Tallink earns €19.4 million in first nine months

Tallink Group earned a net profit of €19.4 million in the first nine months of the year, including €43.8 million in the third quarter, ERR reported. The company’s revenue rose to €603 million for the nine-month period, up 4.5% from a year earlier.

Summer passenger numbers increased by 2.8% year on year to 1.82 million. Third-quarter revenue reached €246.7 million. EBITDA for the first nine months was just over €104 million, compared with €102 million in the same period last year.

CEO Peep Jalakas said the third quarter was the company’s most important period of the year and that demand remained strong. Cargo volumes also grew, with nearly 65,000 cargo units carried in the quarter, a 7.8% annual increase.

The company said higher fuel costs added €18.9 million to expenses over the first nine months, while dividend payments led to an income tax expense of €12.6 million. In the third quarter alone, fuel costs rose by more than €9 million year on year, and costs for surrendering emissions allowances increased by more than €2 million.

Cargo volumes grew particularly on the Estonia-Finland and Finland-Sweden routes, with the latter increasing by more than 20%. Passenger numbers rose 5.3% on Finland-Sweden routes and 5.8% on the Estonia-Sweden route.