Good morning, dear investors. Welcome to our webinarium about Q4 and the full year results. My name is Valdo Kalm. I'm CEO for the company, and Andrus Ait is our CFO.
Good morning.
First of all, the main events, as usually. In Q4, we had good growth in cargo volumes, 12%. The biggest driver for that was dry bulk, then containers, also Ro-Ro. It's important to mention that there was quite a good increase of ship calls, around 18%. Also, we had quite nice volumes in passenger business, both in Helsinki route and Stockholm, but in Muuga-Vuosaari, the growth was even 14%. On a yearly basis, it reached 200,000 customers. We had quite a special cruise season, and we had a couple of cruises during the winter and Christmas time in our port. That's important. Hopefully, that will continue in next seasons also. We signed in Q4 an agreement with JetGas for development of a new liquid methane terminal in Muuga port.
We signed all the contracts, and now they're preparing for the investment for the superstructure. At the end of 2023, we signed a Finnish-Estonian Green Corridor between two ports, three shipping companies, and two cities. It's important to mention that in Q4, in our steering, we approved 19 joint projects that are quite concrete: how to develop port infrastructure, how to move and follow with different fuels for the ships. Therefore, I would call it quite a successful concept for the future. Also, for us, it was important the launch of a tram line for the Old City Harbour. Now we can say that our passengers from A and D terminals started to use it. It's popular. It works well. Definitely, it's all about the customer journey, especially a green journey to the port and out from the port. We also had some court cases.
On the positive side for us was that MPG AgroProduction bankruptcy was decided. That is important for us because it is now clear that there will be no terminal, and we would like to have our land back. Therefore, hopefully, it will show certain results during this year. Also, the district court accepted the appeal related to the judgment regarding the former managers of Port of Tallinn. I would like to also mention that in Q4 and for the whole year, we had quite an intensive efficiency plan, and we managed to decrease our operating cost. About trends in the business segment, as we mentioned, in Q4, growth continued, even we had a slight bigger increase of passengers.
Due to that, also in revenues, in cargo, we had quite a nice growth in Q4, but also on a yearly basis, we had growth in all cargo types except liquid bulk. Important is that the number of vessel calls increased, not only in Q4, but also during the year. Our ferry business did good quarter, and on a yearly basis, achieved record numbers of passengers and vehicles. On the other, we have mainly Botnica activities. There we had a little bit smaller charter days, but on a yearly basis, we achieved basically the last year's level. Here are the more precise volumes, as we mentioned, about strong Q4, but it will continue also all over the year. I mentioned that Muuga-Vuosaari shows quite a good trend. On the cargo side, all the different cargo types made increase, except liquid bulk, and that's important.
Our biggest cargo types, as Ro-Ro, dry bulk, and containers, are showing the growth, and hopefully, that will continue. Ferry business made a good year. Record number on passengers, around 2.4 million, and 1.2 million vehicles. That shows the increasing demand of the service. On Botnica's activities, we managed to almost keep the charter days as in 2023, and even better revenues due to the higher daily rates. About the future, we believe that passenger business will recover. We see quite a good development from the beginning of the year in our regular international business. I mean Helsinki and Stockholm link. Also, we have bigger numbers of cruise bookings for this period than last year. Therefore, we believe in recovery. Still, very important to have new Ro-Ro and container lines in our ports.
From the 1st of February this year, a new container line started to operate regularly from Muuga to the Rotterdam direction, entering many important ports in the Baltic Sea. That's the, how to say, new regular start. We introduced via our marketing campaign industrial parks already two years ago. Now we launched the new concept, Industrial Parks 2.0, to promote our parks in Muuga and Paldiski. We still have free space, and we are very interested, especially in manufacturing companies. Therefore, we have such a special program for different associations, for different conferences. We hope that there is a momentum maybe to find new investors. Again, more interested in the production side to our industrial parks because we have still free space here. Our main development or investment to Paldiski harbour goes as planned.
We believe that we will finalize the investment in the beginning of next year. Just to remind you that we believe in this offshore wind farms business more globally. We're doing the investment to serve the whole Baltic Sea, not only the Estonian or Baltic coastline. We need the new quay for Ro-Ro development for military purposes. Therefore, we are just doing our job, and the investment goes as planned. In our mind, there are still new possibilities for multifunctional offshore vessels. The market is just now very interesting. The daily rates are high, and we're really thinking about multifunctionality on this vessel. We have a first design on the table. We're investigating the markets. There is no decision yet, but there is still a big opportunity for the growth. Hopefully, this year will be quite active also to start our real estate business.
Hopefully, we will test the market with first plots for the developers. The overall market on real estate is not good, but I guess if to start with small pieces to test the market, that's the right thing to do. Therefore, we are quite optimistic to really launch something this year. There is ongoing preparation for reducing the state shareholding and to issue the new shares. It's now up to government decision. Everything is prepared, let's say, what the nearest future shows. It's still on the table: everyday efficiency. Last year, we had quite a good result. For this year, we have another efficiency program. That's, I guess, important to follow. ith that, I would like to give the floor to Andrus about the financials.
Thank you, Valdo. These are the financial results of the group for the fourth quarter and the 12-month period.
The results were strongly impacted by a higher number of passengers. Also, cargo volumes increased. Due to that, we had more cargo vessel calls in our cargo ports. All this led to the better financial results. In Q4, the results were even stronger than the year average. The revenue increased in the fourth quarter of 2024 by 2.7% to EUR 28.8 million. The growth was supported by higher cargo volumes. Due to that, we had more vessel calls, and the revenue increased from vessel use. Also, cargo charges were higher. Like I said, more passengers. Due to that, we had more passenger fees also increased. We had also two revenue streams which decreased in the fourth quarter. One of them was charter fees, as our icebreaker Botnica was chartered out fewer days than in Q4 2023.
Also, sale of electricity revenue decreased because of lower electricity price. Adjusted EBITDA increased by 18% and amounted to EUR 12.2 million. The increase here was supported by higher revenue, and operating costs, in addition, also decreased, mainly because of the lower tax expenditures, especially land tax, which decreased because of the lower tax rate which was imposed from the beginning of 2024. Also, the electricity costs were slightly lower. Personnel expenses increased only 1%. Basically, they remained stable. Altogether, it contributed to the better EBITDA in the fourth quarter. Adjusted EBITDA margin increased by 5.5 percentage points to 42.5%. We did not pay any income tax because the dividend payout was in the second quarter, and profit for the period increased by 50% up to EUR 4.3 million.
In the fourth quarter, the net finance costs were also decreased because the euro borrow has decreased compared to Q4 2023. From that, we had also a positive impact. In Q4, we invested in 2024 EUR 5.4 million. The main investment project is still the quay construction in Paldiski South Harbour. In the fourth quarter, we also replaced one main engine of one of our ferries. It was nothing extraordinary. The engine needs to be replaced after a certain number of working hours. This was planned work, and therefore, the investment. In the fourth quarter, in the 12-month period, the revenue increased by 2.5% up to EUR 119.6 million. It is good to say that the revenue increased in all our revenue streams.
The main positive effect came from ferry services, where the revenue increased due to indexation of the variable part of the contractor fee, and we made also a bit more trips. In the beginning of 2024, we started to provide port services to Paldiski, sorry, Pakrineeme LNG quay, and therefore, the revenue from other services also increased. Despite the lower number of charter days, the revenue from Botnica activities also increased as the daily rates for the chartering increased. Also, lease income increased due to the indexation of rents and receipts from right of superficies. Of course, due to the higher cargo volumes, the cargo charges increased, and also passenger fees increased. Adjusted EBITDA increased by 8% and amounted to EUR 53 million. Like in the fourth quarter, during the 12 months, the operating costs also decreased. The reasons are quite similar.
We had to pay less land tax, but also all the other operating costs were quite stable. There were cost items which decreased and cost items which increased. For example, last year, we had elevated costs in connection with the Botnica summer projects as we had to rent special equipment. This year, in 2024, we did not have those costs, but we had extra repair costs in 2024 as we had a technical problem with Botnica in this summer. Also, the cost of upkeep and cleaning of port infrastructure increased a bit. Personnel expenses increased 2%, but at the same time, in connection with the efficiency measures, the number of employees, average number of employees, decreased by 5%. Adjusted EBITDA margin reached almost to the level of 45% and increased by 2.2 percentage points. Operating profit increased 18% and amounted to EUR 28.1 million.
In 2023, we had also extra depreciation costs in connection with one of right of the non-current assets as the threshold for recognizing the assets as non-current was increased. In 2024, we did not have such impact. From that, we had some EUR 600,000 positive effect to the operating profit. Income tax in 2024 was EUR 3.1 million, which is similar as in the comparative period as we paid out an equal amount of dividends both years. Profit for the period increased by 21% to EUR 19.2 million. The profit was also impacted by higher net finance costs as in 2024, the euro borrow level was higher. Due to that, we paid more interests. The increase was in the amount of EUR 1.2 million. In 2024, we invested EUR 38.8 million, which is EUR 18 million more than in 2023.
The main investment project was the key construction in Paldiski. In connection with this project, we invested about EUR 32 million. In addition to that, we reconstructed a ramp in Muuga Harbour to serve better container ships in Old City Harbour. Also, we reconstructed the ramp and key. In the ferry segment, we made docking works for two of our ferries. Those were regular docking works. In the fourth quarter, we replaced the main engine for one of our ferries. Moving on with the results of the segments. In the fourth quarter, revenue and EBITDA increased in three segments out of four. The strongest growth was in cargo harbours because of higher cargo volumes and more cargo ship visits in cargo ports. EBITDA increased even more than revenue in cargo harbours because the lower costs impacted mainly the cargo harbours.
In passenger harbours, revenue increased by EUR 200,000 because of a higher number of passengers. The same impact was also in EBITDA level. In the ferry segment, revenue increased in the fourth quarter because of indexation. The same growth was also on EBITDA level. In the segment, other revenue decreased by EUR 400,000 as Botnica was rented or chartered out fewer days. This is involved with a Canadian project where we participate in every fortune. In 2023, there was an extended charter period, but in 2024, the period was more normal. Due to that, the revenue decreased. The drop in EBITDA level was lower. In connection with more charter days in 2023, we had also more costs. In 2024, the EBITDA decreased less than revenue. On the 12-month period, we see that the revenue and EBITDA increased in all our segments.
Once again, the strongest growth was in cargo harbours. The reasons are similar as it was in the fourth quarter. In the passenger harbours, also revenue increased because of mainly a higher number of passengers. Just a reminder, in the first quarter, we had fewer vessel calls in passenger harbours because of docking works. One of the ships which are regularly operating between Tallinn and Helsinki. Due to that, we had about 19 visits less in the first quarter. This impacted the vessel use revenue negatively. I would like to say that when we take this out, the growth would be even higher in passenger harbours. In the ferry segment, revenue increased mainly because of the indexation. A bit also impact from the higher number of trips. EBITDA increased in euros a bit less because in the first quarter, we had severe ice conditions.
Due to that, we had higher cost for the fuel. Also, port use in the ferry segment increased, which impacted the costs negatively. In the segment other, despite the fewer charter days, the revenue increased because of higher daily rates and also EBITDA increased. This year, we had one-off impact from the repair works at the summertime. In 2023, there was impact as we rented extra equipment for the ship. They offset each other, and the costs were quite equal. On the cash flow side, we see that cash from operating activities increased by EUR 4.8 million, mainly because of higher revenue. The receipts increased, and at the same time, in connection with lower costs, payments to the suppliers decreased. Cash used in investing activities was EUR -45 million, mainly because of high investment level.
In addition to that, in the fourth quarter, we received EU grant money in connection with the Paldiski South Harbour construction, and EU Military Fund supported us with EUR 15 million. From that, we had positive impact. In the fourth quarter, we also deposited EUR 22 million with maturity exceeding three months. From that, we had negative impact for this flow. Altogether, cash used in investing activities was EUR -45 million. Free cash flow was EUR 3.3 million, and cash used in financing activities was EUR -15.8 million. During the year, we took into use new loans in the amount of EUR 30 million. At the same time, the repayments of previous loans also increased a bit, and the interest cost and expenditures were higher.
Therefore, in total, the increase here was the positive effect in this row was EUR +25.6 million if we compare the two years to each other. Net cash flow was quite similar, EUR -12.5 million compared to the EUR -40 million in 2023. Net debt at the end of the period increased mainly in connection with the new loans. On financial position, cash on bank accounts decreased in connection with investments. Also, we deposited more than EUR 20 million. Therefore, other current assets increased. Non-current assets increased because of the investments, which were higher than annual depreciation. Debt increased because of new loans and other liabilities grew due to the EU support money. Equity was similar at the end of the year because we paid out dividends, EUR 90 million.
At the same time, the profit for the period was also EUR 90 million. Altogether, there was no change in equity. This is all from our side. We have some extra slides about revenue generation and EBITDA generation. If you have any deeper interest, you can browse them later. The presentation is uploaded on our website. With that, we will make a short break, and we'll be back in a couple of minutes to answer your questions. We have also some questions sent upfront, and those questions we address at first. See you soon in a couple of minutes.
Welcome back. We go on with the questions. The first question is regarding the EU support money in connection with the Paldiski key construction. Is the remaining EUR 5 million of the European Commission support of Paldiski key expected to be received in 2025?
Actually, EUR 15 million we received in 2024, and remaining EUR 5 million we already received before we started the construction. All the support money we have already received. It means that there won't be any additional receipts in connection with that project from EU support funds.
The next question, could you comment on dividend proposal and why you are not proposing 100% payout for 2024 to the supervisory board?
It's really so that we are capable to pay more than 70% from the profits. Last year, we did that. Again, it's supervisory board's and annual meeting decision. Yeah, our long-term strategy is to pay out the very stable dividends even in amounts. Therefore, there is a potential to pay more.
Next question, what is the level of investment in 2025, and how could it be distributed between Paldiski key and other investments?
This year, our investment level is EUR 35 million, and about 70% from that is Paldiski quay.
What could be annual rent or EBITDA effect from new Paldiski quay when ready?
We can't comment very precisely because we are in the tenders and in the negotiation, but I would say that it's quite a big effect and quite significant.
Thank you. Yeah, it seems that there are no additional questions. Sorry.
Sorry. We're refreshing the screen, and there are some additional questions. All right. What could be the net effect for the company's cargo volumes if Russian scenarios could be removed?
Sanctions. Sanctions.
Yeah. Yeah, that's a very difficult question, even political. Of course, superstructure is there. There are capacities, but it's very difficult just now to comment on that because of any clear signs what could be the solution.
Yeah, do you have already funding for the possible service vessel? How it will be funded?
No, we don't have yet any funding for that project as we haven't decided this project yet, but probably it will be financed by additional loans and also with equity. Of course, we estimate the future cash flows and also the investment, and if it's profitable and achievable for the company, then we enter to the project. We hope that we can give any additional information by the end of this year.
T hank you all for the attention, for the questions, and good luck for the future.
Thank you.