Salary and other employment benefit expenses decreased 3.3% or EUR 1.0m while operating expenses decreased 23.1% or EUR 14.3m, with fuel costs decreasing 47.6% or EUR 12.4m.

JANUARY-JUNE 2023

(compared to January-June 2022)

• Sales amounted to EUR 226.3m (EUR 199.8m).
• Other operating revenue was EUR 8.9m (EUR 8.3m).
• Operating income totalled EUR 17.1m (EUR -8.0m).
• Net financial items were EUR -7.9m (-4.7m).
• Income before taxes totalled EUR 9.2m (EUR -12.7m).
• Income after taxes totalled EUR 6.9m (EUR -9.8m).

Outlook for the full financial year 2023

The Board of Directors has decided to revise its earnings outlook for 2023. Provided that energy prices remain at current levels, Viking Line’s Board of Directors believes that income before taxes will be significantly better than last year.

On 21 June 2023, the outlook was:

Provided that energy prices remain at current levels, Viking Line’s Board of Directors believes that income before taxes will be better than last year.

SECOND QUARTER 2023

(compared to second quarter 2022)

• Sales amounted to EUR 132.4m (EUR 141.0m).
• Other operating revenue was EUR 0.1m (EUR 2.4m).
• Operating income totalled EUR 18.0m (EUR 10.1m).
• Net financial items were EUR -4.4m (EUR -2.5m).
• Income before taxes totalled EUR 13.6m (EUR 7.6m).
• Income after taxes totalled EUR 10.6m (EUR 6.3m).

COMMENTS FROM PRESIDENT AND CEO JAN HANSES

Results for the first half of the year exceeded expectations and give cause for an improved full-year outlook. Passenger and cargo volumes continued to rise, despite a smaller number of vessels, while the planned price levels were reached. Bunker prices have gradually fallen but are still very high relative to before the pandemic and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

On 17 January ROSELLA was sold and delivered to a Greek buyer. The capital gain from the sale boosted earnings for the first half of the year. In March 2023, VIKING XPRS was reflagged to a Finnish flag. As a result, it was possible to transfer staff onboard ROSELLA to the company’s other vessels, while restructuring negotiations were conducted in order to adapt the land-based organization to the situation after the sale of Viking Line’s vessels. Despite these measures, staff performance has been excellent and contributed to half-year earnings.

For Viking Line, traffic on the short-haul route between Mariehamn and Kapellskär ended with the sale of ROSELLA. We see that some passengers on this route have chosen to sail on our other vessels from Stockholm to Åland. Starting in 2024, our traffic will fall under the EU Emissions Trading System, which means a cost will be imposed on us that we can only partly offset in the medium term through continued energy efficiency work. Fossil-free fuels are not available in a quantity and at prices that are economically viable. The introduction of a temporary island exemption from the EU Emissions Trading System for traffic between Finland and Åland is thus well justified since the transition to fossil-free fuels is not determined by the cost of emissions rights but by the supply of alternative fossil-free fuels. We do not intend to lower our ambitions to reduce emissions from our traffic because the introduction of the island exemption. On the contrary, we will use the cost savings for the continued work aimed at transitioning to fossil-free fuels and increasing energy efficiency.

During the first six months of the year, nearly 2.2 million passengers sailed with Viking Line’s vessels. Occupancy rates have been good on all the vessels. On the route between Turku, Åland and Stockholm, travel was intense on VIKING GRACE and the new VIKING GLORY. Market share for the first six months was over 73%. To sum up, I can note that the first six months of 2023 were very strong, even excluding the income effect of the sale of ROSELLA.

We are really pleased that we have now also been able to announce our plans to partner with Gotlandsbolaget, for which we see great potential.

I would like to extend my warm thanks to our customers and partners for their faith and good collaboration. I would also like to give a big thank you to our engaged staff, who contributed to our half-year earnings with their good work. 

Full report https://www.vikingline.com/globalassets/documents/market_specific/corporate/investors/financial-reports/press-release-230825-half-year-report.pdf