Viking Line, the listed Finnish cruise ferry operator that has a fleet of seven ships, expcts its 2014 operating income to improve after reporting improved figures for both the final quarter and full year of 2013.
Group net profit for the final quarter of last year amounted to €6.7 million, while a year earlier it had booked a loss of €0.8 million. Revenues rose to €129.7 million from €126.6 million.
For the full year 2013, the group reported net profit of €27.0 million, san increase from €1.0 million in 2012. However, the fresh figure includes €23.5 million sale gain from the disposal of the Isabella cruise ferry. Revenues rose to €549.4 million in 2013 from €516.1 million a year earlier, the company said in a statement.
The number of passengers on Viking Line’s vessels during the financial year increased by 183,747 to 6,533,650, while cargo volume rose to 119,704 cargo units from116,906. Viking Line achieved a cargo market share of 20.9, an increase of 0.9 percentage points.
During the report period, Viking Line strengthened its market share on the Turku– Mariehamn/Långnäs–Stockholm route by 7.3 percentage points to 57.3%. Market share increased on the Helsinki (Finland)–Mariehamn–Stockholm route by 0.4 percentage points to 46.1%. In cruise services between Stockholm and Mariehamn, market share decreased by 0.5 per cent to 51.3%.
On the Helsinki–Tallinn (Estonia) route, market share decreased by 0.6 percentage points to 23.7%. On the short route over the Sea of Åland, market share decreased by 3.1 percentage points to 42.0%, primarily due to a reduced number of departures. The Group thus had a total market share in its service area of 34.6% against 33.9% a year earlier.
During the summer 2014 high season – in addition to serving their regular Helsinki–Stockholm routes – the Mariella and Gabriella will also temporarily serve the Helsinki–Tallinn route.
"To offset the extra expenses attributable to the European Union’s new sulphur directive, which enters into force on January 1, 2015, the Group has an ongoing action programme to improve its operational efficiency. This action programme primarily affects the areas of bunker consumption, repairs and maintenance, as well as organisational structure," Viking Line said.
"In January 2014 the Viking XPRS changed from a Swedish to an Estonian flag and the Rosella from a Swedish to a Finnish flag. The Board of Directors believes that operating income will improve in 2014 compared to operating income in 2013, excluding the capital gain from the sale of the Isabella," the company said.
