Valdo Kalm
My name is Valdo Kalm, and Andrus Ait is our CFO.
Andrus Ait
Good morning.
Valdo Kalm
As usually, we would like to start with overall comments and events on Q2. In Q2, we had increase of revenue 5.4%, and that's mainly due to the good start from our offshore ship Botnica.
Also, we had a nice growth and start of cruise season. We got 30% more cruise ships than last year, and 40% more passengers.
Although, at the same time, we had quite a big influence from heavy winter. That means that by the end of Q1, it was quite a tough situation with ice, and we got some extra cost from our daughter companies TS Laevad and also from TS Shipping.
Therefore, our profitability went down due that, but it's more one-time issue. Also, on Q2 results of the last year, we had positively influenced by one-off profit of €1 million sales of land of Muuga to Rail Baltica.
Therefore, there was also such a one-time positive issue, or topic from last year, and influenced it negatively this year. Main events from Q2.
We had quite stable passenger flows, but decreasing in cargo 2.3%. We had Annual General Meeting, and we did distributed the dividends, as we promised, and very important was the adoption of two detailed plans by Tallinn City Council.
That's really important start for our real estate business. As we promised, we will try to start by the end of this year with the first plot and the first tender.
Let's see. We have to also agreed some details with City Government, but we are really on a very end of the process.
Botnica had quite early job in North Sea. It went well, and then we signed additional trips for the regular summer job with Ministry.
Also went well, regular, difficult job. We signed loan agreement with OP Bank, not using yet the credit line, but agreement is signed.
Already many years we are ranked among the most reputable employers in Estonia, and this time we've got the highest ranking on a fifth position together with other important companies and famous brands, also on retail, banks, and other retail brands. Trends in Q2: as I mentioned, passenger business a little bit decreased, but we had very good start of cruise, and there was 40% more passengers.
Therefore, there is increase of revenue 5%. On cargo side, we had 2% decrease.
Our main and most important segment, Ro-Ro, and the biggest segment of course, had basically similar level as last year and even increase with six-month, but we had still decrease from liquid bulk, and altogether, then there is revenue decrease 2.7%. Ferry business shows very stable or even increasing numbers, revenues, in number of passenger, vehicles, and trips.
As we mentioned, then Botnica, our offshore ship, had doubled the charter days from last year. There are more precise numbers on passengers, also on cargo, as I mentioned, important to keep our biggest group Ro-Ro stable, or even in six-month we have had increase.
Let's see how it will continue on a second half. Depends of course in economy, in export, but there are some positive trends on export.
Therefore, we would like to see the still growth in Ro-Ro and probably in containers. Shipping volumes on ferry segment very stable, and Botnica showed a good utilization rate in Q2, and therefore, you see the growth on six-month period compared with the last year.
Future outlook: it's quite similar as we show you last quarter. We hope it will be a good season and year for the cruise.
There are already 30% more vessels and 50% more passengers. We see good bookings by the end of the year.
We continuously working with new Ro-Ro and container lines, specifically for Paldiski, because now we have new quay. Before, we had lack of resources in Paldiski; now we have excellent conditions there.
Therefore, we negotiating with two companies for Paldiski and Muuga, and maybe there will be some good news by the end of the year. Then we signed in Q2 also a contract with Lübeck and Hamburg Ports to develop our existing customer base and cargo volumes, because we have the same container lines entering to our ports, but we see there are growth possibilities, and it's very concrete with Lübeck, but also with Hamburg.
We have three, four very concrete points and cooperation activities to achieve. There is ongoing industrial park campaign for Muuga development area, what is around 20 hectares.
We have one quite concrete negotiation in a middle of that, we can't comment. We are talking about industry with good flows of vessels or cargo, but it's really too early to comment.
Maybe we have certain news also by the end of the year. Then, as mentioned, there is ongoing preparation for real estate business or tender.
It's all about efficiency. We working on that on process side, and if you follow our personnel numbers, we managed to decrease it by six-month also.
I would like to give the floor now to Andrus to comment our financials.
Andrus Ait
Thank you, Valdo. These are the financial results for the second quarter and six-months period.
Financial results were impacted, like already explained, by fewer cargo volumes, less vessel calls in total. At the same time, we had higher fuel costs for ferries and electricity costs as well.
Also last year, in the second quarter, we had also some one-off positive effects, which I explain you later. From positive side, there were some offsetting effects from the Botnica activities and also from higher number of cruise ship calls.
Revenue increased by 5.4% to €31.1 million, and the growth here is explained by the higher number of charter days of Botnica. There were 20 extra days compared to the last year same period.
Vessel dues also increased because of higher number of cruise ship calls, and we also increased the vessel due tariffs, which came into effect starting from April. This had also some effect.
There was increase also in sale of electricity and sale of other services as well. Adjusted EBITDA fell by almost 11% to €14.2 million.
Decline here is caused by higher fuel costs of ferries because of the higher price level. Also, electricity costs were higher, but these costs were covered by higher revenues, EBITDA level there wasn't effect from electricity costs.
We also made more repair and maintenance work. Partially, it was connected with the ferry operations in the first quarter where we had tough ice conditions.
This impacted also Botnica technical condition, we had to make there also some extraordinary repairs. Partially, the higher repair costs were caused because of the fact that more repair works just concentrated on the second quarter.
Adjusted EBITDA margin fell by 8.1% to 46.7%. Operating profit also declined by 20% to €7.9 million, and the decline here was a bit higher than on EBITDA level because we had higher amortization costs because we commissioned the new quay in Paldiski, but also we had some one-off write-offs in the second quarter, which were made in connection with the repair works of the ferries.
Income tax was at same level as year before, as we paid out dividends €19.2 million like last year, there wasn't any amendment in tax regulation, there wasn't any change. Profit for the period decreased by 60% to the level of €1.4 million.
Decline here is a bit lower than operating profit in euros. That's because our interest payments were a bit lower, net financial costs, as the outstanding amount of debt decreased.
We invested €2.3 million in the second quarter. The main investment was the replacement or renewal of the main engine of one of our ferries.
This was regular work after certain number of operating hours, we have to exchange the engines, and this was the main investment. We also reinforced the one quay in Muuga Harbour to install the onshore power supply for the container ships.
Last year, we had ongoing investment to construct the Paldiski South Harbour new quay. This year, we didn't have such kind of pure investment, therefore, this explains the drop in investments.
Six-months period, the numbers are quite similar, but there were some extra one-off effects as we got insurance indemnity for Botnica repair works, which we carried out in 2024. These receipts or payments were in the first quarter 2025.
This year, we didn't have this impact. Last year, we also sold the land in Muuga Harbour.
This also impacted that adjusted EBITDA. This impact was in the second quarter, and also in six-months period.
Also, last year, we received some payments for the debts which we have considered uncollectible. Therefore, there was lower cost level in 2025.
In the first quarter, in addition, the fuel costs of ferries were impacted by severe ice conditions, the consumption was also higher. Profit for the six-months period was €6 million.
Decline here was 41.7%, and we invested €3.5 million. In first quarter, we proceeded to design the new A-terminal and made also some IT investments.
When you look at the results by segment-wise, we see that in the second quarter revenue increased in three of four segments, but decline was in Cargo Harbours. In other segments, there were growth, and EBITDA increased in segment Other, was stable in Passenger Harbours, and declined in Cargo Harbours and Ferry segment.
In Passenger Harbours, revenue increased mainly due to the cruise ship calls and also due to the higher tariffs of vessel dues, which came into effect starting from April. Actually, all the revenue streams in Passenger Harbours increased except sale of other services as the revenue from advertising activities decreased.
The EBITDA in Passenger Harbours remained stable. We had some elevated level of repair works there as we repaired the cruise ship quays, and this was reasonable to do before the summer, where we have the peak of cruise ship calls.
Therefore, the repair works more concentrated to the second quarter. In Cargo Harbours, revenue declined, and this is mainly attributable to the fact that Tallink vessel Superfast didn't operate anymore on Paldiski-Kapellskär route after the first decade of April.
Due to that, the vessel dues decreased. We had also less cargo, and cargo charges also decreased.
On EBITDA level, there was a higher drop. To explain that, last year, we sold the land in Muuga Harbour, and from that, we had positive impact in amount of €900,000, and in addition to that, we were able to recover some receivable estimated uncollectible.
This impact was for about €400,000. This was in 2025, this year we didn't have any positive one-offs in Cargo Harbours.
In Ferry segment, revenue increased because of indexation based on the fuel price in the first quarter, but increase in costs was higher. Because of that, the EBITDA decreased.
It's important to explain that indexation in ferry revenues, some of the indexation is based on the fuel price index, but in the first quarter this year, the price started to increase in March, the average price for the first quarter was not so high. It means that the revenues in second quarter wasn't indexed based on the first quarter average price.
It was indexed on that, but the cost level was already higher throughout the entire quarter, the indexation didn't cover the higher costs fully. In coming quarters, the indexation effect on revenues should be a bit higher than in second quarter.
In segment Other, revenues increased because of longer charter period, and EBITDA also increased, but with less, because personnel expenses increased as the ship is chartered out, then we have elevated level of personnel expenses. Also, we made some repair works after the tough icebreaking season in the first quarter this year.
In six-month period, the revenue increased in three segments, like in the second quarter, and the additional impacts were in segment Other on EBITDA level, where the EBITDA decreased in six-month period because of the insurance indemnity last year, which we didn't have this year. This impact was €900,000.
In Ferry segment, the EBITDA was impacted by severe ice conditions, which increased the consumption of the fuel. Also, we had less cargo due to the ice conditions as well, this impact was also in Cargo Harbours.
In cash flow side, we see that cash from operating activities decreased by €8 million because of the sale of services decreased and the payments to suppliers increased. Sale of services increased partially due to the fact that in the first quarter 2025, we received payment for the charter of Botnica, which was carried out in the fourth quarter 2024.
This year, we didn't have this kind of receipts. Therefore, there was some decline from one-off impact as well.
Payments to suppliers increased mainly because of fuel costs. Cash used in investing activities was -€400,000.
This includes the investments, but we also received grant money from EU fund, which supports our investments where we constructed the onshore power supply for our cruise quays. The number of 2025 was plus €20 million.
To explain that, we had bank deposits ended during the first six months, and therefore, we had positive effect, and we had also sale of land in Muuga Harbour. Free cash flow was €17.7 million, and cash used in financing activities was quite similar as year before.
This includes the dividend payout and interest payments were lower than last year a bit. Net cash flow was -€4.4 million, and net debt was quite similar as at the end of 20 6 months 2025, €145 million.
The cash and bank accounts decreased by some €20 million, and also outstanding loan decreased in same. On financial position, cash and bank accounts decreased compared to the year during period last year, and this reflects the negative cash flow, -€4 million.
Non-current assets decreased because of the fact that amortization and depreciation increased. Investments was higher than investments.
Other current assets increased as we got funding from EU funds, and equity was impacted by dividend payout and profit for the period, and debt was quite similar as at the end of 2025. In first half of year, the loan repayments are quite low, and the higher loan repayments will be made in the second quarter.
With that, we conclude our presentation. Like always, here are some slides about revenue and EBITDA generation, and we will make a short break, and you can send us questions, and we will back in couple of minutes to answer the questions.
Thank you. We are back.
Thank you for your questions. I take the first question about the investments, and is the investment level €2.3 million good indicator for maintenance investments which are yearly for about 10 to 10 €9 million to €10 million?
Yes, based on the historical data, the average level of maintenance investments is about €10 million. This year, we also expect some development investments when we start to build the onshore power supply for the cruise quays in Old City Harbour.
There has been some delays because of tenders, but we see that annual investment level for the group should be for about 20 or a bit less, €20 million. The next question: how much of the operating expenses increase of 19% in Q2 year-on-year was one-off related costs?
It's tricky to estimate because it's hard to say whether the fuel costs are one-off or not, but I would say that some 5% of that was related to one-off effects. It's rough estimate, which is related to the repair works and other one-off costs.
Some 5% of that was related to one-offs.
Valdo Kalm
Could we see a new major tenant in Paldiski late 2026? There are two lines to have a new operator or player on this quay.
One is, of course, onshore and offshore wind farms operators, or it's a new regular shipping operator. We pushing towards both lines, and it's possible that we have some decision or contracts by the end of the year, but it's more likely that it happens from next year.
Is there risk that rents from new quay in Paldiski do not offer required yield for investment capital in the future? We don't see the risk, because if we planned or we made a business plan and investment decisions for this quay, then it was quite logical that we will start with smaller projects as we had this year, and there are bigger revenues planned for 2028.
Therefore, not a big risk, as we already mentioned. There are a lot of regular needs for bigger capacity also.
That was lack of resources in Paldiski. Therefore, I don't see big risk yet.
Andrus Ait
How much you receive revenues by sale of electricity in annual level? How much it contributed to the energy growth in Q2 year-on-year?
Sale of electricity, there was increase €200,000 in revenues, the impact was on cost side similar. As the consumption in first quarter was higher than on six-month period, the sale of electricity increased by almost €700,000.
This revenue stream depend on the electricity price, which is very hard to estimate or forecast. Part of the growth was also attributable to the higher tariff rates for network, this is something which don't change.
I can't say the number by the end of the year, but if the let's say the factors or indicators are similar as in the first half of the year, then the growth in the second half of year should be a bit lower because the consumption usually is the highest in the first quarter, in the fourth quarter the consumption is a bit lower. The growth in total would be on level of €1 million, but it's only in case when the prices remain stable and also the consumption.
Valdo Kalm
All right. Thank you for your questions, thank you for your attention, and see you next quarter.
Andrus Ait
See you in November.
Valdo Kalm
Thank you.
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