Good morning. Welcome to the Q4 results for Wilh. Wilhelmsen Holding ASA. Towards the end I will share a few reflections for the year as a whole, but then to start off with the Q4 . I would say the Q4 is characterized by stable operating results for the group. We're somewhat up year-over-year, but somewhat down quarter-on-quarter. Performance within the operating segments of maritime services and new energy has been pretty good. We've had good contribution from joint ventures and associates, but down from previous quarter due to certain one-offs. I'll come back to that a little bit later. All in all, we have a net profit or earnings to equity holders of $74 million, and the board has just recently announced a suggestion for dividends of NOK 10 for the first half and up to NOK 8 for the second half.
Also, a somewhat updated dividend policy. I'm sure Christian will come back to that a little bit later, but we are targeting a yield of 3%-5%. Just then moving into the segments, and a picture here from Maritime Services. We've been transparent on our wish to continue to grow our footprint within the Maritime Services segment. Over the last two years we've done five acquisitions, or we've done four in the two previous years, and we just announced one during the Q4 , which is to be closed during the Q1 of this year. Just a bit of a reflection of these transactions. They are typically what we would call bolt-on acquisitions, where we are widening our footprint within the Maritime Services segment.
All in all, the 4 acquisitions, prior to the one that we will close this year, is accounting for roughly $35 million in revenue, and we believe they are, say, attributing to a, a better footprint and a better offering towards our customers. As, as we know, we've been acquiring businesses throughout the overall platform, so it's strengthening the WSS portfolio. We have been strengthening the port services, so the agency part of the business, but also on the ship management side. Just a few words on the last announced acquisition in Zeaborn. This is a partnership with MPC Capital in Germany. Zeaborn is quite a large ship management company, approximately 100 vessels under its umbrella of various, various types.
We believe this is a very significant and nice acquisition for the ship management part of revenue, but also in terms of, say, guiding on the acquisition price as well. We are very pleased with this, with this transaction and the other transactions that we've been carrying out for the last two years, and hopefully this will also we can look back at a similar pattern in the years to come. Just then looking at Maritime Services and the performance, I must say I'm very pleased with the top-line growth. We've been in previous years talking about the challenge to grow the top line. We've had strong top-line growth during last year of 2023, 15%, in total, which is quite significant for a mature business like this. Hopefully we can continue this trend as well.
The margin is somewhat down, compared to previous periods, and the reason for that, we've also been explaining earlier, is that we are investing in the organization. The Maritime Services organization is significant. It's spread over 60 different countries around the world, and we have a widespread of products and services. We need to make sure that we have the right competence to front this in the marketplace, and we've been willing to take the investment in terms of growing in the organization, but of course this comes at the cost of the margin. But hopefully, in the longer term, this will prove to be, say, a good investment, in terms of profitability, as well. So, then looking into New Energy, somewhat down compared to previous quarter. Some impacted by seasonality, coming into the winter season, especially for the Norwegian operation.
Also, when we look back at previous, say, previous quarters and years, we've been terminating of the large contract we had within NorSea Wind for support of TenneT stations, etc., has been terminated, so that's impacting us. But we do feel that the margin overall is pretty strong, and we have, say, a good forward book, if I can call it that, at least. We believe the activity level within the Norwegian Basin will be quite strong going forward, and there's a lot of interesting initiatives going on within the energy transition space. I will not talk too much about Edda Wind. Edda Wind, of course they have their, they've announced their results, so has Reach. Reach has had a bumper year, very good projections.
We have just shy of 20% holding within Reach, and we also have warrants to, to lift us, for another close to 14%, if we deem that to be, say, a good, good investment. So, all in all, new energy is moving along, and activity level, as I said, within the Norwegian Basin is looking strong, so it's exciting times ahead. Then moving to strategic holding and investments, and a picture here with the focus on Wallenius Wilhelmsen. 2024 marks the 25th anniversary for the, I would call it, the Wallenius Wilhelmsen journey. So, in 1999, Wilhelmsen and Wallenius joined forces, creating at that time Wallenius Wilhelmsen, which became, say, the number one player within the ro-ro industry and a fantastic platform for future growth.
A few years later we acquired, as Wilhelmsen and Wallenius, the stake in EUKOR, and we've been developing these businesses all along, and in 2017, of course, all of this was merged together in a more efficient organization and listed on the stock exchange, which is now Wallenius Wilhelmsen ASA. I think this journey warrants a bit of credit because it's really the number one player within its field, and together with Wallenius, the Wilhelmsen organization has been able to build this company, and we have just announced a renewal of our shareholder agreement, which is quite an important mark for the partnership.
Probably, 25 years ago, a lot of people would say that a partnership like this will not last, 25 years, but this one has, and I do believe that Wallenius and Wilhelmsen and the general market is all contributing with different aspects, which is generating value for the company overall. The shareholder agreement, which was extended, there's nothing really new, but it has a few, say, main clauses. It's the right to have representation in a nomination committee, right for representation in the board at certain thresholds, and a first right of refusal at a certain threshold if any of Wallenius or Wilhelmsen is seeking to sell down. So, I think this is a pleasing development, and I'm very pleased that the partnership is continuing, and it's the most important partnership we have within the Wilhelmsen Group. Then, looking at the contribution.
Overall, the contribution, I must say, within holding and investment, and especially then from Wallenius Wilhelmsen, has been fantastic during the year, but it's down for the quarter. For Wallenius Wilhelmsen, it's impacted predominantly from tax and a put-and-call option related to the, to, to the EUKOR shareholding for, for the remaining 20%, which is owned by Hyundai and Kia. So, I would say that these are more non-cash adjustments. Underlying business is performing very well. We've had something like $340+ million contribution from Wallenius Wilhelmsen during the year. There's a new accounting method for Hyundai Glovis and Treasure. Christian will come back to that, but that's now on the equity method. We've had good contribution from our financial portfolio. So, I would say in this segment as well, it's been pretty strong during the quarter.
If we look at the left-hand side of the bar charts, just a reflection is, of course, not a development or we would have liked to see a different development, in terms of the value of all our listed holdings are more or less the same at Q3 and the of Q4 2023 as they were at end of Q4 2022. I'll come back to our share price, and the development we've had on our share price during this, during this period.
Are we lacking a, I think we're lacking a slide. Yeah, okay. Sorry.
Highlights for the year. I'll take that first, and then I'll come back to, to ESG, as there was a mix-up in the, in the numbering here. Overall, year of 2023 has been very strong for the Wilhelmsen Group.
We've had net profit to equity holders of $466 million, a record year, up from $400 million last year. We delivered a total shareholder return of 37%, not taking into account the share buybacks that we did during the year. I think just in reflection to the previous slide, when we look at the overall value of our listed holdings, which were more or less a zero-sum game during the year, but we've had an increase of 37% in shareholder return, which I think is or must be very pleasing for all shareholders. We've expanded our maritime services network through the bolt-on acquisitions that I mentioned, and of course, the all-time high contribution from Wallenius Wilhelmsen. It's a very strong market at this point in time. Just a few words on ESG.
We've been spending a lot of time within the Wilhelmsen organization, on various ESG matters, as all companies do. We've developed our own ESG index. It's comprised of 17 different KPIs. But I would like to mention two areas. I can't go through the whole thing, but the most important thing is health and safety. And unfortunately, we've had a fatal accident in 2023, and we've also had a fatal accident at the start of this year. This is just so tragic. It's just I can't really put words to it all, but it just shows that we just have to continue working on health and safety and our culture in that regards, continuously. We have pretty good statistics, but fatal accidents are just absolutely unacceptable. So that's definitely a continued key focus going forward.
The other one I would like to, to raise is, on the emission side, where we've had a 12% reduction in greenhouse gases during 2023, which we believe is, say, taking us on the right path towards our overall targets. On the outlook side, the market is looking pretty strong. Of course, there are, quite a few, say, difficult, areas in terms of the macro picture, both geopolitically and from a security perspective, and there's a large order book out there for the car and ro-ro fleet, etc., but at least in the, in the medium term, it's looking pretty strong for the businesses that we have. We have a strong platform. We have a strong balance sheet. We have a very good organization. So, I think we are very well weathered for, the year to come.
I said at the outset that I would shed a few lights or thoughts on 2023 or how we saw that at the beginning of the year. I must say, at the start of 2023, we were pretty worried when we saw the backdrop of what was happening in the world. We were quite uncertain as to what this would actually lead to in terms of our own performance. I don't think we could have foreseen the results that we are now seeing in the aftermath. We are very pleased with the year, and hopefully, we can look back at 2024 in the same way. There's a lot of clouds out there.
There's a lot of tragic things happening in the world in terms of a security perspective and macroeconomic uncertainty, but we have a strong platform, and we will continue to shape the maritime industry, and we will continue to invest in this business. So, I will lead the word to leave the word to Christian.
Thank you, Thomas. I will try to fill in some of the blanks that you left for me and just sort of summing up the quarter. As Thomas said, top line, stable. Also summing up with the points of maritime services being very positive in the quarter, with a 15% increase in the revenue side or the income side from year-over-year, while new energy somewhat lower year-over-year, basically flattish if you take out some of the sales gains or sales transactions.
EBITDA for the quarter year-over-year basically at par. As Thomas has already said, share of profit from associates, $42 million from Wallenius Wilhelmsen and $21 million from Glovis, pretty much down from both the quarter and the year-over-year quarter. And pretty much also explained by both Wallenius Wilhelmsen and also by Thomas on the major negative contributors to the share of profits this quarter. Giving an earnings per share at $1.68 for the quarter. If we move more on to the year, we just crossed the $1 billion revenue line. And again, for the full year, maritime services being the rising star through the year, increasing with almost 17%. And the new energy segment a bit lower, but again, taking out the one-offs during the year, give or take at par.
For the EBITDA for the year being $147 compared to $153 the last year, give or take at par. And again, taking out profits from sale. Underlying, basically, for the group at stable levels. But it's sort of, again, Maritime Services contributing with a 12% increase, while New Energy a bit down, but again, basically at par, correcting for the one-offs. If we move a bit down to the share profit from associates, as Thomas said, very strong year, $431 million, of which $324 coming from Wallenius Wilhelmsen and $89 coming from Hyundai Glovis. And again, we changed to the equity method through the year. If, and this is just an if, the sort of the share movement for the year in Hyundai Glovis in local currency has been up around 10%.
So, that would have been the sort of annual number in previous years if we have not done the change from fair value accounting to equity accounting. Earnings per share for the year, pretty strong on just about $10 per share, $10.52 for the year. Going to the cash, starting off the year with $163 million, having a strong delivery from all segments through the year, delivering $364 million. Maritime Services with an all-time cash contribution, all-time high cash contribution, and Wallenius Wilhelmsen delivering $136 out of those $170 million of the JV, while Glovis are delivering somewhat less. But a strong cash year from all units. As Thomas said, we have been investing both in sort of assets, but also in the organization.
On the asset side, which is where you see here, we have invested just above $40 million in hard assets in Nor Sea. We have invested $29 million in Edda Wind. And we have invested in the M&A activities in the maritime service segment just about $20 million. So, we have invested somewhat also, not only in the organization, but also on the asset side. Money being paid through the year, dividend of $42 million, buyback of $10 million, paid back somewhat of the debt, and paid also, of course, interest debt, and also taken down the leasing obligation. So, kicking off the year with $163 million, ending the year with $234 million at the end of the year. Coming to the balance sheet, and again, just somewhat increasing the balance sheet from high 60s to just above 70% equity ratio.
Most of that movement comes from the dollar NOK changes in the accounting, so that we actually have increased the balance sheet with the positive dollar NOK development. On the debt side, and I've said that a couple of times, that sort of it basically looks the same as the previous quarter and the previous quarter. It is a bit sort of out there that we are sort of see a big stack of potential refinancing. But having the opportunity to meet virtually with whomever is listening in, we are, of course, always eager to discuss and have relevant discussions on the financing and how to do refinancing, even though it's a couple of years down the road to where we really have to do it. We would like also to have that discussion on a rolling basis.
So, we engage everyone to sort of challenge us on what we can do, how we can do it, and have some inspiring talks with credit financiers of the world. Thomas opened up with the revised dividend policy, targeting an annual yield of 3%-5% over time. Over time, historically, 10 years back, the yield has been around 3%. We had a dramatic yield year, but not only a yield year, but also a dramatic year in 2020, where COVID came in and we took down the dividend and obviously below 3%, as you can see from the chart, paying back that sort of withheld dividend in the next year, but having a 10-year average of 3%. The first dividend being suggested to the General Assembly, being NOK 10 per share, will be around 2.8%.
And the remaining will take the suggestion up to potentially 5%. We also have an ambition and target to have a liquidity reserve of at least $200 million. It's important for us to be able to both not only support, but also to give deliver on the potential in the different segments. So, having that cash reserve is very important. And we will continue to develop that reserve going forward. As Thomas said, the board has proposed a first dividend of NOK 10 kroner per share and asked for an authority also to distribute additional dividend of up to NOK 8 kroner, taking the potential dividend up to $76 million. First dividend, basically then or not even basically, but being exactly the same as dividend the last year for the full year.
So, pretty happy to be able to at least give the first dividend the same as the last year. And the board is asking then for the powers to give up to NOK 8 in the Q3 . The dividend. The General Assembly is being called towards the 2nd of May, and the potential or the dividend is to be paid the 30th of May. As you can see on the 2023 chart and as also shown on the cash flow chart, we do also ask for a power from the General Assembly to potentially also do buybacks on a regular basis going forward. So, that's basically the capital situation, Thomas. And we will continue shaping the maritime industry as we always do.
We definitely will be. And I think that's also one of the reasons for the liquidity reserve.
We have a very wide international platform. As I mentioned, with operations in more than 60 different countries, thousands and thousands of employees and different products and services. Of course, in order to make sure that we stay abreast of all of this and all the business engagements that we do have, we need to have the capacity not just to develop what, say, the day-to-day part of the business, but we need to grow and prosper for the future. So, thank you, Christian. This is looking good. We welcome any questions that there may be.
Yes, we have one question so far. It's from an investor, Gunder Eriksen. It relates to acquisitions versus buyback. I read the question. You have done add-on acquisitions to VMS.
Can you elaborate on the valuation of such acquisitions versus your own stock and to what extent these acquisitions are accretive versus buying back stock?
I think sort of we have not disclosed the multiples or the what we have bought the different sort of add-ons for. But on a general basis, we are as sort of ended up with, we are supporting the stock with the dividend yield and the dividend sort of policy. And we are buying back shares, or we have been buying back shares, and we have the potential to buy back shares. And as Thomas sort of also said during his presentation, we have seen what sort of discussed as the discount to the underlying values. We have seen that sort of gap narrow in. And we are happy to see that.
We do whatever we can to deliver on the underlying values in the company and deliver on the good capital structures, being a balance between developing the company, shaping the maritime industry, shaping the future of the company, and giving a good return to all shareholders.
I think a short answer is, of course, we do acquisitions because we believe they are value accretive in the long term. Yeah, otherwise we wouldn't have done them. Exactly. That's the only question so far. Taking the time lag, should we then wait 15 seconds, wait 15 seconds and then we turn it off? We can wait a few seconds or minutes.
We could just as a reflection in the meantime while we're waiting for potential questions, I think a backdrop which is interesting to note for the businesses that we have, and especially the Maritime Services business, is, say, the general sentiment in the overall shipping industry. That is quite strong. I would say yeah pretty strong at this point in time, which is positive for the Maritime Services segment. And as we mentioned, when it comes to New Energy, there is a lot of activity within the Nor Sea Basin and also in terms of energy transition. And then finally, for holding and investment, and especially Wallenius Wilhelmsen, there's a lot of disruptions happening at this point in time. Deviations around Africa, where you cannot go through the Suez Canal.
There are disruptions in the Panama Canal, taking also capacity out of the market. So, in the short time span or short-term future, there is definitely a pretty tight supply-demand in that segment as well. And China is increasing their production, which is also adding to extra ton miles for transport. So, we believe we will have a good start to the year of 2024. Any last or any more questions, Åge?
Yeah, there is one from Jørgen Lian, analyst at DNB on capital allocation. I read the question. Cash flow looks to be increasing considerably going forward. Will cash dividends be according to the updated policy, while potential overshooting cash from the liquidity buffer be directed to buybacks? Question.
Yes, we will, of course, try to deliver on our policy. It would be strange not to.
So, we will try to deliver on the policy. And on the buyback side, yes, we are asking for a mandate from the board. We have done some buybacks. And there is a natural way of balancing the capital structure using buybacks together with the dividend. So, I don't know if it's a yes or no answer, but there is a that's the sort of leverage that we do have, dividend and buybacks, to adjust sort of the situation. But again, as I think we have said a couple of times or even more, it's important for us to also remember to invest in the organization and in the asset base that we do have. So, that's the basically cash that's where the cash might be going in total.
I think it's fair to say that over the last, say, 5+ years or so, there's been very, very limited cash coming up from holding and investments. And we've been able to counteract that with some good performance in the other parts of our portfolio, especially maritime services, which has been generating good cash. But at the cost of not investing at the rate we would like to. So we're trying to balance this in totality. How can we make sure that we have the solidity, the flexibility that we need as a group? How can we grow this business and invest in it and develop it at the rate we would like it to be? And at the same time, of course, giving back to shareholders in terms of hopefully a combination of rising share price and dividends.
Then there is one more question from Johan Henrik L'Orange. It's a little mixed Norwegian based on estimated strong cash flow. Wallenius Wilhelmsen ASA share, will you prefer yeah, it's some spelling here. Will you prefer share buybacks versus more dividend? Will more than $200 million be used for that? Congratulations with a good year.
Well, first, thank you for the congratulations. I think we are pretty, say, firm on we've just announced the dividend policy of 3%-5%, the suggestion by the board to the AGM of 10 + 8 NOK. And at the same time, potentially say doing potential buybacks. And we understand that we need to balance these. But at the same time, as we've said several times now, we are very interested in growing this business, and we need the capacity to do so.
We've been, say, short on that capacity for nearly the last decade. So, we'll see how we can balance this in a good way.
Also, to comment on what you said, Thomas. I've said that in lots of meetings with investors. We are not in the position, and we do not think that we can dividend out what might come. So, for us, it's all about sort of we need to see business or associates deliver physically. So, what might come will be handled when what might come ends up having been delivered. So, we are not sort of front-running what might come in the future.
We need to see that being delivered before sort of deciding on any changes or any deviations from the policies or the way we behave in the capital market.
And then there is a follow-up question from Jørgen Lian at DNB. So, what is normalized investment rate per year?
That's a very good question. I don't think we have a normalized investment rate. So, this is an industry where you don't have a, it's not a constant flow of opportunities. There are opportunities coming and coming and going. So, it's very, very difficult to give a normalized rate of investment. This is not a replacement of new buildings or anything like that. So, if we were to look at Wallenius Wilhelmsen, one could make a more calculated version of forward investments.
And no doubt, when we look at Wallenius Wilhelmsen, we believe there is a significant investment program coming in the following years in terms of fleet renewal. How the company will cater for that is that's up to Wallenius Wilhelmsen. But again, we need to make sure that we are there to be able to back an investment program that well might embark on.
And not to destroy Thomas's perfect discussion right now, but for Jørgen, sort of knowing the dirty details in the even the lower levels within the segment, I think sort of for NorSea, which is basically the most stable business, and having sort of a reinvestment CapEx program on a rolling basis in a way forever, the best estimate is basically using the depreciation number every year over some years.
And that will be basically the normalized reinvestment CapEx level in New Energy for that segment.
And then there is a more concrete different question. Henrik Abrahamsson asked, can you elaborate on the partnership with MPC Capital? Do you see further opportunities with them?
Yeah, MPC Capital in Germany is a partnership which we started, I can't remember exactly at what time, but it was prior to COVID. And it's been predominantly on the ship management side, where we acquired say a part of their ship management operation and to do that in a joint venture. That joint venture has been very successful. And I think we not necessarily saying that we are absolutely like-minded, but we do see very much of say the same opportunities. And we it has proven to be a good partnership where we come along say pretty well.
And that might develop going forward, and especially now with Zeaborn. Zeaborn is a significant say sized transaction within the ship management industry. As with all partners, we would like to develop their partnerships going forward. And this shouldn't be any exception to to the other partnerships that we do have.
I might also add that they have a various, if not the same and the like, same same vision as we do have, but they have a sort of front load that they want to do and they want to be a part of shaping the industry. So, we do find some very good knots to sort of cooperate on going forward with with MPC, also as an MPC total structure.
And we are quite complementary in terms of skills and focus. And that ends the Q&A.
Okay. Thank you so much. Thanks for participating.
We're looking forward to presenting our second half result, hopefully with good numbers and good development. Thank you.