Câr-y-Môr receives long term backing from rural insurer NFU Mutual

An announcement from Câr-y-Môr…

We are excited to announce that Câr-y-Môr has secured long-term support from leading rural insurer NFU Mutual to focus on our commercial growth and return value to our coastal community.

What are the details?

Câr-y-Môr has received a loan from NFU Mutual to refinance growth debt, provide additional capital for commercial growth, and help our community-owned business reach viability and return value to our members and Pembrokeshire community.

This is not a grant or rescue package: NFU Mutual is providing patient finance through a ten-year loan, which Câr-y-Môr must repay. The initial loan amount is £1.3m.

Tell us more – why now?

Establishing a seafood and sea farming community business from scratch has meant absorbing significant regulatory, licensing and infrastructure costs, funded largely through community shares, alongside private and public borrowing.

Community members supported Câr-y-Môr through the earliest and riskiest years of trying to do something new in Welsh waters. Now, Câr-y-Môr’s shellfish and seafood business is growing year-on-year, and its seaweed biostimulant has delivered promising results for local farmers. NFU Mutual is backing its crucial next stage, which is scaling up to achieve commercial viability in order to return value to the community who got it here.

As a community benefit society, commercial viability is the point at which Câr-y-Môr can reinvest surpluses into creating more coastal jobs, supporting the local economy, and benefitting the community

What does this mean for Câr-y-Môr and its St Davids community?

Today, Câr-y-Môr employs a local team of 20 working partners year-round; works alongside 15 Welsh fishermen and gatherers; a dozen west Wales farmers; and supplies more than 100 restaurants and retailers around the UK with shellfish, seafood and seaweed products. It also runs programmes introducing young people to the connection between sea, soil, and community.

As well as allowing us to grow our business and retain more value in the community, the loan will be used to invest in coastal livelihoods – allowing Câr-y-Môr to:

• Develop the skills of its existing team - and providing them with equipment and training to make their roles more efficient;

• Create new jobs – with four new working partners already having joined thanks to the loan, and an aim for four more to be in post by summer 2027;

• Increase the hourly rate for all working partners – a 15% increase has been implemented for existing and new working partners, taking the hourly rate at Câr-y-Môr well above the National Minimum Wage.

Why has NFU Mutual backed Câr-y-Môr?

From the outset, Câr-y-Môr has been clear that we want our community benefit society to have a demonstrable impact on local livelihoods. The St Davids peninsula faces economic challenges, primarily from its reliance on tourism and the limitations of its seasonal, low-paying job market.

For NFU Mutual, this is about supporting a community-owned business that is creating jobs and economic activity in Pembrokeshire, as part of its commitment to protecting rural and coastal lives and livelihoods.

Jonathan Priestley, Head of Finance, Actuarial and Investment Office at NFU Mutual, said: “As a Mutual, it is important to invest our members’ money sensibly and in a way that will benefit our communities.

“Câr‑y‑Môr is a small-scale, community-led business providing many benefits to the Pembrokeshire community and further afield, which aligns to our strategic ambition of protecting rural lives and livelihoods across the UK.

“Part of being a responsible business means supporting ventures which will help to deliver meaningful change while continuing to provide sustainable, profitable growth.”

Who are Câr-y-Môr and NFU Mutual?

Founded in 2019 Câr-y-Môr translates as ‘for the love of the sea’. We are Wales's first regenerative sea farm – a concept which has only come to fruition thanks to continued local support on our Pembrokeshire peninsula. As a community benefit society, we are owned equally by more than 800 members.

Rural insurer NFU Mutual is owned by and run for its members too, making decisions based on the long-term interest of those members. The company’s strategy is to put responsible business at its heart, refining this over its 110 year history to four ambitions: protecting rural lives and livelihoods; building a healthy working community; caring for the environment; and doing business the right way.

“Coastal and rural communities working side by side to restore our seas, revitalise our soil, and put locally sourced food on our tables – for the love of generations to come.” Câr-y-Môr

“Protecting and enhancing the lives of our customers and rural communities is at the heart of everything we do.” NFU Mutual

Thank you, NFU Mutual, from all of us here at Câr-y-Môr.