The leading passenger shipping company on the Baltic Sea, AS Tallink Grupp says it earned an all-time high revenue of 954.2 million Euros in 2015, according to the unaudited results disclosed this week. Unaudited net profit more than doubled compared to last year and amounted in 59.1 million Euros.
The Management`s Report stated, that the increase in the Group’s results is mainly attributed to the growth in passenger number, higher on-board revenue per passenger, higher charter revenue and lower operating costs. The passenger number grew steadily in most routes and the Group regained market share from the direct competition.
AS Tallink Grupp and its subsidiaries (the Group) carried a total of 9.0 million passengers in the 2015 financial year which is 1.1 percent more compared to the year before. Estonia-Finland route passenger number increased by 5 percent and cargo units by 17.9 percent, the segment revenue increased by 5.1 percent. The Finland-Sweden route passenger number grew by 4.1 percent mostly due to more departures compared to 2014, the cargo units transported decreased by 26.2 percent and segment revenue increased by 2.9 percent. The shift of cargo volumes between the routes is the result of one cargo vessel moved from Finland-Sweden route to Estonia-Finland route from 2015. The Latvia-Sweden route passenger and cargo volume decreased by 32.2 percent and by 46.5 percent respectively as only one vessel was operating on the route since mid-2014.
AS Tallink Grupp signed a contract with Meyer Turku Oy in February 2015 for the construction of its new LNG powered fast ferry costing 230 million Euros. The start of production of the new LNG fast ferry started on the 4th of August 2015 at Meyer Turku shipyard and the delivery of the vessel is planned in the beginning of 2017. In order to be ready for the delivery of the new generation LNG fast ferry to the Tallinn-Helsinki route Shuttle service early 2017, the Group decided to sell and charter back the fast ferry Superstar. The ownership of the vessel was transferred to the buyer on 1st of December 2015. The Group continues to operate the vessel under the charter agreement until the beginning of 2017, when the new LNG fast ferry will start to operate on Tallinn-Helsinki route Shuttle service. The Group’s fourth quarter profitability is affected by one-off costs of 9.5 million Euros related to sale of fast ferry Superstar.
AS Tallink Grupp is the leading passenger and cargo transportation service provider in the Northern region of the Baltic Sea. The company owns altogether 15 vessels and operates under the brands of Tallink and Silja Line on 6 different routes. AS Tallink Grupp employs 7000 people and has annually up to 9 million passengers worldwide.