Friday, February 23, 2024
Today, Tallink Grupp disclosed its unaudited financial results for 2023 to the stock exchange, revealing a robust profit of EUR 78.9 million for the year (compared to EUR 13.9 million in 2022).Throughout the year, Tallink Grupp sustained its recovery momentum from the previous four years of crises, witnessing a rise in passenger numbers to 5,705,600 across all routes (compared to 5,462,085 passengers in 2022), along with an increase in passenger vehicle numbers to 840,881 in 2023 (compared to 819,229 in 2022). However, cargo transportation faced considerable pressure in 2023, with transported cargo units decreasing to 323,990 units (from 409,769 units in 2022).
The group’s unaudited consolidated revenue climbed to EUR 835.3 million in 2023 (compared to EUR 771.4 million in 2022), while the unaudited EBITDA for the financial year also experienced a notable surge to EUR 214.5 million (compared to EUR 135.8 million in 2022). As of December 31, 2023, the group’s net debt to EBITDA ratio stood at 2.8.
Tallink Grupp’s total investments in 2023 amounted to EUR 28.1 million (compared to EUR 203.3 million in 2022, primarily attributed to the new shuttle vessel MyStar).
At the close of the 2023 fiscal year, the group sustained a strong total liquidity buffer of EUR 116.9 million, encompassing cash, cash equivalents, and unused credit facilities, in contrast to EUR 249.9 million as of December 31, 2022. Over the course of the fiscal year 2023, Tallink Grupp repaid loans amounting to EUR 487.6 million, inclusive of refinanced loans totaling EUR 298.0 million.
Tallink Grupp and its subsidiaries collectively contributed EUR 76 million in diverse taxes to the budget of Estonia.
Commenting on the financial results, Tallink Grupp’s CEO Paavo Nõgene said:
“The financial results that we are reporting today have come at a price of significant effort, continued hard work, countless sleepless nights and many sacrifices made by all Tallink Silja Line employees, so all credit for this milestone result must go to all the hard-working colleagues across all our home markets over the last four years and in 2023. Our 4,900 employees have slowly and steadily rebuilt this strong foundation that we can now build our future on.
“The travel and transport sectors continue to be under pressure from weak economies, increased and increasing prices, wavering consumer confidence, geopolitical turbulence, tightening regulation and increased demands for investments into greener futures and innovation, so the challenge to remain competitive and profitable in these market conditions is stronger than ever. But we have, I believe, found the right course and strategy for ourselves for managing these risks for the foreseeable future with the mix of vessels in operation and vessels chartered, and this approach has helped us achieve the positive results despite all the challenges.
“In addition to the charters supporting the bottom line, we have seen some of our core routes and operational vessels perform well in 2023, with the Tallinn-Helsinki route seeing the strongest recovery in 2023, but also Tallinn-Stockholm route slowly edging in the right direction with increasing demand and thus warranting a trial addition of a second vessel to the route for the summer high season in 2024. Our newest fleet member MyStar has performed as we hoped in 2023, attracting both repeat business as well as many new customers to the Tallinn-Helsinki route and thus contributing significantly to the business during its first year in operation.
“In 2024 we will continue to focus on maintaining profitability while balancing the high and increasing costs of fuels and other products and services and the addition of new costs for the business, such as the emissions costs arising from shipping being included in the ETS scheme from 1 January 2024. As the climate crisis intensifies alongside the economic and geopolitical tensions, we are also increasing our efforts of searching for new technologies and solutions to play our part in tackling climate change. In 2023 we trialled a number of new technologies on board our vessels, all aimed at increasing energy efficiencies and reducing fuel consumption and thus also our emissions, but even greater collaboration and innovation is urgently needed to make a bigger difference. This is also one of our priorities for 2024.
“I am pleased that in 2023 Tallink Grupp was able to repay a significant amount of the loans we were forced to take out during the crisis years, and we have thus been able to repay the trust our governments and home markets’ tax payers have in us as a business. The fact that we have contributed a significant amount of our earnings in the form of different taxes to our state budget in Estonia hopefully also proves that offering Tallink Grupp help in our times of need was the right decision and our company’s survival and success will also continue to play a significant role in the ultimate success of our countries’ economies in the years to come. We will continue to work hard to earn and build this trust.”
With the endorsement of Tallink Grupp’s Supervisory Board, the Management Board intends to recommend a dividend of EUR 0.06 per share, derived from the 2023 financial performance.
As of December 31, 2023, Tallink Grupp boasted 38,894 shareholders and FDR-holders, comprising 30,563 on the Tallinn Stock Exchange and 8,331 on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
