Lusiaves Keeps Buying Scandi Standard at SEK 185 After a Record Quarter, as Denmark Moves to Ban ‘Turbo Chickens’

Grupo Lusiaves, the Figueira da Foz poultry group that is the largest shareholder of Nasdaq Stockholm-listed Scandi Standard, is still buying. A filing published on 5 November in Finansinspektionen’s insider register, in the name of Scandi Standard board member Paulo Gaspar for a closely associated party, shows the purchase of 18,921 shares on 2 November at an average price of SEK 185.75, or about SEK 3.5 million. Affärsvärlden reported the trade under the headline “Sorägaren köper mer kyckling” — the major owner buys more chicken — and MarketScreener under “Scandi Standard’s Portuguese major shareholder buys shares for SEK 3.5m”.

The price is the point. When NorthSouth HQ last reported on the stake in September, Lusiaves had just paid SEK 168.85 a share, then a record for its purchases and 35 percent above the SEK 125 rights-issue price. It has now paid about 10 percent more than that, and almost 49 percent above the issue price, after a quarter in which the Nordic region’s leading chicken producer reported a record third-quarter profit. And it bought in the same week that Denmark, one of Scandi Standard’s home markets, said it wants to ban the fast-growing broilers on which most European chicken production runs.

What the register shows since September

The 18 September purchase of 119,561 shares was not the last one that month. The register shows four further acquisitions by the same closely associated party between 21 and 24 September, totalling 51,447 shares at SEK 169.66 to 170.00, before the 2 November trade. Together with the 18 September block, that is about 189,900 shares bought on the open market since the rights issue closed.

Source: Finansinspektionen insider register, Scandi Standard AB (publ), filings by Paulo Gaspar (closely associated party), retrieved 6 November 2026. Values are NorthSouth HQ calculations.

Ownership services put Lusiaves at 14.18 million shares, or 20.45 percent of the 69.3 million shares outstanding after the issue, on 10 September. Adding the purchases since then gives roughly 14.37 million shares, or about 20.7 percent on the same basis. That is a NorthSouth HQ estimate; the shares Lusiaves subscribed in the rights issue itself are not itemised as purchases in the register, so the true figure may be somewhat higher. Either way the Portuguese group remains ahead of Investment AB Öresund and Lantmännen, the two other large blocks on the register.

A record third quarter

Scandi Standard published its third-quarter report on 20 October. Net sales rose 8 percent to SEK 4,038 million (3,723), or 7 percent in constant currency, on chicken volumes of 81,000 tonnes (79,000). Adjusted EBIT rose 18 percent to SEK 220 million (185), a margin of 5.4 percent, and adjusted EBIT per kilo rose to SEK 2.72 from SEK 2.36. The ready-to-cook business, which includes the fresh chicken sold under Kronfågel in Sweden, Danpo in Denmark, Den Stolte Hane in Norway, Naapurin Maalaiskana in Finland and Manor Farm in Ireland, had sales of SEK 3,015 million and EBIT of SEK 170 million (159). The smaller ready-to-eat business grew sales by 25 percent to SEK 893 million and lifted EBIT to SEK 55 million from SEK 17 million. The Irish processor Glenhaven Foods, bought with the proceeds of the rights issue, has been consolidated since 9 October.

Denmark targets Ross 308

On 28 October Denmark’s minister for nature and animal welfare, Christian Rabjerg Madsen (Social Democrats), told TV 2 that he wants to work for a national ban on the production of fast-growing “turbo chickens”. He spoke after TV 2 broadcast hidden-camera footage from a broiler house in North Jutland belonging to what the broadcaster described as one of the country’s larger chicken producers; DR reported that the birds were of the Ross 308 line. The minister said a ban must first be examined legally and economically and gave no timetable, but DR reported broad support across the Folketing, including from the Conservatives’ animal-welfare spokesperson Mai Mercado, who warned against replacing “bad Danish welfare with bad Chinese or Polish welfare”. Dyrenes Beskyttelse and the campaign group Anima welcomed the plan.

The industry’s counter-argument appeared within days. Economists quoted by the farm title Effektivt Landbrug on 30 October said a Danish-only ban would mainly raise imports, especially from Poland, and Peter Sandøe, professor of bioethics at the University of Copenhagen, told Jyllands-Posten that it would not take cheap fast-growing chicken out of Danish chiller cabinets. In Sweden, the farm newspaper ATL ran the story on 3 November under the headline “Kycklingras hotas av förbud – vd:n svarar”. Scandi Standard’s own third-quarter report says that stakeholders’ expectations on food safety, animal welfare and transparency keep rising, and that the company welcomes that development.

Why Lisbon is watching

Copenhagen wants the rule applied across the European Union, not just at home, and that is what brought the debate to Portugal. Expresso reported on 3 November that the Portuguese government is “following the issue closely”. Portuguese coverage noted that Ross 308 birds can go from about 50 grams at hatching to about two kilograms in 33 days, against 46 to 63 days for slower-growing breeds, and that almost all chicken sold in Portuguese supermarkets comes from similar fast-growing lines. The European Commission is preparing a revision of its welfare rules for broilers and laying hens, expected at the end of 2026.

For Lusiaves the question cuts both ways. It is an integrated producer at home, where it is still investing: on 29 October Diário de Coimbra reported that the group is moving ahead with a poultry unit at Carvalhinha in Góis, with six groups of poultry houses, an investment of more than €11.5 million and about 20 jobs. And it is the biggest owner of the company that leads the chicken market in the Nordic region. Slower-growing breeds need more time, space and feed per kilo; a national Danish ban would raise costs for any Danish producer still using fast-growing lines and invite imports, while an EU-wide rule would raise costs in Portugal as well. Scandi Standard has not said what share of its Danish volumes come from such lines. Lusiaves has not commented publicly on the Danish proposal. Its trades say it still likes the Nordic business at SEK 185 a share.

Sources: Finansinspektionen insider register (Scandi Standard AB, filings published 22–25 September and 5 November 2026); Affärsvärlden and MarketScreener (5 November 2026); Scandi Standard interim report January–September 2026 (Cision, 20 October 2026); TV 2 and DR (28 October 2026); Effektivt Landbrug (30 October 2026); Jyllands-Posten (31 October 2026); ATL (3 November 2026); Expresso (3 November 2026); Funchal Notícias (4 November 2026); Diário de Coimbra (29 October 2026).