Good afternoon, all of you who have joined us today. Welcome to Tallink Grupp Investor Webinar introducing the financial results for the first quarter, 2024. My name is Anneli Simm, I'm the Investor Relations Manager here at Tallink, and I will be moderating today's webinar. Today we have three presenters: the CEO of Tallink Grupp, Mr. Paavo Nõgene, who will take your questions after the presentation, and two members of the management board, Mr. Harri Hanschmidt and Mr. Margus Schults, who will walk you through the Q1 results. We have received a number of questions already prior to this webinar, but in case you have questions and haven't sent those to us yet, then please write those to the chat function of the webinar. It would be also nice if you would identify yourself when asking the questions.
But enough said, I will now hand the microphone over to Mr. Harri Hanschmidt.
Thank you, Anneli. Hello from my side. My name is Harri Hanschmidt, I'm a management board member for Tallink Grupp. First, we will go over the current state of Tallink in the end of the first quarter, that is our low season. Tallink Grupp had 14 vessels that it owns and operates, as we sold one of the vessels, Isabel, in January. At the end of the quarter, the group operated altogether 14 vessels, including two shuttle vessels, two cargo vessels, five cruise ferries, as well as four vessels that were chartered out, two on long-term charters and two vessels on short-term charters, and with one vessel laid up. We operate these vessels on five regular routes, there are no changes about that. We have 3.2 million Club One members through the Tallink Club One program, and this number is increasing.
We also operate four hotels, three in Tallink and one in Riga. We have 21 Burger King restaurants throughout the Baltics, also two on the vessels, MyStar and Megastar. We have two standalone restaurants in Tallink. Tallink has over 4,900 employees from 44 nationalities, and over 3,000 of the employees work on the sea. We offer also shopping on board, on shore, and online. We have very strong brands, the Tallink brand and the Silja Line brand, as well as the Club One program, loyalty program. We have a slide about the fleet by routes, as the regular routes don't change and the vessels usually don't change, but here I will go over to better keep track of the charter vessels and when some of the charters are ending.
Silja Europa is in Rotterdam until 2024. Galaxy I is in Amsterdam until October 2024. Romantica is still in layup, and Atlantic Vision has been in Canada from 2008 and now is returning and is currently in Denmark in dry dock and waiting for delivery to Tallink in May. Star is chartered out to Irish Ferries under the name of Oscar Wilde and operates between Ireland and the U.K. In the first quarter revenues, we can see that there was a slight increase in the number of passengers by 5%, so we ended up with over 1.1 million passengers. The cargo units were down. It is a very challenging economic environment, and the number of passenger cars were slightly down as well. We ended up with a -6.3% in revenues compared to last year's same quarter, and the gross profit was down. EBITDA was up by 27.2%.
This includes one of the sales of Isabel. EBIT was up as well, and we ended with a net result for the period of EUR 2.6 million. The capital expenditure was EUR 6.3 million, and that was the maintenance CapEx for this period. We have about EUR 1.5 billion worth of assets, this is mainly the vessels. The equity was EUR 780 million. Interest-bearing liabilities are decreasing or decreased by 3% to EUR 630 million, and net debt decreased by 4.3% to EUR 581 million. There were less charters compared to last year, same period. Last year we had six charters, this year four, but we saw a strong result in the ticket sale segment.
If we look at the results by geographical segment, then Estonia-Finland had a strong sales by EUR 7.9 million, positive with EUR 7.9 million, but it was not enough to cover Estonia-Sweden and Finland-Sweden negative sales, and also there was less income from charters. This is the portion of the other sales. The results, we can see the same dynamics. There was a positive result from Estonia-Finland, but negative result from Estonia-Sweden, Finland-Sweden, and the other segment. If you look at the revenue structure for the first quarter, it's very typical for our revenues to be 47% from restaurant and shop sales, 25% from ticket sales, 14% from cargo sales, charters amounted to 11%, accommodation 1%, and some other revenues. The situation is quite similar to the first quarter last year, where restaurant and shop sales were on the same level, ticket sales were strong.
There was a drop in sales of cargo transportation, accommodation sales were the same, and there were less sales from the charter operation. Also, the dynamics of the seasonality, it's quite typical first quarter. There were a little bit more passengers than last year. Last year we had 1 million passengers, now it's 1.1. Cargo numbers were about the same level with 85,000 units. The revenue was EUR 160 million, and the EBITDA was slightly stronger, but because of the one-off sale event of Isabel. The dynamics of the net profit seasonality, we can see that we started the year with a positive net profit. I will give now the word to my colleague, Margus Schults, who will continue with the presentation. Thank you from my side.
Good afternoon also from my side. My name is Margus Schults, and I'm Group CFO, and I will walk through a little bit more detailed Q1 numbers and comparison to last year respective numbers. So if we start from sales, like I already mentioned, our sales in Q1 was EUR 160 million, which is 6% less than in Q1 2023. The numbers are not fully comparable because in Q1 2023 we had Star vessel operating between Helsinki and Tallink with more departures, and now Star vessel is in charter, and we have a Victoria vessel, which was one year ago in charter but now operating as a 22-hour cruise vessel between Helsinki and Tallink. So the numbers are not fully comparable because the capacity is somewhat different. Like I already mentioned, the passenger side was still strong.
We had good NTR levels, not net ticket revenue levels, and also we did not see any impact of economic recession on onboard purchases. So the passenger side, per passenger income, is very strong as it was also last year. But on cargo side last year, at least the beginning of Q1 was better than this year, and we can see that from spring 2023 the cargo markets came down around 15%-20%, and of course affecting sales in a negative way. And also we have now in Q1 2024 less charters, so this is also resulting that we have EUR 11 million less revenues. On cost side, we have a cost of sales, which is basically a little bit higher because of the higher number of passengers.
Normally the cost of sales very much correlates with the number of passengers, but the administrative costs and marketing costs are kept at an efficient level, so there have been no changes since last quarter. Then we have other operating items, which include also the extraordinary income from sales of Isabel. So we ended up the quarter with EUR 34 million EBITDA, which is 27% better than last year, and we ended up first time in the history of Tallink with EUR 3 million profit in Q1 versus last year it was EUR -5 million. True, part of that EUR 3 million profit is still one-off income from disposal of Isabel, but if you even exclude other operating income from the result, we are still running very strongly comparing our normal years prior COVID.
We can say that even in very broad ways that with 40% less passengers and 10% lower revenues, we produce better results than four years ago. On cash flow, we generated operating cash flow + EUR 17 million, which is less than last year. The reason is obvious, again repeating that even we had the same number of passengers, we lost revenues from some charters, and we had some more costs comparing last year because of idle standing Romantica in Tallink and also Victoria made a weaker result because typically in low season the operating vessel makes a lower result comparing to the vessel, which is the same vessel which is in charter. EUR 6 million of capital expenditures is related to our ships.
We had a couple of dockings during Q1, and then, like I said, the sales of Isabel generated EUR 24 million of cash flow, so it's an asset disposal. And change in cash is final EUR 7 million, so we have still a very strong liquidity position. Comparing the 2019 situation, like it has said several times, we have more stable cash flow because of the chartering. The balance sheet is very much, so to say, the same as it has been. We have some assets which are, of course, depreciated gradually, and therefore our total assets have a little bit decreased. Like mentioned already, we had refinancing in the end of last year, and our position of cash is still very strong. We have EUR 49 million of cash, and Net Debt EBITDA has decreased.
So 15 months ago, five quarters ago, it was 5.4, and at the end of last year it was 2.8, and now it has fallen to 2.6 level. And also as the loan burden is decreasing, we have, of course, an increase in our equity duration, which has now reached 51%. Our loan portfolio after refinancing last year consists of basically three loans, out of which one is a syndicated loan and two are shipbuilding loans for MyStar and Megastar. The maturity of those loans is between five and 11 years, and these loans are partly euro-denominated. They are all euro-denominated, but partly fixed interest rate and partly Euribor floating interest rate. And as we refinanced the loan portfolio last year, we decreased our overdrafts from EUR 135 million to current EUR 75 million levels.
So basically the EUR 60 million extra overdraft, which was granted in COVID years, was made void during the refinancing exercise, and this EUR 75 million of overdrafts was not used at the end of the first quarter. So our total interest-bearing liabilities now are on the level of EUR 630 million. And finally, we have proposed to the shareholders' meeting, which will be held on May 7th, EUR 6 per share dividends, which makes the dividend yield on the level of 8.2%. And you can see that the dividend yield has been varying between 3% and 12% over the years. Then we had four COVID years where we did not pay dividends, but with this 8.2% dividend yield, I think we are on the top payer of dividends in Helsinki Stock Exchange.
So we feel that now after four years of waiting, shareholders can get again returns from shareholding. Thank you.
Thank you, Harri and Margus. We will now start with the Q&A session. To keep the process simple, I will read out loud the questions received, and Mr. Paavo Nõgene will be addressing these questions.
Yes, good afternoon also from my side. I just want to say that we had a kind of good first quarter. The economic situation is very difficult. Export markets are decreasing, and therefore it's very important that we have the right capacity on the right routes, and this has been possible due to the fact that we are still able to charter out our vessels. So the combination, very strong ticket revenue on our core routes, good charter revenues, and sale of Isabel achieved the result that at least in the last 10 or 13 years, Tallink hasn't been on the positive side in the first quarter. So the net profit of EUR 2.6 million was a good result. But yes, we have some questions, and Anneli will read the question, and I'm trying to answer.
Thank you, Paavo. So the first question, how much of the other operating income was due to the sale of Isabel?
Yeah, we're not going to give out more details than it's written in the report. The contract between the buyer and us are confidential, so everything you can calculate yourself from the report.
What were the number of vessel calls in 2023, and what is the plan number for 2024?
2023, we had 7,183 trips, and 2024 will come kind of similar, maybe a bit more trips, but it all depends on the demand. So it's not maybe very correct to say out today what will be the exact number of the trips in 2024 because we're monitoring the demand and are very flexible with potential changes in our traffic.
Thank you. What was the fuel price impact in Q1, and have you hedged any fuel consumption for 2024?
We haven't hedged the gasoil. We have some fixed price for LNG to guarantee that we have the supply for LNG and the supply from countries in Norway or the United States. So we are not using the Russian LNG. This has been important to us from the beginning of the war started. Fuel is only one part of this number you're seeking. It's more a question of how expensive the transport of the fuel is because fuel is coming from different countries, not anymore from nearby. So it is a combination of the price of fuel, the price of transporting, and bunkering the vessels.
Are there any one-off major investment plans for 2024?
Currently, no. We're focusing to recover our core routes. We're focusing to have the charter agreements for our vessels, paying back loans to reduce the debt, and focusing to stabilize the dividend payment so we can keep kind of a sustainable dividend for the investors for the coming years.
Question about Kapellskär, Sweden. Will you go on with Baltic Princess winter season and starting which date?
Right now, we're planning, yes, mid-August, to go back to the winter season to Kapellskär. But as said, we're monitoring developments and reacting if needed.
Have you considered starting other routes from Kapellskär? There is a growing demand for a short route to Mariehamn during summer season.
Yeah, this is the business secret, what we are considering or not. So we are not going to talk about that, but it's not very sustainable to open the route just for the summer season. So vessels need to operate throughout the year. And so yeah, we don't have a plan to come for summer season to operate from Mariehamn some extra routes.
Thank you. Do you see a trend regarding passengers traveling from A to B compared to passengers just going on a cruise?
Market has definitely changed. For example, if you take the state of Finland, pre-COVID times and the pre-economic crisis, there were many people who worked in Finland. Now this has been reduced. So the market is changing all the time. But at the same time, I think that we have a sustainable number of passengers. It has been kind of stable last year and now also the first months of this year. There is still demand for both to go from A to B or to cruise. And I think this cruising in the Baltic Sea is very natural for Finns and Estonians. So everyone is welcome on board of our vessels.
Thank you. The question is about Romantica, and does the vessel have a future in Tallink?
Yes, of course. So she has a future. Currently, we're focusing to find a new charter. Romantica came back unexpectedly from charter due to the bankruptcy of the operator who chartered her. So that's why it has been taken also more time because she was planned to be chartered out 3+2 years. So yeah, it has been taking time, but we're working on it, and we definitely see that Romantica is part of our fleet.
What will happen to Galaxy One after the end of the charter? Do you have any plans for it?
We have always plans, but about them, we can talk when this moment is coming. Currently, she is chartered out, and yeah, we hope to keep her there longer than announced. That's the moment.
Now, questions from the chat function. Did you book any charter income from Isabel in Q1 before the disposal? And can you specify the size?
No, we can't specify the size.
What is your current policy on charter vessel fleet? Are you planning to hold on with the ships and you try to run them as a permanent business line, or do you actually use chartering as an interim measure to increase profit and reduce costs, but in reality, you plan to sell all currently chartered vessels in the future?
Our business model has changed during the last years. When we see that we don't have enough demand on our core routes, we need to find alternative work for the vessels. And chartering the vessels out has proven that it has been a good decision. We haven't made any more decisions to sell the vessels. As you know, Isabel will be sold just in January. We have one vessel more which has the purchase option in the agreement. This is the former Star, current Oscar Wilde, operating under the Irish Ferries. So other vessels, we're operating at the moment ourselves in our core routes or chartering them out.
Thank you. There is another question about Romantica, but that was already answered by Mr. Paavo Nõgene earlier. So it seems that we have now run out of questions. And since there are no more, then we thank everybody for attending and wish you all a good rest of the day. Enjoy the upcoming weekend, and we'll see you again on July 25 when we have our second quarter results webinar planned.
If someone wants to ask the questions face-to-face, the AGM can take place on the 7th of May. You are welcome to our AGM.