Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Good for Business, Tourism, Transport

The group's unaudited sales in the first nine months of the year increased 2.9% to 717.6 million euros. EBITDA increased by 41.9 million euros and totaled 151.5 million euros, while net profit increased by 41.5 million euros to 60.4 million euros compared to the same period a year ago, the company told the stock exchange.

Sales of the group's restaurants and shops in the third quarter increased by 9 million euros or 6.8% compared to the same period last year. The upgrades to restaurant and shop concept throughout the fleet in the past year, combined with the operational changes, have resulted in higher average on-board revenue per passenger.

Revenue from the chartered out vessels has reduced in the third quarter compared to the same period last year due to fewer ships in charter. Two ships previously in charter were sold in the second quarter of 2015.

The group's net debt decreased by 30.8 million euros to a total of 583.6 million euros and the net debt to EBITDA ratio was 3.0 at the end of the third quarter. The group's interest cost reduced by 2.9 million euros, combined with less gain from foreign exchange revaluations, the total finance costs increased by 1.3 million euros compared to the third quarter last year.

The unaudited net profit in the third quarter was 45.2 million euros or 0.07 euros per share compared to the net profit of 36.2 million euros or 0.05 euros per share in the same period last year. The group's net profit for the nine months was 60.4 million euros or 0.09 euros per share compared to 18.9 million euros or 0.03 euros per share earned in the same period last year.

Cash flow from operations increased by 4.5 million euros in the third quarter compared to the same period last year. The total liquidity, cash and unused credit facilities, at the end of the third quarter was 100.4 million euros providing a strong financial position. At the end of the third quarter of 2015 the group had 79.1 million euros in cash and equivalents and the total of unused credit lines were at 21.3 million euros.

The group's vessels carried 2.7 million passengers in the third quarter which is 5.5% more than in the same quarter a year ago.

The Estonia-Finland route's third quarter revenue increased by 5.6% compared to same period last year. The increase is driven mainly by an 8.9% growth in the passenger numbers. The passenger numbers peaked in July when the group served a record number of 600,000 passengers, which is an all-time high monthly passenger number on that route. The growth of 15.3% in cargo units transported is supported mainly by added capacity.

The Finland-Sweden route's third quarter revenue increased by 6.5% compared to the same period last year, driven by an 8.4% growth in the passenger numbers. The number of cargo units transported decreased by 28.8% due to reduced capacity.

The Estonia-Sweden route passenger number increased by 1.5% and cargo volumes decreased by 8.3%. The Latvia-Sweden route, operating with only one vessel compared to two vessels last year, showed a 25.6% decline in the passenger number and cargo units transported decreased by 35.2%.