Annual Report and Financial Statements 2007 - Finnlines

FINNLINES IN 2007
Finnlines is one of Europe’s largest shipping companies specialised in scheduled liner services. In addition to providing
sea transport services in the Baltic Sea and North Sea areas, Finnlines provides port services, mainly in Helsinki,
Turku and Kotka. These two core business areas are supported by effi cient, extensive and fl exible information management
services. The Finnlines fl eet consists of ro-pax (ro-ro passenger) and ro-ro (roll-on, roll-off) vessels, specifi -
cally designed for northern conditions. The Company has subsidiaries or sales offi ces in Germany, Belgium, United
Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Russia and Poland, as well as a wide network of sales agents located throughout
Europe.
• In January Finnlines’ majority shareholder, the Grimaldi
Group, made a mandatory bid for all shares in Finnlines Plc,
offering a cash price of EUR 17.00 per share. This increased
the Grimaldi Group’s holding of shares and voting rights to
50.7 per cent. At year-end, Grimaldi’s holding of shares and
voting rights in Finnlines was 52.5 per cent.
• The AGM held on 16 March 2007 decided to distribute dividends
of EUR 0.42 per share, i.e. a total of EUR 17.1 million.
The dividend payment day was 28 March 2007. The AGM set
the number of members of the Board of Directors at seven;
Emanuele Grimaldi was re-elected, while the new members
were Gianluca Grimaldi, Diego Pacella (Deputy Chairman),
Heikki Laine, Antti Pankakoski, Olav K. Rakkenes and Jon-Aksel
Torgersen (Chairman). Authorised Public Accounting Firm
Deloitte & Touche Oy was appointed as the company’s auditor.
• President and CEO Antti Lagerroos resigned from his post in
February, and Board member Olav K. Rakkenes was appointed
as acting President and CEO as of 24 April 2007.
• Christer Antson, Master of Science (Economics and Business
Administration), was appointed Finnlines’ President and CEO
from 4 July 2007. Prior to this appointment, he was Executive
Vice President, Financial Accounting and Administration. At
the same time Seija Turunen, Master of Science (Economics
and Business Administration), was appointed Deputy CEO
and Chief Financial Offi cer (CFO). She is in charge of the
Group fi nance, communications, human resources, administration
and information technology. Prior to this appointment,
she was the company’s EVP Finance and Communication.
• Finnlines’ third ro-pax newbuilding, the MS Finnlady, began
operating between Helsinki and Travemünde in mid-February,
while the fourth vessel in the series, the MS Europalink started
on the Malmö–Travemünde route in March. The fi fth and
last newbuilding of the series, the Nordlink, was completed
in July and started running between Malmö and Travemünde
at the end of the month.
• The MS Finntrader was transferred to NordöLink traffi c in
February. Her sister vessel, MS Finnpartner, was docked for
conversion in April, and started in NordöLink traffi c in early
FINNLINES 2007
September. These so-called Hansa vessels were converted
to drive-through vessels with increased passenger capacity.
The MS Finnclipper returned to FinnLink traffi c in March, after
a conversion where its cargo capacity was increased by 500
metres to 2,900 lane metres.
• In April, Finnlines agreed to sell the ro-pax vessels MS
MalmöLink and MS LübeckLink, built in 1980. The fi rst of
these NordöLink vessels was replaced in late July by the
MS Nordlink, and the second with the newly converted MS
Finnpartner.
• In late August, Finnlines ordered six new ro-ro vessels from a
Chinese shipyard called Jinling. Each vessel will have a cargo
capacity of approximately 3,200 lane metres and a speed of
20 knots. The cost of the contract is approximately EUR 240
million. The vessels are to be delivered between 2010 and
2011, and will form an essential part of Finnlines’ ice-strengthened
fl eet.
• In autumn, the Company set up a new Passenger Services
business unit, which was put in charge of the passenger traffi
c of all group lines from the beginning of 2008.
FINNLINES (IFRS) 2007 2006
Revenue, EUR million
Earnings before depreciation and
685.5 632.7
amortisation (EBITDA), EUR million 121.9 98.1
Operating profi t (EBIT), EUR million
Profi t before extraordinary items,
68.8 58.2
EUR million 34.4 56.5
Earnings per share, EUR 0.83 1.38
Dividend per share, EUR 0.00* 0.42
Equity ratio at close of period, % 31.1 39.7
Gearing at close of period, % 167.4 104.2
* Board’s proposal
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