Good afternoon to everyone who is watching us today. Let's begin with the webinar introducing Infortar Group financial results for the third quarter of 2024. I am Kadri Laanvee, the Investor Relations Manager at Infortar, and joining me today to provide an overview of Infortar activities is the Managing Director, Martti Talgre. We will start with an overview of our activities and key events in the third quarter of 2024, and then, after the presentation, we'll answer the questions sent to us.
If anyone is watching now and wants to ask a question, please use the Q&A button at Teams. We will not disclose the names of the questionnaires, so no need to worry about that. Today's presentation will be recorded and made available later on the Infortar Investor website. Let's start with an overview of business activities, and I'll hand over to Martti.
Thank you, Kadri, and good afternoon, dear Infortar shareholders and investors. Infortar is the largest investment company in Estonia and one of the largest in the whole Baltic region. Our activities focus on three main sectors where we are active in. So first, the maritime transportation. Secondly, energy. And thirdly, real estate. Although all those sectors are different, they also share a lot of similarities. They are all stable. They are all capital-intensive. They have high entry barriers, and they all generate strong cash flow. Infortar has always focused on growing our business, whether going into new business areas or expanding geographically, going into new countries. And that has taken us into the largest investment company position in Estonia. I think it's good to reflect a little bit back for a past year on what we have been listed in Tallinn Stock Exchange.
We went public on December 14, 2023. And since then, there has been quite a significant expansion and growth of our company. End of Q3 last year, our balance sheet was EUR 1.43 billion, and today it's almost EUR 2.5 billion, which is 75% of growth. The same goes for revenue. Last year, nine months, our revenue was EUR 747 million, and today, for nine months, it's EUR 926 million, which is roughly a quarter of growth. Our equity has also increased significantly. It was EUR 771 million and stands today at EUR 1.22 billion. It's almost 60% of the growth. And also, EBITDA has moved in the positive direction from EUR 106 million- EUR 117 million. And I think all our shareholders should be quite happy. Our IPO price was EUR 26.
Today, it's actually more than EUR 43, which means that we have grown from market cap of 550 million EUR to more than 900 million EUR as of today. So that makes one of the largest capitalized companies in Tallinn Stock Exchange. Regarding the markets, we're operating in seven markets: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Poland, Sweden, and Germany. So the whole balance sheet that we have as of today is 2.5 billion EUR. It gives us a very good platform to continue with our expansion in the future as well. Maybe just quickly about the segments we are operating in. So maritime shipping or maritime transportation represents Tallink. So we increased our shareholding to 68.5%. And the main activity here is passengers and cargo transportation. Tallink is also publicly listed in Tallinn Stock Exchange, so quite a household name in Estonia and in the region.
Our energy interests are represented by Eesti Gaas, where we own 100% of the company, and the company is operating in the Baltic-Finnish market, but also in Poland and Germany. And when we look at our real estate portfolio, then we have 116,000 sq m of different properties, mainly in Tallinn, and then one asset in Riga as well. And over the years, our other supporting businesses have expanded quite a bit as well. So our engineering and construction business has gone quite a long way and is doing quite strongly as well. We have invested additionally into agriculture. We recently bought a printing house to support our existing printing businesses. So actually, the importance of the other businesses is growing all the time.
But now, when we move forward to the key events from our nine months this year, then I think the key word for this year has been growth. I a little bit talked about the numbers already, but we have done four acquisitions this year. So the largest one was in Q3. That was the voluntary takeover of Tallink, under which we increased our shareholding from 46%- 68.5%. But we have also bought a dairy farm back in Q2, and beginning of Q4, we closed the acquisition of a printing house transaction. So all in all, this year alone, we have invested EUR 138 million . So some of you might remember that when we went public, we said that in 2023- 2025, we planned to invest approximately EUR 110 million . But as of today, in 2023 and 2024, we have invested already more than EUR 300 million .
And then after the closing of EWE transaction in Poland, what we announced last Friday, our investment amount will exceed EUR 400 million already. Regarding the performance of our segments, so maritime transport had a strong Q3. Of course, they are a little bit hurt by the general macroeconomic situation both in Finland and Estonia, but still, they have a very strong financial position, and they have continuously reduced the leverage. Regarding energy, the key words are, of course, expansion. So I will say a little bit more regarding the EWE transaction in a later stage. But we have also managed to increase our sales volumes of natural gas and then also our infra segment after the full integration of Gaso. The acquisition from last year has come on successfully. So the infra subsegment is still delivering very strong performance. And our real estate segment is doing nicely.
The result is very stable. There has been a continuous improvement in the financial performance, and also our development projects go according to the plan of the new logistics center in Saue, and also the Pärnu Bridge project from the infra segment are going quite nicely. That's briefly. I will dig a little bit deeper into the segments after Kadri has talked to the numbers. This is a little bit more complicated than it has been before because the Tallink acquisition had a significant impact on our reporting, but Kadri will take you more into the details. Thanks.
Thank you, Martti. Here we show the third quarter results for 2024 compared to the same period for 2023 and also year-end results. As Martti already explained, Infortar today is a different company than two years ago. In 2023, we had the Gaso transaction, first time consolidated into our numbers. And 2024 marks the first full- year with Gaso included. Additionally, in 2024, we started consolidating Tallink Grupp line by line. We are very happy with the success of the voluntary public offering for Tallink shares. However, it does complicate the comparability of the financial results. So what's more, following last week's news regarding Poland, it really appears that we need to explain a little bit more details behind the numbers we are going to show you. And I also want to add one more disclaimer.
Once you read our numbers, please bear in mind that the balance sheet provides a snapshot of the company's financial position on the specific date, including total assets and liabilities starting from the beginning of the year until the end of nine months. Meanwhile, the income statement reflects revenues and expenses over a certain period. For example, currently, we are presenting Tallink numbers for two months, and it will include the sales revenues and profits for those two months only. So Infortar began consolidating Tallink figures line by line, starting from 1st August 2024. So Infortar Group's consolidated revenue for the third quarter amounted to EUR 922 million, representing a growth of EUR 179 million compared to the same period last year. Next, we present EBITDA, a key profitability indicator for us. EBITDA was EUR 117 million, and net profit EUR 187 million.
These results include Tallink's figures for August and September, which were not included last year. However, last year's net profit figure did include one-off impact from Gaso transaction. When reading Infortar's quarterly report, we recommend checking also note number two, the segment reporting, where you can find Tallink's numbers showing 100% results also in last year. As of September 2024, Infortar's equity stood at EUR 1.2 billion, and assets totaled EUR 2.5 billion. To calculate the book value of shares for comparability, we have subtracted minority equity from total equity, and the number of shares is 21,166,000. Earnings per share have been calculated consistently with the same share number, minus their own shares, 925,000. For that part, we don't pay dividends. Free cash stands at EUR 96 million, and net debt has changed as Tallink's loans are now included in the nine-month figures for 2024.
Internally, we also monitor the investment loan-to-EBITDA ratio, which is 2.3 for the nine-month period. The comparative period does not include Tallink, but for the calculation, we have used Tallink's whole segment EBITDA for nine months and been consistent with comparing the numbers. Infortar's ambition is to grow mainly in foreign markets, and regarding Infortar business segments, our Managing Director, Martti, will now explain in more detail what's happening.
Thank you, Kadri. I will now dig a little bit deeper into our three main segments, and this time I start from Tallink because after acquiring an additional 22% in Tallink and then raising our stake to 68.5%, Tallink represents the largest part of our balance sheet as of today. Just a quick reflection that this year we have increased our stake in Tallink from 42%- 68.5%. As a reminder, I think back in 2015, our stake in Tallink was 36%. There has been quite a significant investment from our end to increase our stake in Tallink. Tallink is, I think, a household name in the region. It's a leading maritime transportation company in the Baltic Sea, has demonstrated strength and resilience in different crises, and is currently in a very good shape.
Tallink is impacted by the general macroeconomic situation, both Estonia and Finland. Consumer confidence numbers are not too strong yet, but still, I think, bearing this in mind, Tallink has delivered very strong financial results in nine months this year, and that has been the reason why we have been investing into the company and have increased our stake there. What's also very important to point out here is that Tallink has continuously reduced the leverage. So within this year, they have paid back or repaid about EUR 60 million of loans, and the debt-to-EBITDA ratio stands at 2.98, which basically means that the company is capable to repay all their loans in three years. So I think that when we look at the composition of the Tallink balance sheet, which is full of real assets, high-quality ships, then the ratio is a very strong one.
I think from the shareholders' point of view, it gives us a confidence that Tallink can pay dividends to the shareholders, and that includes Infortar. When we just look a little bit into the, god, if we go to the next slide. So this slide here illustrates the quarterly performance of Tallink. So all in all, I think the fact that the company has generated EUR 150 million as EBITDA in the first nine months is a very strong indicator. Of course, when we have a comparison with the previous year results, then 2024 numbers are a little bit weaker than they were a year ago, but last year was a record result.
When you look into the numbers more in detail, then I think that the main impact of that slight decrease comes from the fact that as of today, two ships are standing still or are laid up in the port, meaning that they don't generate cash flow. I think that actually represents the main difference in the cash flow generation. Maybe another important thing to point out regarding Tallink is that in 2024, Tallink restarted payment of dividends. That also resulted in the dividend income tax of EUR 9 million in Q3 when the dividends were distributed. That also had an impact when you compare the numbers. Now, when we move forward to Energy, Energy is our second largest investment.
So in 2016, we bought Eesti Gaas, and at that point of time, Eesti Gaas was a local retailer of natural gas and the owner of the local natural gas distribution network. But over those eight years, we have grown the company significantly. So as of today, Eesti Gaas with the international brand name Elenger is the largest privately owned energy company in the Finnish-Baltic energy region. And then there is also the biggest player in the natural gas market. So a very, very nice and strong development. Our market share in the Finnish-Baltic region as of today is 26%. So there has been a slight increase over the previous year. But just kind of giving you the longer history, that back in 2019, our market share was 7% only. So it has been a very tremendous growth what our energy has managed to achieve.
I think also last year, there was a very important milestone for Eesti Gaas. So we acquired 100% of the Latvian monopolistic natural gas distribution network, Gaso. So the company is currently nicely integrated. It's delivering very strong results. So actually, the whole infra business. Actually, you can move to the next slide as well. So the whole infra business is delivering very strong results. So when you look at this slide, what is clearly seen here is that we have managed to continuously increase our volumes. So we have sold 27% more energy during this year compared to previous year. We have a strong market share. The financial performance is a little bit weaker than it was a year ago, but the reason here is that the energy market has kind of normalized.
But the fact that now we have a significant part of the cash flow generated by the very stable and regulated infra part of the energy, I think, gives confidence for us and also I believe for Infortar investors. And also, seasonally, what's important to bear in mind is that when in maritime transportation, the strong quarters are second and third quarter, then in energy, actually, the strong quarters are first and fourth. So second and third quarters, in essence, are low season. So that wasn't fully that way back in 2022-2023, which were really extraordinary years full of risks, but also opportunities. The fact is that the cash flow generated from the energy sales has normalized. But I think the good thing is that the money what we managed to earn, we have reinvested into business and then now have significantly stronger cash flow generation capability.
The fact that the significant part is coming from infrastructure, I think, is very encouraging. What we want to grow, so this is the clear idea of the whole Infortar group. Last Friday, we announced that we have signed a transaction in Poland. If you move forward. We signed an agreement to acquire EWE Polska. This is a Polish subsidiary. Actually, it's a group of three companies, which was the Polish business of EWE, a large German energy company. But they are focusing into their German business and want to exit from the Polish business. In our eyes, EWE Polska has many similarities with Eesti Gaas when we bought Eesti Gaas back in 2016. They also own a distribution network. They have the energy sales business. When we look at the numbers, then they have about 2,300 kms of pipelines. They have about 25,000 customers.
They sell about 1.2 TW hours of energy on a yearly basis. Their asset base is EUR 170 million. Out of that, the regulated asset base is slightly more than EUR 100 million. Their sales have been approximately EUR 150 million. 2023 was financially a little bit challenging for them, but historically, the company has generated approximately EUR 15 million of EBITDA per year. So we see that the EWE would be a very good platform for us to grow our business further in Poland. As I said, lots of similarities with the Eesti Gaas back in 2016. The only difference is that the EWE is a bigger company than the Eesti Gaas was at that point of time.
We believe it's going to serve as a good foundation for our business growth in Poland because when we just look at the market, the Polish natural gas market is 4x bigger than the Finnish Baltic market, and having stronger presence there, I think, is important for our continuous growth there. Now, moving forward to real estate. Real estate is one of our three segments. You can go to the next slide, please. It's one of our three segments, maybe it's smallest, but I think it gives us a lot of stability. We own 116,000 sq m , which generate cash flow for us. The indexation is always helping here. The results are a little bit stronger than they were the previous year. We are also developing this part as well.
So we are in the very late stage or final stage of completion of the logistics center of Rimi in Saue, close to Tallinn. So another 25,000 square meters would be added into our portfolio. And we have quite a bit of development potential in our land, approximately 65,000 sq m of additional building rights. But are ready to build because the building permits are issued and actively work to secure cash flows for those properties and hit the ground. From the numbers point of view, the segment revenue has increased by 15% versus the previous year. So from EUR 11.6 million- EUR 13.4 million And net operating income, which is the main KPI in the segment, has went from EUR 10.7 million-EUR 12 million , so 12% of increase here as well.
From Infortar's point of view, we don't only own and develop real estate, but we have also a very professional engineering and construction company group in our group as well. It all started from building the infrastructure for ourselves, but we have expanded that part significantly. We are in civil engineering, power grids, natural gas pipelines, but also now building a bridge in Pärnu and looking into other infrastructure construction. We are very proud of that part of the business we have as well. Kadri, now when we would move forward, I would start wrapping up. Infortar, as an investment, I think that maybe five key points to bear in mind here are that first, I think we have a very strong and diversified portfolio platform, a platform of EUR 2.5 million to continue with our growth.
It's diversified in different sectors, it's in different countries, and then generates a single cash flow. Our focus is to continue the growth, and I think that's something we have also demonstrated that we can deliver, so a year ago, our asset base was EUR 1.5 billion, now it's EUR 2.5 billion. Our sales have increased, our cash flow generation is stronger, so we want to grow the business, and I think we know how to do that. We are always looking at the synergies within our companies and then agility as well, so when we have opportunities, we are capable to react fast, and although we have grown into quite a sizable company, I think we still have the agility and we can react very fast. And also, we have a very unique competence when it comes to growing the company or acquiring new businesses.
So like we're saying, buying new companies is a business as usual for us. So within this year, we have done four acquisitions. So I think that it really demonstrates that capability. And we believe that having a platform like we have, which generates strong cash flow, is something what really allows us to continue to grow and pay good dividend as well. So I think that's maybe Infortar at glance what we are as an investment. So thank you.
Thank you. I want to take this quick overview. We have received some questions, and I promised to answer them, so let's start. Infortar net profit decreased. Will Infortar pay dividends next year?
So I think that, firstly, the decrease of profitability came mainly from the fact that last year we had very large one-off because we managed to buy Gaso with a very good price.
It was one-off profit what we had. But when it comes to our dividend payment, I think we have strong liquidity. We have a very clear dividend policy. Our dividend policy says that we pay at least EUR 1 per share, which we will definitely do. We have also said that we will pass through to our shareholders all dividends what we received from Tallink. Maybe an important thing to bear in mind here is that last year we had approximately 40% of Tallink, meaning that we distributed to our shareholders 40% of dividends paid by Tallink, but this year we have 68.5%. That's a significantly larger part of the potential dividend pass-through and distribution. Also, we have said that depending on the liquidity position, the investment pipeline, we might also have an extraordinary part of the dividend.
So this year, we paid altogether EUR 3. So EUR 1 as the base dividend, EUR 1 as a pass-through from Tallink, and EUR 1 was the run-off. So altogether EUR 3. So I think that when we look at the financial performance, liquidity, and leverage of Infortar, then I think it's quite sure that we will stay with our dividend policy. However, what is exactly the amount of dividends to be paid next year? This is something what we are going to announce at the end of February with the introduction of our Q4 and full-year results.
Thank you. Can you please shortly comment on how long can such a rapid growth continue for a company? I think that we are continuously looking around for new possibilities. So we have the experience, we have the capability, so we know how to integrate companies successfully.
So actually, we're looking into very many potential transactions all the time. But what's always very important is that when you make those large acquisitions, then you have to make sure that you integrate those companies and that they will get part of your group and they will deliver strong results. So I think we are capable to, and then we are willing to continue with the growth. But I think that regarding the specific details, we will let you know each and every time via stock exchange.
And we already announced the news in the end of last week, so we are continuing the growth. Do you see a risk of Infortar's share price dropping sharply?
I think that it's a very good question, but it's very hard to give a good answer here.
So I think that all in all, when we look at the performance so far, I think it has been very solid. So we have been listed now for almost 11 months, and the share price is up, I think, like 65%. So it's quite solid. And I think the underlying business of Infortar is strong. But of course, eventually, there are very different factors that impact the share price. So from the management point of view, I wouldn't give any guidance when it comes to the share price, but we believe we have a very good and strong company as Infortar.
Thank you, Martti. And thank you very much to everyone who watched us, and also to those who will watch us later. If you have any questions about Infortar as an investment, you can always contact me via email or by phone. And this is all for today.
Thank you.
Thank you.