This compared with a €56.6 million net loss in 2021, while the group reported year-on-year improvements in passenger and cargo statistics.

All the above contributed to the positive result reached by the group by the end of the year of a €13.9 million unaudited net profit (€56.6 million net loss in 2021).

The company reported its 2022 unaudited financial results to the Tallinn Stock Exchange. Commenting on these results, Tallink Grupp CEO Paavo Nõgene, said:  "We had great confidence at the start of last year that 2022 was going to be the year when we will see a rapid recovery of business and increased stability compared to previous years."

"This confidence was of course quickly overturned almost a year ago today, on 24 February, 2022, with the outbreak of war in Ukraine," Nõgene went on, via a Tallink press release.

"The ensuing geopolitical and economic shockwaves made us realise that a new year with new challenges lay ahead and more quick thinking, creative solutions and flexibility was going to be required. I am proud that we have been able to offer support not only to our own Estonian government in the aftermath of the humanitarian crisis that the war unleashed, but also to a number of other governments."

"Supporting these with temporary housing on our vessels has in many ways also helped us, keeping our vessels working at a time when some of them would otherwise perhaps be suspended. We will continue this support as long as it is needed," Nõgene added.

2022 was the company's first year in the black since 2019; the year of recovery saw Tallink's passenger numbers nearly double on year, to 5.5 million passengers (compared with 2,961,975 in 2021).

Transported cargo units also increased by 11 percent on year, to 409,769 units on all the company's routes and vessels.

While Although the first few months of 2022 were still marginally impacted by the final remaining Covid travel restrictions, Tallink says, the war and the resulting economic and geopolitical turbulence, price hikes and overall uncertainties, had hindered further recovery still.

Tallink Grupp nonetheless saw increases in revenues, on board spending, passenger numbers, hotel guest numbers and in other areas, in 2022, compared with the pandemic years of 2020-2021, the company adds.

Tallink's costs also significantly rose, most notably the fuel costs, which increased 99.5 percent  on year (to €71.9 million).

Vessel operating expenses rose 50.2 percent on year also, while the cost of goods sold increased 45.4 percent over the same time-frame, the company says.

The company reports its unaudited consolidated revenue increased significantly compared with 2021, amounting to €771.4 million (cf. €476.9 million in 2021), while the group's unaudited  Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) for the financial year more than doubled in 2022 compared with the previous year, totaling €135.8 million (€58.3 million in 2021).  

The group's investments in 2022 amounted to €203.3 million, the majority of which (€176.7 million) was related to the MS MyStar (pictured), which entered service in 2022 and plies the Tallinn-Helsinki route.

Tallink Grupp's total liquidity buffer (cash, cash equivalents and unused credit facilities) remained strong at €249.9 million (cf. €262.4 million as at 31 December, 2021), the company adds.

Overall activities last year included bringing the MyStar online, while continued recovery will be the focus for 2023, Nõgene added.

The company will continue to look for options to charter its vessels, including for the temporary accommodation of refugees fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Tallink had already done this in 2022, with vessels moored off Scotland, the Netherlands, and Estonia itself, for this precise purpose.

This also represents an efficient utilization of vessels during the off-season and to mitigate risks, the company adds.

Tallink Grupp's shareholders number nearly 40,000 at the end of last year, the bulk of the on the Tallinn Stock Exchange, though over 9,000 shareholders were via the Helsinki Stock Exchange.

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