Good day, dear investors and everyone else watching and listening us today. We are now starting the webinar presenting Infortar Group results for the Q1 of 2026. My name is Kadri Laanvee. I am Investor Relations Manager at Infortar, and joining me today to present the overview of Infortar latest activities is Martti Talgre, the Managing Director. We will begin with an overview of the latest operations and most important events in the Q1, and after the presentation, we will answer questions that have been submitted to us. If you wish to submit a question, please use the Q&A button at Teams. Today's presentation is being recorded and will be later available on Infortar's investor webpage. Let's begin with the overview, and I will hand over to Martti Talgre, Managing Director.
Good afternoon, dear Infortar shareholders and investors. I'm very pleased to share our Q1 results with you and then give you an overview how we have been doing over the past three months. If we move to the first slide.
Yes. Yes, now it's on.
Yeah. very quick recap what Infortar is about. we're the largest investment company in Estonia, one of the largest in the Baltics, and our main business activities are shipping, energy, and real estate. All of those have a very strong asset base, high barriers of entry, and ability to create stable and solid cashflow. Also our portfolio is supported by agriculture, engineering, construction, and printing, which also add additional diversification into our group. In shipping, our largest investment, of course, is Tallink. 68.5% is our stake there. In energy, our interests are consolidated under Elenger Group.
Then there we do infrastructure business, which has grown into the most significant part of the energy business, also from cashflow generation point of view. We are active also in energy sales and then also in a growing way in energy production as well. In real estate, we own a portfolio of 141,000 sq m, 18 properties altogether, so hotels, office buildings, logistic assets, et cetera, et cetera. Our goal has been to grow the company by developing existing businesses and expanding geographically. Our focus is on continuing with profitable growth. We have a solid balance sheet, which supports us here and then also a very active owner's role.
Now when we go to the Q1 results, I would start with saying that it was a very good quarter for us. Our business is seasonal. Usually Q1 is the most challenging because Tallink, which is the largest part of the balance sheet, has seasonally the weakest quarter in Q1. We delivered very strong and solid results, actually the highest sales ever, EUR 505 million, which is 13% more than a year ago. What is even more important is that we managed to improve our profitability. Gross profit increased. EBITDA rose to EUR 47 million. Our operating profit clearly moving into positive territory.
Last year, we were in a slight loss on operating profit level, but this year it was EUR 21.4 million as a positive result. Also our net profit turned positive and was approximately EUR 20 million stronger than a year ago, so EUR 5 million of profit for Q1. I'm very proud of Tallink's delivery. The volumes are up significantly compared to previous year. The passenger number is almost 7% higher than the last year, and cargo is more than 13% more than a year ago, so very solid volume numbers. Financial performance is also significantly better than last year. I think we have communicated that before as well that our focus is very much on efficiency of Tallink to improve the profitability.
It's good to see that Tallink now, I think for the third year in a row, plans to pay dividend of EUR 0.06 per share, which according to Infortar's dividend policy we pass through to our shareholders. In energy, the results were mainly supported by a very cold winter. Just to remind you that the year before, the winter was very mild, so a little bit like two opposites. Of course, very cold winter drove up the natural gas consumption, which was beneficial for us, especially for the infrastructure segment. Of course, the conflict which started on Persian Gulf end of February impacted us a lot. Our clear focus has been to make sure that the gas supply is secured and this is what we have done.
All in all, it was a very good quarter for energy, the net profit increased by half. When it comes to real estate, it was a stable performance over the segment. We are continuing with our real estate projects. The renovation of Tallink Express Hotel just got completed, and Depo DIY store construction goes according to the plan. Everything is going in a stable way in real estate as well. Now we move to the numbers, and then Kadri is taking over from here.
Yes. Thank you. Q1 of 2026, I'm very happy that we now have even more comparable numbers now that 2025 Tallink Group and Elenger Polska businesses are fully integrated to our numbers. Let's look at them into more detail. Revenue and profitability both improved strongly. Revenue increased to EUR 505 million, so the growth is approximately 13%. EBITDA rose to EUR 47 million and increased approximately 70%. Both operating and net profit were positive. Net profit for the quarter was EUR 5.3 million, compared the loss of EUR 14.6 million year earlier. Balance sheet is in general really strong. Cash increased to EUR 232 million by the end of the quarter. Loan and lease liabilities decreased by 7%.
Net debt also decreased from EUR 852 million to EUR 800 million, and equity stands on EUR 1.2 billion. Financial leverage improved investment loans to EBITDA, which we are monitoring on quarterly basis has improved as well. It now stands on 2.9 compared to 3.3 previous period. In general, it was a really good quarter for Infortar. All the main metrics increased, and we were again profitable. What we really like about it is that this growth mainly came from our everyday activities. We have really proven that we can still grow and be strong, but also grow our margins in everyday business and our costs are well under control. That's it, and I can give back Martti now.
Yeah. I think that maybe just a quick comment on the numbers as well that yes, we managed to grow our numbers quite nicely. I think what's important takeaway here is that this growth came from the increase of our existing businesses, not by acquisition something additionally. We have been messaging, I think, all through the past quarters that we are after growth, but after profitable growth, and when you look at the numbers, you see here an improved profitability and continuously a very strong balance sheet quality. I think that we are in a very solid position for upcoming quarters. Okay, now just quick recap on the dividend proposal.
That was what we communicated in February, end of February as well together with our Q4 numbers. The plan is to pay EUR 3.02 per share as a dividend, it's fully in line with our dividend policy. That means, like ordinary dividend of EUR 1 per share. Everything what is paid by Tallink will be passed through to Infortar shareholders and basing on our very solid financial position, we are proposing also additional dividends of EUR 0.54 per share. Together, EUR 3.02 per share. I think what's important here is to keep in mind is that we pay this out in two parts, two equal parts. One in July and one in December.
For shareholders, it means that I think up until the end of June.
June.
... and up until the end of November, if investors buy our shares, they are entitled for dividends, then in July and in December.
Yes. Also, beginning of the next week, we'll announce the general meeting date, and then all the exact dates will be available to investors.
Very good. Let's move forward. I think that it has been a solid performance of our share as well. What's good to see is that the number of shareholders is steadily increasing. I think it's now reaching almost to 6,600 shareholders, slight increase here as well. It's good to see that shareholders believe in to us. I think our long-term goal is to really maintain investor trust. You know, to have clear capital allocation, strong balance sheet, and consistent growth. I think that those daily share price changes are not so important. I think the most important thing is that the company is fundamentally growing the value and continues to improve.
Okay, let's move forward to Tallink. I think, Kadri, you could go to the next slide right away.
Mm-hmm.
Tallink is our largest and best-known investment, it's very strategically important part of the whole Group. When you look at the improvement of our performance, significant part actually came from Tallink, approximately EUR 10 million better result than a year ago. What's important to remember is that Tallink's business is very seasonal, Q1 is seasonally the weakest quarter Tallink has. I think it's very good to see how really in that challenging quarter Tallink managed to improve the volumes quite significantly. When you look at the balance sheet structure, it's continuously very solid. Tallink has reduced the loan burden significantly over the years. When we look at the leverage, I would say is moderate.
I think all those things really give confidence for the continuous dividend payments from Tallink side. When we move to the next quarter, this is the good illustration of the quarterly seasonality of Tallink. Usually Q1 is the weakest, and it's clearly good to see that the volume trends have now turned around. We are transporting more passengers and then goods than the year before. Good. Let's move forward to energy. Here you see a picture of our newest development. It's a new biogas plant next to the Halinga farm, which is going to be commissioned quite shortly.
It's going to be, I think, the most modern biogas production facility in both the countries and I think is going to be a great synergy for our businesses. I'm pretty sure that soon we are going to use the gas produced here to fuel also Tallink ferries. Going to the energy business. We have diversified our interest here as well. We are operating in six countries, the Baltic countries, Finland, Poland, and then Germany. Over the last years, the largest part of cash flow is generated by our energy infrastructure assets.
Here we have the monopolistic gas distribution network in Latvia, the largest one in Estonia, and I think the second largest privately owned gas distribution network in Poland. Definitely the cold winter had a very solid impact on the performance of our infrastructure assets, so it's really good to see. When it comes to energy sales, we are the leading importer and natural gas supplier in the Baltic and Finnish Baltic countries and Finland. What we take very seriously is the security of supply.
I think that, although the winter was significantly colder than usually, we still managed to supply all our customers and actually that was one of the reasons why actually the leftovers in storages at the end of Q1 were very modest. In Q2, we are importing quite a bit of additional natural gas, so I think we're quite nicely prepared for the next gas season as well. When it comes to energy production, the most important part here growingly is biomethane production. We have invested into three operating plants and the OÜ Halinga plant, which we had the picture of, is about to be completed quite soon.
That's something we see very positively for energy independence for the region, but also the carbonization of the energy markets. Little bit about the numbers. Due to cold winter, our energy volumes were higher than the year before. Our sales were up, our EBITDA generation was up, net profit was up. The only number which was slightly down was the market share, but it was mainly structured. Those parts of the market where you don't have much access grew more than the market. What has been definitely a very big headache for the whole team is the conflict in Iran.
We are not importing physically any natural gas from that region, our natural gas is coming from Norway or U.S. Still, of course, the price volatility is creating headache. I think we have navigated that quite nicely. As of today, we don't see that there is any material adverse impact on our position, maybe rather vice versa. As mentioned before, the security of natural gas supply remains solid. We have contracted significant part of the natural gas, what is necessary for upcoming gas seasons. Our customers should be happy. Also, as mentioned before, the bio-biogas and bio-LNG importance is growing. In Q1, we delivered more than 70 GWh of bio-LNG for our bunkering customers.
When we look at this from Tallink perspective, I think approximately three quarters nowadays is bio-LNG, what they, what they use as a fuel. Definitely a very solid improvement. Moving forward to our real estate segment. Here's the picture of the newly renovated Tallink Express Hotel, which is open officially starting from today. We had a few customers already last week, it's positive to see that the customers seem to be liking the renovated property. Very shortly about the numbers as well that over the year we have grown the value of our assets. The leverage is still moderate. All the profitability numbers are good, are showing a nice positive growth.
Also the ongoing development projects are nicely going as planned. The Depo DIY store is having the concrete works. As mentioned, the Tallink Express Hotel renovation was completed. There is another industrial property which is about to be completed quite soon. Nice steady development over there. I would wrap this up. As said, you know, we have a solid Q1, we are optimistically looking into the summer. We believe that Infortar as an investment should be an attractive one, because we have a very diversified asset base geographically and also functionally. We have a continuously very strong balance sheet, and we keep very active owners role in all our investments.
We have deliberately kind of chosen the, or, diversified the portfolio in a way that we have invested into sectors where the barriers to entry are very high, but the assets are strategic and where the cash flows are strong. We are after growth, we are after profitable growth, and we believe that the main growth is coming from continuous international expansion. We are looking for into new investment opportunity and also increasing the synergies between existing activities. We are an investor which takes a very active part in decision-making and we have demonstrated that we can manage large capital intensive projects.
We believe that stable and diversified cash flow is something what really supports both dividend payments and financing new investments. I believe that the Q1 results confirm that our strategy is working. Our results have improved. The balance sheet is continuously very solid. Liquidity is very strong. I think that we are ready to continue growing even in a very changing economic environment. I would stop it here.
Thank you. Let's move on to questions and answers. First of all, congratulations on much improved results. Could you please.
Thank you.
... indicate the approximate EBITDA split in the energy segment between infra and gas sales or electricity in Q1?
We haven't split that in our reports, but as a comment, I could say that the cold winter didn't add too much additional performance into the gas trading and sales activities. Most of the improvement call came from infra part. I think infra is continuously strong. Yeah, unfortunately we don't split that.
As for the year-end EBITDA split in infra, we haven't published.
Okay. Yeah.
this as well, so yes. Regarding Elenger Polska numbers, we can say that.
It's continuously solid performance. It was a very cold winter also in Poland.
Mm-hmm.
Consumption was up there as well. I think Poland is continuously delivering good results. We are very happy that we made that investment back in 2024.
Also the year-end numbers will be available soon.
I think that we actually have those. I'm not sure if we have published Elenger numbers already, but in those numbers it should be available. maybe we could, yeah.
Latest by the June.
Yeah.
it'll be available. Yes. Let's move on. Elenger's gas market share in Finnish Baltic market decreased to 18% compared to 20% year ago. Could you please identify what factors influenced the decrease? Was it competition, Elenger's own decision or something else?
It was mainly structural. I think the biggest segment or biggest growth was demonstrated by the power production segment, so producing electricity from natural gas. They're the largest players are importing their own gas. That's basically segment which we don't have access to. I think we have communicated that in the past as well, that when we look at our market share calculation, then we calculate there only this part of the market where we are selling to the end customers. As we don't even report in those kind of the stock exchange numbers.
Basically, I would say that close to half of the market as such isn't maybe even accessible for us because they're the power producers are importing their own energy. I would rather say that the decrease is technical because when you look at absolute volumes, our volumes increased. We are happy with our achievements in Q1.
Thank you. Can you comment on gas inventories in a storage that hit the lowest level, 8.7 million since the Q3 2022, and what's the dynamics between it? Can you elaborate?
The main thing was that it was a very cold winter. So we had created reserves to be ready for colder winter, but it was extremely cold. I think the coldest winter in some 20 years. It didn't have, like, super cold days, but it was, like, stable and cold. I would look at, into that from this point of view that it demonstrates that even during the coldest winters, we have enough reserves to supply our customers. From April, we started to bring in additional gas volumes as well. All in all, I think we were, you know, maybe a little bit uncomfortably low levels, but we managed.
I think that, you know, if there would have been a need for more gas, we could have supplied our customers. No, no issues from that point of view. I think that number really demonstrates that it was a very cold winter.
What about the future cargoes? Are we going to deliver more gas?
Yeah, I think that we, during the summer, we are already bringing in five cargoes, which is a significant part of our gas volumes for end customers for the upcoming year. Security of supply is definitely something. What is continuously important, I think so far when you look at the energy markets, the, of course, all the energy carriers have. The prices have increased significantly. Actually, TTF, the natural gas price index has grown the least. Still I think that, you know, we believe that there have to be, you know, reasonable reserves for upcoming season because we don't know what's going to really happen with the physical flows.So f ar so good.
Once more, can you add a bit of flavor on what kind of effect the unfolding energy prices will have on Elenger business? Because the question is that if this uncertainty to lifted gas price premiums will continue, which is likely, is it going to give any effect to Elenger's profitability, or what do you think?
In general, we don't like high gas prices. I think that, you know, this will have a pressure on the demand levels. I think that, you know, what we, what we have mainly seen is very high volatility. I think in general it doesn't mean that if the gas prices are higher, the margins are higher. It's rather vice versa. Usually the margins are fixed as an absolute number in agreement. Of course for a trading company, the volatility, you know, creates new possibilities and additional perspectives. All in all, I think that, you know, our business has more and more grown into a stable infrastructure type of the business.
Actually we hope that the conflict gets over soon, and then the gas prices would come to very, very low levels. You know, right now I think TTF price is close to EUR 50. You know, before the conflict started, actually the market expectation for this year for natural gas was around. It's EUR 45 right now. Was rather like EUR 25. I think that, you know, for the strength of economies and for the benefit of the customers, we hope that this conflict will end soon. I think that as I mentioned during my presentation as well, that, you know, you should read out from here that we have issues with this conflict.
All in all, we also have reported that impact of the conflict for us is rather neutral. Maybe a little bit positive, but rather neutral.
Okay. Now we got all the questions answered, thank you, Martti. If you want to keep updated on Infortar's latest news, we now have a newsletter, so you can subscribe via our webpage. This seminar, you can also watch later from our webpage. This is it for today. Thank you for watching, and goodbye.
Thank you.