Kristiina Tamberg
Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining.
I am Kristiina Tamberg and I welcome you all to today's Tallinna Vesi webinar. This webinar will be hosted by Aleksandr Timofejev, Chief Executive Officer, and Taavi Gröön, Chief Financial Officer.
Firstly, Aleksandr Timofejev and Taavi Gröön will introduce the highlights of the fourth quarter of 2025. The presenters will also speak about Tallinna Vesi's operational and financial results of the quarter.
Aleksandr will give an overview about some of the investments made in the fourth quarter of 2025. Right after the presentations, you will have the opportunity to ask questions.
It is also possible to type in your question during the presentation, but these will be answered at the end part of the webinar. To submit your questions, please use the question box on the right side of the screen.
Now, I will hand over to Aleksandr and Taavi. Here you go.
Aleksandr Timofejev
Good morning, everybody. Thank you for joining our presentation today.
I will cover now the general objectives that were achieved at the end of 2025. If we speak about our results, then these were very good.
Financial results were achieved, and if we speak about the sales, then the fourth quarter sales were 18.92 million euros, and if we speak about the net profit, then the net profit was 4.5 million euros. If we speak about 2025, then financial results were outperformed, and Taavi will go into details a little bit later.
Also, last year, we continued investments in our assets. In the fourth quarter, we invested into our assets 18.6 million euros, and if we speak about the full year, then we invested almost 58 million euros.
The production results were very good as well. If we speak about the water quality, then the water quality in the fourth quarter was 99.9%, only one sample was not according to the standard.
If we speak about the wastewater treatment plant, then the water treated there was according to all standards that are valid in Europe and Estonian law. In the fourth quarter, we also produced energy, and during the last 3 months of the year, we produced 2.1 gigawatt-hour electrical energy, and if we speak about 2025 in total, then we produced almost 10 gigawatt-hour electrical energy.
That is over 50% of the electrical consumption of wastewater treatment plant, and if we speak about energy in general, heating, power, and also electrical energy, then 70% of the needs of the wastewater treatment plant were fulfilled with the CHP engine. We continued also with the project related to the smart meters.
By the end of last year, 83% of our customers had smart meter in their houses, and we plan to continue with this project this year as well, and by the end of 2026, all our customers should have an opportunity to get the smart meter placed. In the fourth quarter, there have been no working accidents, and this is quite a good work from our managers to be sure that our working environment is according to all standards.
Let's move on to the next slide, and I will cover a little bit the investments we completed last year. In total, we constructed 45 km of pipes in the city of Tallinn, and 90-- sorry, and 49% of that were constructed with the trenchless method.
A lot of huge construction works have been completed, for example, in Tuukri Street and also in the Kolde Boulevard and some other streets, and we at the moment are constructing pipes on the Lauteri Street and Liivalaia and Tehnika streets as well. After the weather will be warmer, we will start construction on some other streets as well.
This year, we plan to construct also over 40 km of pipes in the city of Tallinn. A lot of investments also done in our treatment plants.
At the moment, we do preparations for the ozonation process reconstruction. The design is ready, and at the moment, we prepare for the procurement to start construction works this year.
Also, last year, we made some investments into the production pipes at the water treatment plant and reconstructed some filters and sedimentation tanks. If we speak about the wastewater treatment plant, then our focus was on the decanters process, new digesters have been installed, and of course, the reconstruction of the sedimentation tanks was in progress as well.
By today, half of the secondary sedimentation tanks are reconstructed, and six more will be reconstructed this year and the beginning of next year as well. We also upgraded the mechanical treatment of the wastewater treatment plant.
Additional screens were installed to the main pumping station, and also we changed the screens in the wastewater treatment plant as well. If the mechanical treatment process is working according to the expectations, then it has a very good impact on the chemical and biological treatment as well.
Mechanical treatment by today is fully reconstructed, and we are expecting for the better results of the wastewater treatment in 2026 as well. If we move on, then I will cover a little bit the production, operational results.
The leakage rate in the fourth quarter was on the low level, below 12%. If we speak about 2025 in total, then the leakage rate was 13%.
The water quality in the fourth quarter was 99.9%. If we speak about the full year, then 99.5% was achieved by the end of the year.
We took more than 3,100 samples from the customer taps, and during the year, only 17 of samples had some levels that were not achieved. Effluent quality at the wastewater treatment plant was according to the expectation.
We actually outperformed it, and if we speak about the efficiency of the wastewater treatment plant facilities, then these are over 95% in all areas. Customer satisfaction in the fourth quarter of 2025 was really high, 4.4 points, and if we speak about the full year, then the full-year result was 4.2 points, that is the highest result company ever achieved.
We continue to improve our customer service, and our services must be offered to our customers daily, and we believe that we can keep the same level in 2026. We also will prepare additional plans, and we have some plans this year how to improve the customer experience that is related to water and wastewater services.
The average duration of water interruption was quite low, and we do every day a lot of work in way to increase the speed of burst liquidation on the streets and due to that to reduce the water interruption times. As I mentioned before, the rehabilitation of the networks was according to the plan, and by the end of the year, we reconstructed over 45 km of pipes.
The results in 2025 were great, and I think that our team made a very good job. We continue with that, and we will offer you good customer service and top level water services.
I will now give over to Taavi, who will go into details and will speak about financial results of the company. Thank you.
Taavi Gröön
Thank you very much, Aleksandr. Welcome to everyone listening to us.
I will start off with volumes for water and wastewater services. For the fourth quarter, first of private customer segment, it was on the same level practically as in fourth quarter last year, reaching 8 million cubic meters.
Private customer segment was for the annual volume slightly lower. We saw some lower volumes throughout the year, but the differences are small and reflect a very stable consumption volumes that is descriptive for the segment and for the business.
For the fourth quarter for business customer segment, we saw a slight 1% increase in Q4, and the same can be observed for the annual volumes. This is more and directly related to the business activities of the industries and the companies consuming our services.
Outside service area for the fourth quarter reached 1.8 million cubic meters. This is around 9% lower than in Q4.
This is a result of consumption behavior of our neighboring areas where we provide our water or wastewater services, but this change also is reflected throughout the year. For annual volumes, the outside service area reached 7.2 million and is lower than 2024.
Now, next, taking a look at revenues. Private customer revenues reached 8.4 million, which is significantly higher than 7.4 for the last quarter last year.
This is very much a result of price equalization between private and business customers, which impacts the price adjustment, which took effect from 1st of May 2025, and impacts the revenues in fourth quarter. This also carries over to the business customer segment, as right now price levels for water for private customers are lower and business customers higher.
This equalization between the customer segments has now taken place in two recent years, and the water price will be equal for both customer segments this year, 1st of July. This also affects the fourth quarter revenues for business customers, which in broad terms is on the same level as in last quarter 2024.
Outside service area is also slightly lower in fourth quarter compared to last year, reaching 2 million euros compared to the 2.1 million last year. This correlates with the volume adjustments throughout the year.
We see the same impacts also in annual volumes for private customer, business customer, outside service customer segments. Next, let's take a look at our production and total cost of goods sold.
We see that direct production costs had a slight increase showing a 2.3% increase compared to 2024-- sorry, decrease compared to 2024, and this is a result primarily of electricity cost. We have been able to achieve a higher production in our own electricity production, and it was also supported by other direct production costs, for example, chemicals for which changes were minimal.
Staff cost had a increase of 10%, which in staff cost is quite significant, but we have to take into account that fourth quarter includes also adjustments in performance-related pay. On annual level, staff costs also include a base salary adjustment that was done in the beginning of the year, that was in around 5%.
Depreciation costs have increased around 12%, and this reflects the investment activities that have been performed throughout the year. Other items regard construction costs, and other costs had a minimal impact.
The total cost of goods sold reached 11 million for the fourth quarter of '25, and that is around half a million higher than same quarter last year. Now, next, let's look at the changes on net profit level, summarizing these in main cost groups and revenue groups.
'24 fourth quarter net profit was around 4.2 million, and we ended up with 4.5 million in 2025 fourth quarter. In the revenues part, sales change had an impact of 1.1 million, and this is very much a result of price adjustment from 1st of 1st of May.
Cost of goods sold increased around 5%, around 0.5 million, and we saw changes in also the items that were described on previous slide. We saw positive impact from lower variable costs and energy very much, as said, due to our own energy production in the combined heat and power system.
Some, of course, changes in depreciation and staff costs. General marketing, administration costs had an increase of 5%.
This is also impacted by depreciation and staff costs. Some smaller changes also in net income and expenses.
As said, total quarter reached the net profit of 4.5, which is around 0.36 million higher than same quarter last year. Now, next in our slides, let's look at the cash flow changes in fourth quarter.
We started out with a cash balance in the end of last quarter with 5.4 million and ended up with 11.3 million. Operating cash flow was stronger, reaching 9 million compared to 8.4 last year same quarter.
We continued our investing activities. Investing cash flows reached 13.6 million, and this also reflects the changes in our asset lines on the balance sheet.
To perform all those activities, we also used loans. Financing cash flow had a positive impact of 10.6 million.
Coming to the cash balance that was already mentioned, the 11.3 million by the end of the year. This level is slightly higher than end of last year, and it's very much related to the timing at which point financing has to be used to cover investing costs.
Financing is primarily used to cover our investing and CapEx cost. As last slide, let's take a look at the investments that we have done for this year.
We can see that on balance sheet lines, we had a total investment reaching 56 million. This is slightly lower compared to the estimate of 60 million that we have communicated in previous quarters, but this slight difference depends very much on timing and specific cash flow at the end of the year for each individual project that is performed and ended towards the year.
It reflects a very good level in our investment activities. That means that we have performed according to the plans that were made for this year.
For the next year, our investment ambitions and plans are on the same scale, and we expect to invest close to 60 million. When we look at the split of the investments that have been performed in 2025, the biggest and largest share of the investments is attributed to water and wastewater networks, accounting for 43% of the investment.
We are making a significant effort to futureproof our assets and provide reliability in our services, which is also reflected in the investments that we make into the wastewater treatment plants, projects that already Aleksandr mentioned that were continued in 2025. Significant, for example, sludge removal projects are also continued in 2026, but the focus in 2026 will move more towards water treatment with, for example, ozonation projects starting in 2026 and increasing thus the share in total investments for water treatment for this year.
Around 78% of the investments that we made in 2025 is towards our regulated asset base. The regulated asset base was set with the last price approval process and the price adjustment that took place 1st of May in '25.
The '26 investment budget and price approval process will take place this year, and we know that one of the milestones in that regard is 1st of July, where equalization of water prices needs to be performed by us. Thank you very much from my behalf for the moment, and giving back to Kristiina.
Kristiina Tamberg
Thank you both for the presentation. Now, we will proceed with the questions.
You will have a few minutes to submit your questions, and please feel free to type in any questions you might have. It seems that we don't have any questions right now.
Recording of the presentation will be available in the Tallinna Vesi YouTube channel webinar playlist shortly, and presentation materials and report can be found on Tallinna Vesi's web page. Taavi Gröön and Aleksandr Timofejev, thank you for the overview, and thank you all for joining.
Have a good day.
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