I'm in charge of the group, and I would like to introduce and give the floor to our new colleague, Angelika Annus, leading Investor Relations. Please, Angelika.
Mm-hmm. Good morning, dear investors, listeners. I'm very glad to be part of Tallinna Sadam team. I have been working here for two months, and I'm really looking forward and encourage you to contact me for any questions, any matters. You can write to me either investor@ts.ee or contact me directly. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Angelika, and welcome again. Then we will continue with Andrus-
Good morning.
Our CFO. And then, let's first cover the results and main events from Q2, and then, of course, six-month results. We have had quite active Q2, but the most important is that our cargo volume stabilized. And now the biggest group is ro-ro, but is slightly increasing. Also, containers shows the growth. Therefore, we strongly believe that we have the stable cargo now, and step by step, we managing to grow that. Also, important event we had in Q2, we signed a contract with new shipping line X-Press Feeders in Muuga, and they started. Remarkably is that their new ship is running on methanol. It's a quite a big container ship, and it now goes regularly to Muuga.
Also, in Q2, we win the tender in ferry business for the next period. Of course, it doesn't give the effect just now, but it's very important for the future of our company, for the group. This period ends in autumn 2026, but now we are winning the next period. Also, we managed to sign the longer-term contract for five years with TA Finland, and that's also positive that they trust us, and we're preparing for the new job. Also, we signed another contract for, let's call it, summer work with BP. The period started earlier, but it was short term due to the technical problems. But we really working on that, and we're preparing now for the Baffinland work starting from September.
And then we signed also additional agreement with state for ferry regular in summer period, and we working with cost. We have another cost-saving program. We described our main processes already last year, and this year we're now getting the effects, and the number of employees decreased by 6%. We had an ordinary AGM. We paid out our promised dividends. Then we signed the loan agreement with Swedbank just for financing our big investment in Paldiski. We decided to prolong contracts with two members in TS Shipping and TS Laevad. Then there are two court cases, and we have had dispute with SLK and Väinamere Liinid. Now, we've got the positive, let's call it, final decision.
But there is ongoing court case with members, old members or former members from our company. Trends in business segments. In passenger, we see continuous growth, but it's very important, driven mainly by Helsinki line. Also have seen good numbers in cruise business, I mean, the passenger numbers. And important is that we have increase in passenger vessel calls also. Cargo trend, as we mentioned, we have had stable or stabilization period. Due to the decrease in vessel calls, there is slight decline in revenues, but again, important, the growth in ro-ro and containers. Ferry business is very stable, and Botnica or other segment shows increase in Q2, too. Because we started the contract or chartering with BP earlier.
Here are the numbers from Q2, as I mentioned, the growth is there. In cargo, still liquid bulk decreases, and roro and containers are on a growth phase. Shipping volumes on the ferry side very stable in six months, with a small increase in numbers of passengers and also in vehicles. In Botnica or in the other segment, we started the summer season earlier than last year. Therefore, we see quite a big increase in charter days and in volume. For the future, we believe that passenger business will recover and in short-term period, I mean, this year, we believe in slight growth still.
On Ro-ro and container lines, we believe also that there is interest to serve better Scandinavia import, export. Therefore, we continue discussions and negotiations with some new lines. And there is interest in offshore wind farms. Base harbor, we made the offers to three tenders outside of Estonia. Therefore, we believe there is interest, and what is important, that also the development goes well. And hopefully, the new harbor or new quay will be ready by the end of next year. There are preparation for real estate development, and even this autumn and end of the year show some news on that, and hopefully, we will start then next year with the tenders for developers for the investors. And we're preparing for reducing the state shareholding.
There are no big news. There is just now we continue with negotiation with the state, but of course, our attitude is very positive to that, have more interests towards institutional investors, with SPO or whatever model there will be. And we continue with efficiency. Yeah, please, Marcus. Sorry, Andrus.
Thank you, Valdo. So these are the financial results for the second quarter and six-month period. The results were strongly, strongly impacted by the good results from our icebreaker, Botnica. Botnica was chartered out for extra 25 days in the second quarter this year. The summer charter with BP started already in the middle of May, and this also contributed to the growth of revenue. So the revenue increase was 10%, and the revenue was EUR 31.6 million. And the growth was almost EUR 3 million. Also, ferry segment supported the growth here, as we made more trips, and also we had positive impact from indexation. There was a slight negative impact from cargo ship calls.
We had fewer calls, therefore, we had less vessel charges from cargo harbors, and also we had less cruise ship calls, but it was to some extent balanced by the higher number of Ro-Pax ship calls. All the other revenue streams, except the cargo charges, increased. Good results were from the sale of electricity, also, rental revenues were quite high. So all the other revenue streams supported the growth here in the second quarter. Adjusted EBITDA increased by 27% and amounted to EUR 14.9 million. Here, the growth in euros is even higher than on revenue level. The growth was EUR 3.2 million.
To explain that, the efficiency measures has already given the results, and we had lower repair cost of non-current assets, especially for the icebreaker Botnica. Last year, we had docking works, and in connection with that, we made also regular repair works. And also the cargo segment—cargo harbor segment and ferry segment, there we had also lower repair costs. Also, the tax expenditures were lower because of the tax rate were lower since the beginning of 2024. Personnel expenditures increased by 1%, but this is mainly in connection with the earlier start of summer charter of Botnica. And this goes only to shipping segments. All other segments reported a decline in terms of personnel expenditures, expenses.
Adjusted EBIT margin increased by 6.3 percentage points and amounted to 47%. Operating profit was almost EUR 9 million, and the growth there was 51.5%. Income tax was EUR -3.1 million. Despite we paid out the same amount dividends as last year in the second quarter, like we regularly do in the second quarter, that income tax increased. This year, we had reduce the income tax. Last year, the income tax was reduced by reversal of deferred income tax. Last year, we received dividends from joint venture company, Green Marine, and this impacted the income tax as well. Profit for the period was EUR 4.1 million.
YoY growth was 200%. And we invested in the first quarter EUR 7.1 million. The main investment project is still the quay construction in the Paldiski Harbor to serve in the future offshore wind farms. This project is going by the plans. And in the second quarter, we also reconstructed the ramp in Old City Harbor to serve the ro-ro traffic, and also made some investment to electricity equipment and electricity supply, and also IT investments. On six-month level, the growth ratios were a bit lower than in the second quarter.
Just to remind, in the first quarter, the revenue was impacted by planned docking works of Eckerö Line ship Finlandia, which impacted negatively the revenue. In the ferry segment, there were higher fuel costs because we had severe ice conditions in the first quarter, and this impacted the fuel consumption and fuel costs. Profit for the period for six months were EUR 9.2 million, EUR 9.3 million, and the growth was 31.5%.
We invested during the first half of the year, EUR 25 million, like in the second quarter, the main project, the quay construction in Paldiski South Harbor, and in the first quarter, we had already also the docking works for our ferry, Tõll. These were planned docking works and nothing extraordinary there. So these are the results. In segment terms, in the second quarter, revenue increased in the segment other and in the ferry segment, and there was decline in the cargo harbors in terms of revenue, and in passenger harbors the revenue was flat year-on-year basis. In the segment other, the good results from Botnica activities and operations increased the revenue.
Also, we had less repair costs and therefore the other segment reported very good results. In the ferry segment, revenue increased due to the indexation and in the second quarter EBIT also increased and this reflects the growth on revenue level. In cargo harbors, revenue decreased because of fewer vessel calls and also cargo charges decreased mainly because of the liquid bulk. But despite of that, we managed to increase the EBITDA and here we can bring out that our efficiency measures have given us effect and this was very positive.
In passenger harbors, like already explained, we had fewer cruise ship calls, but at the same time, more Ro-Pax vessel calls. On EBITDA level, there was a decrease because of higher repair costs of non-current assets. We made some reconstructions for the cruise quays which served the cruise ships. So in the long run, we see that this is very necessary to keep the quays in good condition to serve the cruise ships, because this is very lucrative and profitable business for us. On six-month period, trends or the figures is quite similar.
Growth on revenue level in ferry segment and in the segment other, and decline in cargo segment and passenger harbors. In the segment other, the first quarter was similar as year before, so the growth is attributable to the same second quarter. In the ferry segment, revenue increased on six-month period, but EBITDA decreased because of the higher fuel costs. In cargo harbors, here is the numbers similar to as in the second quarter, and the explanations is also similar. Fewer vessel calls and less cargo, but we managed to keep costs under control, and therefore, the EBITDA increased.
In the segment in passenger harbors, revenue decreased because of the Finlandia, mainly, where the ship made less calls in the first quarter and in the second quarter, we had more repair costs. On cash flow side, we see that cash from operating activities increased by EUR 2.7 million and amounted to EUR 25 million, so receipts from the sale of fixed assets has increased. Cash used in investing activities reflects the high investment level and was minus EUR 22 million. Free cash flow EUR 2.7 million, and the decrease was minus EUR 15.6 million, which is attributable to higher investments.
Cash used in financing activities was EUR -6.6 million, which is more positive than last year. Here we can see the impact from the loan, which we signed, loan agreement, which we signed and draw in the in already in May in amount of EUR 20 million. This is unsecured loan with a term of 3 years and mainly taking to to finance our investment this year. And net cash flow was EUR -3.8 million, and net debt at the end of period increased by almost EUR 18 million because of the loan, new loan agreement. On financial position, we see that cash and bank accounts reflects the cash flow.
Non-current assets has increased because of the investments and lowering effect from depreciation. Our first debt has increased because of the new loan agreement. At the same time, we have made some loan repayments for the loans which we have taken earlier, and equity was impacted by the dividend payout and profit for the period. But with that, we will conclude the presentation. There are some extra slides, like always, about revenue generation and EBITDA generation. The presentation is uploaded, and if you have any deeper interest, you can browse them, these slides later. And now we will make a short break. You can submit questions, and we'll be back in couple of minutes.
[Foreign language]
Welcome back. And, we have two questions sent up front. So these questions I will answer at first. The first question is about the article which was published last week, and it was about the departure of large institutional investors from Tallinn Stock Exchange. In this context, has Tallinna Sadam noticed any interest or intention from large institutional investors to sell their shares? We haven't seen any interest from institutional investors that they would exit from Port of Tallinn or from Tallinn Stock Exchange. So, in connection with our company, no further comment on that.
Also, the turnover on the stock exchange with the shares of Port of Tallinn didn't show that there was some panic or some interest to sell. So we don't have any information or haven't heard anything that some institutional investors would like to exit. And the second question's: What stage is the Climate Ministry's plan to reduce its stake in the company? Like I already explained during the slides, this process is under preparations. The Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Climate are making the preparations.
Like, commented already in May, most probably at the earliest, the reduction of the state shares will take place in the second half of 2025 or 2026. But of course, we have to follow the market sentiment and developments on the stock exchange. But currently, we don't have any additional information regarding this.
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Yes, so it seems that we don't have any additional questions. Thank you for watching, and see you next time. Thank you.
Thank you.