OREANDA-NEWS. December 19, 2007. For AS Tallink Grupp and its subsidiaries (hereinafter also referred to as “the Group”), the first full financial year with the previous financial year's big investments on board ended with a strong and healthy result which is assuring that the business of the significantly grown company is sound and effective.

During the 2006/2007 financial year, the Group's revenues increased by 88% to 11,903 million EEK (761 million EUR). Excluding non-recurring costs the Group's EBITDA increased by 87% to 2,738 million EEK (175 million EUR). The Group transported 6.9 million passengers, which is 63.5% more than in the previous financial year.

During the 2006/2007 financial year, the Group's focus was on the restructuring and integration of the acquired Silja Line business. Many overlapping positions in onshore organisations were reduced and many administration, sales and procurement related duties were centralized. Pension fund management was transferred out from the Group and several unfavourable service contracts were terminated. Furthermore, delays in the implementation of a new Group-wide booking system and the centralization of back office activities resulted in extra costs caused by the temporary application of parallel IT systems and related support functions. Non recurring integration and restructuring costs totalled approximately 250 million EEK (16 million EUR).

Given the fact that during the first full post-acquisition year the positive impact of Silja's synergies is hardly visible, the following years have great upside potential.