Havila Kystruten AS

Fourth quarter 2023 accounts

 

Summary

The company has completed its first quarter with full operation of all four ships. Revenue in the fourth quarter was MNOK 249. Due to late clarification on the delivery of the last two ships, the revenue side is somewhat lower than if the pre-sale had started earlier.

The last quarter of 2023 ended with an average fleet occupancy of 60%, an average cabin rate (ACR) of NOK 3,100 and a utilization rate of 1.8 per cabin.

Occupancy and average price per cabin are higher than the fourth quarter of 2022, but are somewhat lower than the third quarter due to lower demand in the autumn and winter months. EBITDA was negative by MNOK 33.2 in the fourth quarter and MNOK 179 for the full year.

Operating costs amounted to MNOK 283 in the fourth quarter and are mainly ordinary operating costs for operating four ships. Some of the operating costs are related to the number of passengers, while the largest cost items are not significantly affected by occupancy.

MNOK 18 relates to extraordinary marketing costs to secure the pre-sale of the last two ships for the last quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024.

LNG costs have also been somewhat higher in the period due to additional costs for securing prices in the market. Profit and loss and balance sheet are significantly affected by fluctuations in exchange rates, especially the value of the Norwegian krone against the euro since ship financing is in euros.

The fleet’s operational uptime was 99.2% for the fourth quarter and 99.5% for the year as a whole. The company’s target of less than 75g food waste per guest day was achieved for both the fourth quarter (60g) and the year as a whole (54g).

The company looks forward to 2024, which will be the company’s first year with all four ships in operation. Interest in Havila Kystruten is steadily increasing both domestically and internationally, and the company is receiving positive feedback on the product and concept. Based on a good trend in booking figures, of which 65% are sold for the first quarter and over 55% for 2024 in total, an average occupancy of just under 80% is expected for 2024.

In February 2024, the company secured a refinancing of a loan maturity of MEUR 50 in October 2024 by raising corresponding financing from Havila Holding AS, which runs until after the maturity of MEUR 255 in July 2026. A credit facility of MNOK 200 has also been made available, which gives the company financial flexibility to handle seasonal liquidity fluctuations.