Ferry company Tallink Grupp managed to grow its revenue per passenger from shops and restaurant sales in the second quarter of the year (ending June) despite a fall in revenue from ticket sales.

 

The company, which operates Tallink and Silja passenger ships on the Baltic Sea, saw a +3.6% increase in sales per passenger from on-board retail and F&B against a ticket sales decline of -4.4% compared to Q2 2011. The group blames “unusually bad weather in spring and early summer” for the drop in passenger bookings even though the company increased its promotional activities.

 

During the period, Tallink Grupp’s unaudited net profit rose substantially by +47% to €20 million (US$24.7m) on a Q2 revenue rise of +3% to €244.8 million. Gross profit reached €57.3 million, up +13.6% with EBITDA also rising by more than +9.6% to €46.2 million.

 

The company says that these Q2 results are “generally pleasing” but it admits that its expectations on passenger metrics were not met. Nevertheless, traffic on its routes was up by nearly +2% to 2.4 million passengers despite fall in ticket revenues which meant that market share of the company improved.

 

Tallink Grupp is one of the largest ferry companies in the region, operating six routes between Finland, Sweden, Estonia and Latvia. The company carries over 9 million passengers annually and employs 6,800 people.