, frozen, and packaged within 15 minutes for sale to international B2B buyers in the seafood, food processing, and nutritional supplement industries.

Product overview

VARDIN is a market-leading pelagic fishing and seafood processing company based in the Faroe Islands. The company operates a vertically integrated business encompassing a fleet of 4 state-of-the-art fishing vessels and the world's most advanced pelagic processing plant. The core product portfolio consists of four pelagic fish species: Atlantic mackerel, Atlantic herring, blue whiting, and capelin. VARDIN Pelagic specializes in catching and processing superior quality pelagic fish, with the processing plant offering full automated processing, packaging, and freezing capabilities with a capacity of 1,200 metric tons per day.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Atlantic mackerel

Quantifiable outcome

• 15 minutes from landing to freezer
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Lerøy Seafood Group ASA: Large Norwegian seafood conglomerate spanning salmon farming, wild-catch pelagic (via Lerøy Havfisk), and processing/distribution. Overlaps with VARDIN in B2B pelagic supply and North Atlantic processing competence, but operates on a much broader and farmed-led portfolio.
• Thai Union Group PCL: Global seafood conglomerate spanning tuna, sardine, and other pelagic processing across continents. Operates fishing/processing operations comparable to VARDIN's vertically integrated model but at vastly larger scale and broader category coverage.
• Nippon Suisan Kaisha (Nissui): Long-established Japanese seafood group with global fishing fleets (including mackerel and herring operations) and processing plants. Comparable vertically integrated pelagic and value-added seafood business model.
• Maruha Nichiro Corporation: Japan's largest fishing and seafood company with global operations in pelagic fishing (mackerel, sardine), processing, and distribution. Comparable vertical integration and pelagic focus, scaled across multiple ocean regions.

Direct peers

• Pelagia AS: Pelagia is one of Europe's largest processors of pelagic fish (Atlantic mackerel, herring, blue whiting, capelin), with plants across Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the UK. It is the closest direct competitor to VARDIN in product mix and B2B North Atlantic pelagic supply.
• Austevoll Seafood ASA: Norwegian vertically integrated seafood group with significant pelagic fishing and processing through subsidiaries like Havfisk and Leroy-related holdings. Comparable in fleet ownership and pelagic product portfolio to VARDIN.
• Trident Seafoods Corporation: US-based, family-owned vertically integrated seafood company with its own fleet and processing plants supplying global retail and B2B customers. Shares VARDIN's privately held, vertically integrated fleet-to-processed-product model.
• Pacific Seafood Group: US family-owned vertically integrated seafood company operating its own fishing vessels and processing facilities. Closely comparable in private ownership structure, fleet-and-plant integration, and B2B seafood processing strategy.

Regional players

• Havsbrún P/F: Havsbrún is another major Faroese seafood processor specializing in fishmeal and fish oil derived from North Atlantic pelagic catches. Operates in the same geographic and supply-chain ecosystem as VARDIN, with complementary rather than overlapping product output.
• P/F Bakkafrost: Bakkafrost is the Faroese salmon-farming leader and the largest publicly listed Faroese seafood company. It shares VARDIN's Faroe Islands base, seafood heritage, and Atlantic export orientation, though it focuses on farmed salmon rather than wild pelagics.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/vardinpelagicfo
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/var%C3%B0in-pelagic

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about VARDIN | Seafood from the Faroe Islands