Tallink Grupp’s 2023 third quarter financial results showed continuing improvement and the positive impact of difficult decisions.
In 3Q23, the company carried a total of 1,775,821 passengers, which was 6.2% less than 3Q22 (1,893,603).
However, the company operated two vessels less on the routes in 3Q23, compared to the previous year, thus making 16.6% less trips (1,709 trips in 3Q23 vs 2,050 trips in 3Q22).
For 3Q23, the Group’s unaudited net profit was €48.7 mill, which was a 28.5% increase, compared to the same period last year (€37.9 mill).
Third quarter EBITDA was €82.1 mill, which was a 21.3% increase versus 3Q22 (€67.7 mill). The Group’s unaudited revenue for the quarter decreased slightly compared to 3Q22 by 5.8% and totalled €240.7 mill (€255.6 mill), although revenue per passenger increased on some of the routes and ticket, hotel accommodation and charter revenues also increased in the quarter year-on-year.
As at 30th September, the company’s total liquidity buffer (cash, cash equivalents and unused credit facilities) amounted to €199 mill (€226 mill as at 30th September, 2022).
The Group’s 3Q23 investments amounted to €6.1 mill (€5.5 mill in 3Q22). The company made loan payments during the period of €30.9 mill and during the first nine months of the financial year to the amount of €155.5 mill.
For the first nine months of this year, the Group’s unaudited revenue increased 13%, compared to the same period in 2022, amounting to €641.6 mill (€567.7 mill in the same period of 2022).
Unaudited EBITDA for the period also increased year-on-year amounting to €177.7 mill (€85.4 mill in 2022) and the unaudited net profit for the first nine months was €76.7 mill (€2.8 mill loss in 2022).
Tallink Grupp’s CEO, Paavo Nõgene (pictured), said: “The hard work our teams across the company have put in during the first nine months of the year, as well as the last few years, are clear in the results we have published.
“Nothing in these results is the result of chance, a good economic climate or anything similar. It is all down to simple hard work, tough decisions, strong cost control, teamwork and stubborn perseverance.
“Both our third quarter and nine months financials show clearly continuing recovery after very challenging years and the positive impact of the many difficult decisions we have taken as a company between 2020 and today. These decisions and actions have helped us secure our sustainable future and operations for the years ahead.
“What is clear, is that the strategy we have chosen for our operations for the foreseeable future, mixing vessel chartering with the most optimal levels of vessels in operation on our core routes, is the right one for now.
“As economic pressures and global security issues still slightly curb the greater enthusiasm among passengers to travel at pre-Covid levels, this mix of vessels in operation and vessels doing other work, is providing a good balance for our business and an opportunity to gradually reintroduce more capacity to our core routes as demand grows, just as we have recently done on the Tallinn-Helsinki route with the re-introduction of the cruise product for the route with our vessel ‘Victoria I’.
“Cruises between Tallinn and Helsinki have been warmly welcomed back by our customers and have enabled us to bring our capacity on this important route, the future green corridor between Estonia and Finland, almost back to pre-pandemic levels.
“Our teams will now continue activities into 4Q23 with similar dedication and we have our sights firmly set on a positive year end, which, should we achieve it, would be a significant milestone and achievement for everyone across Tallink Grupp after four extremely difficult years,” he said.
