AS Tallinna Sadam (TSM1T) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Shareholders of the Port of Tallinn, guests, [ this dynamic ] economy and entrepreneurship landscape has been related to the pandemic and the crisis over the recent months and couple of years. Now, it's complemented by the Ukrainian crisis, the war in Ukraine. However, the overall economic indicators of the Port of Tallinn have been rather stable. We have more than 1 -- more than 21,000 shareholders at this point, and we operate in 4 business areas: passengers, freight, property development and energy. And it is good to mark that in 2021, the goods volumes were the biggest over the recent years. All our regular lines continued operation, and subsidiaries also managed well. Many quay objects and properties were finalized, including the promenade and the Admiral Bridge. In addition to our passengers, it also offers joy and pleasant walks to many guests of Tallinn. This year, the Port of Tallinn celebrates its 30th year of operation. Over this time, the company has seen changing times and grown to be one of the most important hubs for passengers as well as freight, maritime freight. More than 10 million passengers visit our port every year, more than 40 million tonnes of freight. We have shown some excellent financial results as well. More than EUR 130 million in 2018 was a landmark for us as well, and the profit, more than EUR 44 million, was reached in 2019. In 1992, when the Port of Tallinn was established as a state company, has become -- by now, it's become a profitable private enterprise and therefore, had also listed on the stock exchange, and I thank all our shareholders for your trust in the company even in turbulent times. We also stick to our promise to pay dividends, and according to the financial results of 2021, we are able to do it in the volume of more than EUR 21 million altogether but we will get to that part later today when Mr. Kalm, CEO; and Mr. Ait, CFO, will give an overview. A proposal was submitted to the Annual General Meeting that we look at 5 items on the agenda. The first of them being approving the Annual Report 2021. Second is profit allocation. Third, amendment to the articles of association. Fourth, approval of the remuneration principles of the Supervisory Board and the Management Board. And Item 5 is election of the members of the Supervisory Board. [ An annex ] to the annual report is an overview about the activities of the Supervisory Board in 2021, and I will give an overview about that. First, there have been no changes in the composition of the Supervisory Board. We have 8 members in the Supervisory Board and 8 meetings were held last year, and the participation there was 100%. We also held 7 Audit Committee meetings, and the participation rate was 100% again. Last year, a Remuneration Committee was established due to the changes in the legislation of Estonia, and the remuneration of the Board members should comply with the law as well, and this is why we made these changes in the articles. What's also important is that 5 out of 8 Supervisory Board members have been in the office for more than 3 years already. They have been elected back previously, so therefore, now there will be some more changes in the composition of the Board. But now let's come back to the more important decisions that the Supervisory Board has taken. Many strategy aspects and objectives have been clarified. First and foremost, our strategy focuses on innovation because we want to become the most innovative port in the Baltic Sea, because this is something that would give us the competitive advantage. What's also important is to meet the owners' expectations, demonstrating that we are effective and productive and profitable so that we can deliver on our dividend promise. As I said before, we have seen a moderate growth in all of our business areas. It's also good to see that our infrastructure and our quay services are digitalized and automated. In that regard, we stand out from among the other ports in the -- by the Baltic Sea because we are in an advantage compared to other similar ports. And obviously, an important part of the management is being responsible, and we have focused on the economy -- economic and social dimension, and we want to base our work on the sustainable development goals. What's also good to see is that the management culture is continuously based on the values that we appreciate, and we have achieved our results with our partners' cooperation but also having good cooperation with the municipalities and the government of Estonia. In our strategy, we have also focused on environmentally-friendly and sustainable solutions. And therefore, what's characteristic to the Port of Tallinn is that we are already ready to use alternative fuels. We have the infrastructure in place, and our own vessels also use environmentally friendly and renewable energy sources. All this enables us to meet the goals that have been set on both local and global level in terms of being sustainable and environmentally friendly. In addition to introducing new sources and solutions for energy, we have also tried to find ways to develop offshore wind farms, and in the future, also provide maintenance for the technology related to the offshore wind farms. Now moving on, I believe that our global supply chains are such that we see many opportunities to be closer to our customers, and I believe that we have done some important and good work in that regard, but I believe that the members of the Management Board can give a more detailed overview about that. Now coming back to the Supervisory Board activities. One of the things that the Supervisory Board is responsible for is organizing the work of the Management Board. And a reminder, perhaps to you all that Margus Vihman's contract was extended last year, Valdo Kalm's contract as well. Since Mr. Marko Raid left the Management Board last year, and he was our CFO, Chief Financial Officer. And as of this year, Andrus Ait has been in that position. And there has been another block of themes that we have focused on our -- in our meetings, and this is -- this has to do with lease contracts and property developments. And since last year was quite turbulent, we try to be flexible and sustainable in terms of managing the company and also helping our company and the subsidiaries to remain competitive and to be continuously a good cooperation partner also to our customers. A few more words about the Supervisory Board, you can see all the members here. So 5 of them have been elected for a 3-year term in office. Aare Tark, Ahti Kuningas, Raigo Uukkivi, Urmas Kaarlep and Üllar Jaaksoo. So they will not be in the next composition of the Board because of the regulation in Estonia. And we can also take pride in what we were recognized for in 2021. The Port of Tallinn has been able to celebrate many happy occasions when we have been marked and recognized and awarded for various achievements. So we were -- we received the NASDAQ Baltic Awards 2021, and this was for the best Investor Relations. Also, we were rated to be among the top 10 most valuable companies in Estonia on the Stock Exchange, and we also received the Responsible Business Awards' silver label. In terms of the environment, the environmental awards of the year were handed out as well, and we received a special prize in the field of environmental management. And one of the landmarks for us has been the cruise terminal and the promenade, and to be frank, we found quite a number of awards for it. So Architecture Award 2021, Development Project Award, Concrete Building of the Year 2021, and we are also a [ nominee ] of Tourist Attraction of the Year. And this current recognition has been a very important foundation for all of us also in terms of making future plans. Now the Facility of the Year 2021 was the Admiral Bridge, which we are also very proud of. The digital construction cluster recognized us as well, so Act of the Year was D-terminal, and Organization of the Year was another award for us. And we have also been rated as a reputable employer and company. To conclude, investors, guests, on behalf of the Supervisory Board, I would like to thank the Management Board of the Port of Tallinn for such an excellent work done, but also to the extended management with whom we have been working together, including the legal service, the PR, the auditing, IT and many other members of staff of the Port of Tallinn, a sincere thank you. The Port of Tallinn is a well-managed company. Thank you for your attention.

Good afternoon, honorable investors, shareholders. And allow me to summarize the 2021, but also talk about our future plans. The key events of 2021 are here on the slide, and the first thing to mention is the record cargo volumes. And this was done despite of the crisis, so we even managed to grow our market share and cargo volumes on the Baltic Sea. We also restarted the cruises and Tallinn-Stockholm ferry line. In 2020, we didn't have any cruise ships visiting, as you might remember. Obviously, we did feel the impact of COVID-19 in terms of passenger numbers, but the recovery has been quite good and we certainly hope to see a remarkable growth this year. We also completed the urban development investments at the Old City Harbour, but we will come back to this. We also continued working towards climate neutrality, and not only on slides, but also in practice. The employee commitment score and customer satisfaction score also improved despite the crisis. First, let's look at the passengers side of things. The cruise terminal was completed and opened last year, and it's multifunctional. It also works as a conference center, as an events center, and the start has been very good. The Admiral Bridge was also opened. We can see that it's in frequent use. It's well-appreciated and accepted by the people of Tallinn. The parking house by the terminal D was opened in order to service both passengers and people of Tallinn. In 2021, we started the D-terminal square construction building, and it should be completed this year. It's to serve our passengers and visitors better and to renew the urban space. And the most recent investment, large investment was the A-terminal kickoff, and we are about to announce the international architectural competition. What's also very important is that the new tram line is now -- the plans are in place, approved by the city of Tallinn. And there's also a confirmation that the works will start and the tram line will be in operation in 2024. It's very important for us, and we support this investment as much as we can. Now our future business, real estate. So last year, we had the first try. We had a procurement for one of the property plots, and it was quite successful. U.S. real estate was the winning bidder, and what we want to try out is to test the model for the property where we have a long-term lease for -- on our land, and a partner who would operate this area. And near the [ admiral pool ], we didn't have a proper restaurant in place, but now there are plans for that. But at the same time, we are continuing with a detailed planning process with the city government for the planning permission. And we are hoping that in the near future, we can start with a public disclosure with the -- and draft planning projects. But of course, one of the ideas of the master plan was not to make the -- our tourists happy, but we want to make sure we have a versatile urban space. We want to bring the harbor into the city and the city closer to the harbor, so therefore, we are making a great deal of effort. So that means in addition to the attractive area, we want to go through the green transition as well. So we're using the renewable energy sources because the cruise terminal is a very energy-efficient building, and so that means that cooling and both heating will be carried out using the sea as the renewable energy source. So these kind of solutions for renewable energy should be a natural part of new developments. So last year, we also started a campaign with industrial parks because, as we know, we have Paldiski and Muuga harbours. So 76 hectares in Muuga and 36 hectares -- 39 hectares in Paldiski. So this is the free land we can use. We know that things can happen with the supply chains, and therefore, it makes sense to look for new investors or new terminals and also new producers. And so therefore, we started with a serious campaign and we are analyzing the markets nearby, and we are inviting the investors to our industrial parks. Now looking at the cargo business. So from last year, I have to note our good client, and today, we can say they are the owners of the biggest warehouse facility. This is Katoen Natie, and this is the extension. This is not only a warehouse, but this is somewhere where we see added value to the cargo. So this is a very specific production line, which was opened in August last year. So last year, we saw the -- one of the biggest container companies, HHLA. The cranes arrived at Muuga. So this is -- this year, they're going to work. These are the big cranes which allow to service also the largest container ships. So these are the ocean-going container vessels. So these are the biggest vessels which can manage to get through the Danish straights, so that means it gives a much better opportunity to increase our volume of container business in cooperation with HHLA. We talked about Rail Baltica for years now, and I'm sure that there is no doubt that Rail Baltica will be actually completed one day because the decisions have been made, and we have seen the planning process to come to an end, and the works will start at Muuga Harbour. So at Muuga Harbour, we have the starting facility for cargo, and we have to create many crossings, multiple level crossings. And it's very extensive work, but it's very important for Port of Tallinn because it will give us new opportunities in order to service the South-North corridor. So this is connecting Scandinavia with Central Europe and also South Europe and also to the Mediterranean. We also see great opportunities here when it comes to the renewable energy sources because we talk about energy business a lot more. So -- and if you're talking about wind farms, then installation building is something where we can see our additional role. We have created the plans and designs, and I hope that this year, decision will be made for the building of a new quay in Paldiski. So this is like a bank office where we can both build and maintain our wind parks or the wind farms. Because if you look at the Eastern Baltic Sea or the total of the Baltic Sea, you can see that we do not have many wind farms, so we do have many possibilities for growth. And I'm sure that many countries, including Estonia, will understand that without any wind farms, especially the maritime wind farms, where this is a free resource, we will not be able to fulfill our climate objectives. So we want to move along with these developments, and I hope that there are many great opportunities for the nearest future. So in energy business, we also see the possibilities for LNG and hydrogen because in media, you can hear a lot about LNG because we know that the war has made us all think about energy and neutrality. So how we can decouple ourselves from Russian gas. And we're looking at the Pakri Peninsula, and we have good pre-conditions. We have -- we are in the pre-design process, and there are solutions which have been already developed. So we want to be part of this project in one way or another. So therefore, we believe that we can offer port services. And when it comes to hydrogen, then we are cooperating with Paldiski and Muuga, so we have the help of our operators. And why not, perhaps one day, we can have hydrogen as cargo. So that means we can have the hydrogen import and export terminal in one of our ports. If you look at the shipping business as such, then last year, we signed the contract for the next period with the government of Estonia so our multifunctional offshore Botnica will be breaking ice in our Northern shore. So from this autumn, we are starting the next 10-year period. It was a procurement. We won this procurement, and we're extremely happy about it. We are continuing our work in Canada, and they actually are expecting additional capacities for us as well. So when we are constructing wind farms, then a vessel like Botnica will be of great use. At the same time, we are ready to offer maintenance for wind farm. We can rent it or, if necessary, we can also build smaller vessels. TS vessels have shown a very stable development, and the volumes recovered very fast after the pandemic. So this is the TS Shipping, and we are going through the green transition as well because we have one of the ferries, which is ferry Tõll, and is now a hybrid ship. There was an incident regarding this ferry Tõll, but it does not scare us because we understand that alternative energy solutions in shipping is the future. So hybrid vessel, where we are using electricity in addition to diesel, is a more efficient way. So it's more cost-efficient for 20%. And when it comes to CO2 footprint, it's very efficient. So we want to continue the electrification of our ferries. We are preparing for the procurement of the new time period as well, which starts in 2026. So another thing I would like to mention is sustainability. So this is part of our strategy, and sustainable development is one thing where I would like to mention our activities in the field of environment. So this is the restriction of the greenhouse gas emissions. In cooperation with the Tallinn University of Technology, TalTech, we measured the greenhouse gas emissions. So we know pretty well what is the emission level in our harbors. So if you look at the Tallinn Port as a group, then we know exactly where we see the biggest creation or the emission of the carbon, and these are in the vessels, which are in our own ownership. We see less emissions from electricity consumption because for our own use, we only use green electricity. So this is a proof that when it comes to our shipping, it needs to be hybridized and we have to continue this work. And in order to reduce our footprint, we have taken next steps, so that means that we are using renewable energy. We have discounts for port fees. If we have an operator vessel, which is environmentally friendly, so there's an index we apply. We have also auto-mooring equipment, which we use on 3 quays. And as far as we know that this is the only harbor in Europe where we have robots working, so [indiscernible] are all using it on the fifth quay, we have [ onshore ] electricity installed and the operators are using this opportunity. And it has definitely reduced our CO2, and we can actually measure by exactly how much. We are also working onshore electricity for cruise ships because the -- because we know the capacity requirement is very high. So we are looking for solution for electrification in the classical sense, but we are also looking at the hydrogen. We might have to start storing energy as well. So we have wastewater facilities, which is also automated system, and we are looking at circular economy. We have very specific rules when it comes to the underwater cleaning of waste. And as I mentioned before, we are using sea heating and cooling. And on the roof of our cruise terminal, we have the largest solar panel park in Tallinn. And we are looking at the attractive biodiversity preservation as well in both of the harbors we have. I would like to stress one more project. We are in the global business, and the green transition can be only done together. This we have -- this is where we have a good initiative. We have Rotterdam [indiscernible] Tallinn, we are creating [ green coral ] from our vessels. So that means we have possibilities for LNG bunkering, you have onshore electricity, and we are about to alternative fuel sources as well. So this is something we want to promote, and we want to make sure that our clients or the vessel operators can make use of this possibility. Cooperation on community projects. This is very important, especially in our Old Town Harbour (sic) [ Old City Harbour ] because this is why we want to create an attractive city space. So we are part of the Tallinn European Green Capital project. We are participating in the work of Green Tiger. We also have the Seabin catching system. So we analyze the sea waste, and we carried out the cigarette butt campaign last year. So we would like to be part of the green way of thinking, so that means we are looking for a growth in business, but that means that the harbors more and more would have to be smart and green in their approach. Thank you very much for your attention. And dear shareholders, I would like to thank you for your confidence. I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that during this presentation, you can also submit your questions, and we'll be answering your questions towards the end. Thank you for your attention.

Good afternoon, dear Shareholders' Day investors and dear viewers on the web seminar. So next, I would like to give you an overview of the 2021 financial outcome and the proposals for dividends, and these are the results. So I would like to start with the Passengers segment and the passenger volume in my overview. So as you can see on the slide, at 2021, the volume of passengers went down compared to the year before. And this is 18% drop by 800,000, and that's 3.5 million passengers by the end of the year. This is a lot less than on a regular year, so the 2017 to 2019, but still here we can see some positive trends. So in comparison with the previous year and 2020, we have to bear in mind that the restrictions to the passenger business and the movement of passengers were applied in March 2020, so that was towards the end of the month. So therefore, these figures are not exactly comparable. As I mentioned, we have some positive trends as well. So one thing we should mention is Tallinn's Stockholm line being reopened in summer 2021, and also visits to ships increased compared to 2020. Another positive aspect we can stress is that last quarter of the previous year, the number of passengers went up, and I hope that this trend will continue in the future. So our harbors are ready, and we are [ purple ]. Now looking at the cargo volumes. As it was mentioned before, in 2021, we had our 6-year record, 22.4 million tonnes of cargo. So this was supported mostly by ro-ro and also dry bulk. We had some containers, some general cargo, and we could see some decline in liquid bulk. But if you look at the cargo vessel calls, it's remained on the same level as in 2020. So now if you're looking at the passenger shipping, then we saw some recovery, 14%. Passengers went up versus 12%. 22 million for the numbers of passengers and 1.1 million for vehicles, so we can really say that the pandemic impact is reducing, and hopefully, we can see the continuation of this trend in the future. So if you look at the Botnica charter, then in 2021, we saw the biggest utilization rate, which is 73%, and we can see the number of charter days going up. So we ended up on 267 charter days, which had a positive impact on our economic results. So regrettably, we are still under the influence of the pandemic, and this is visible in the passenger business the most. But we're still full of hope. We have seen some improvements, and the ports are ready to offer services to our passengers on the same level as we have done during our best year. So hopefully, we'll see a recovery. So unfortunately, in February, saw the Russian aggression to the Ukraine, so that means that it has an impact on the economy at large. Therefore, it has an impact on the business of Tallinn Port. And this impact has been negative. As sanctions of Russia, we have seen the restructuring supply chains, ensuring energy security supply in Europe, and we see more war refugees as well. So that has had an impact on the -- on our business. So we have had less stability and higher input costs. And when it comes to any crisis, we see new opportunities as well, and this is what the Port of Tallinn is ready and willing to use in the positive sense of things. So we have seen the acceleration of the transition to the use of alternative fuel sources, so decoupling from the Russian gas. So all these things, which have been already mentioned before during the previous presentations, but this is a good new business possibility as well. For example, the development of wind farms, use of LNG and establishment of the infrastructure. So these are all fields where we are moving along with the new developments, and we're seeking new opportunities in order to improve our business opportunities. Now, looking at the economic results and financial indicators. The sales revenue increased by 2.5% last year. And all revenue, all kinds of revenue contributed to this growth, especially the selling of energy, on one hand, due to higher prices; but on the other hand, as you heard from the previous speaker, we had more services to offer from the shore from the Tallinn Old Town port. Unfortunately, the input prices increased quicker, and the adjusted EBITDA fell. But compared to 2020, wherein for a short period of time, we used the reduced costs, then it also showed in the EBITDA margin because it was not possible to postpone them, and it shows in the results of 2021. The operating profit was EUR 29.7 million. Now, the income tax. It was reduced by 1/3, and mostly due to less dividends paid out because it was EUR 30 million the year before, and in 2021, it was EUR 20.4 million paid as dividends, and the profit for the period was almost EUR 26 million. Looking at the investments, you can see there is a drop of almost 60%, but we have to emphasize that looking at the regular cycle of investments, it's quite normal. We didn't cancel any major investments. It just had to do with the cycle of investments because it was completed in the first half of 2021 or even in 2020. And the key investments made were the cruise terminal, the promenade, the Admiral Bridge that connects the various terminals at the Old Town port and also improves access to Tallinn City. We also started reconstructing the roads on the port area. We also made the maneuvering for ro-ro types of vessels easier at Muuga and we had also other technical works and investments that were all completed. Now looking at the revenue and profitability through the years. For the sales revenue, it was already mentioned that in 2021, there was a growth. Although the profit was a bit smaller because of the rise in the input prices. But keeping in mind, there are stringent restrictions applied over the past 2 years. Then looking at the long-term trends, EBITDA fell and the adjusted EBITDA margin hasn't fell (sic) [ fallen ] in the same proportion. Now looking at the various segments and the results of them. We can say that the sales revenue increased in all of them. As insurance, well, here, the results were almost the same as the year before. But for Cargo and Other segments, the Other here mostly refers to Botnica. These -- in these, we can see some growth. In the segment Other, we had better results due to Botnica [ lease ]. And this takes me to the dividend proposal, and based on the liquidity of the company, keeping in mind the future investment needs and also keeping in mind the dividend policy that has been improved in the company, according to which that's a good practice to pay out annually at least 70% of its previous year's profit. The Board proposes to pay EUR 0.097 per share, totaling EUR 25.5 million, so that would be 100% of the basis profit for last year. The change of dividend rights is 4th of May 2022. That would be the ex date because on the 5th, the dividend rights will be changed. And the dividend payment is planned to be made on the 12th of May this year. That would be all from me about the financial results and the dividend proposal. And I remind once again that in the WhatsApp, you can send in questions. On the bottom of the page, you have a button that you can click and then type in your question, and I encourage you to do so. But now let me pass the floor to Erly Lüdig, Head of the Legal Department. Thank you.

To the general assembly, the proposal to amend the articles of association has been made and also remuneration principles of the Supervisory Board. Now pursuant to the amendment to the point 31 of Paragraph 1 of Article 81 of the State Assets Act, the articles of association should state the principles for remuneration of the Supervisory Board, and the proposed amendment is to change the articles as follows: the general meeting elects the Chairman of the Supervisory Board. Now, the remuneration principles are based on the business legislation, State Assets Act and Stock Exchange regulations. A member of the Supervisory Board shall receive remuneration once a month according to their participation in the Supervisory Board meetings, and the additional remuneration cannot exceed 25% of the Supervisory Board member remuneration. The members of the Supervisory Board and the remuneration paid to them, an overview about that will be presented together with the annual report. The Management Board, how they are remunerated, will be decided by the Supervisory Board. And the types of remuneration are listed here on the slide, and an overview of the remuneration paid will be added to the annual report. The general assembly of the shareholders shall vote on the remuneration principles, and we have also submitted these principles to be voted on. And thank you for your attention. If you have any questions, please type them in at the WhatsApp app. Thank you.

Dear shareholders, investors, now I will give an overview about the recent year and the work of the Nomination Committee of the Port of Tallinn. And I will also introduce the proposal that we have regarding the new members of the Supervisory Board. First, a few words about myself. My name is Ando Leppiman, and I work as the Secretary General of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. And as of the beginning of last year, I'm also the Chairman of the Port of Tallinn Nomination Committee. In this committee, we have 3 representatives of the Estonian state. So in addition to me, Mrs. Merike Saks; and also Mr. Kaido Padar who chairs the Nomination Committee of the state as well. In addition, we have 2 representatives of minority shareholders, and they are, as of February this year, Ian Brown, from the EBRD Baltic unit; and Gert Vilms, who comes from the management of the SEB asset management. Last year, Mr. Sven Kunsing and Elena Kiseleva also participated in the committee's work, respectively from SEB and EBRD, and we extend our thanks for their work. But the current composition of the committee was shown on the slide. A few words about the tasks of the Nomination Committee. Looking at them, it looks quite easy, so you would have to decide and make proposals to the general assembly about the composition of the Supervisory Board and their term of office. So you would have to submit to the general assembly the candidates to be voted on. And our work is regulated by 2 documents. So first, the rules of procedure and also a procedure for the election of the candidates, and this is what our work is based on. The Nomination Committee worked last year and the beginning of this year by having 6 meetings. And in between the meetings, we have been in close contact with each other when deciding who could be the candidates for the Supervisory Board. And we have interviewed the current Board members. And in order to understand the business processes, future focus, strategies of the Board of Tallinn, we have conducted 5 interviews with the current members of the Board with Mr. Aare Tark also other Supervisory Board members. Veiko Sepp, Riho Unt, Maarika Honkonen and also with Valdo Kalm, the CEO of the Board of Tallinn, so that we would have an overview about what kind of competencies and expertise the members of the Supervisory Board would need. From all other members of the Supervisory Board, we have asked written feedback about their work that we could use as an input so that our decisions would match the needs of the Port of Tallinn best, thinking about their expectations and future goals. In addition, the committee has looked at whether we would -- how to include more competencies in the Supervisory Board of the Port of Tallinn and in the procedure for choosing new members for the Board, we have looked at them and we have introduced digital skills and climate change-related issues as well. So these were now included in the selection criteria. So over the past 18 months, our work has been quite active and the members of the Nomination Committee also changed, so the new members had to work quite intensively. Now the selection principles that we used in our work. You can see them on the slide. And as I already mentioned, what we tried to do was to understand thoroughly what is the strategy of Port of Tallinn for the future, where the quay business potential lies, what are the most relevant risks and based on that, we had a discussion about the potential competencies that would be needed and also the potential candidates. And what's most important, shareholder expectations and protection of their interests. This has been on the table continuously as well. Similarly, the conditions and requirements for the profile of the Supervisory Board members because if we are trying to find good candidates, we would have to find people with relevant profile. And it was also quite important to bear in mind that although there's a rotation, which is very important, we also have to have continuity. So 3 of the candidates are the current members of the Supervisory Board so that there would be continuity. What was also important was the risk of conflict of interests and reputation. It was important that the Board would be a united team and whether the candidates have the willingness and opportunity to commit to the work of the Board. We also took into account the self-evaluation of the Board. It's something that is done on an annual basis, and it's very good to see that the questionnaire that is used for that, the score comes back very high, 4.79 on a scale of 1 to 5. So the Supervisory Board, when we look at the reflection by themselves, have been very good, and we hope that it will continue to be just as excellent and that the score from the self-evaluation would be as high as it has been. Now coming to the proposal of the Nomination Committee, we propose to elect 7 members to the Supervisory Board. According to the articles of association, there could be 8 members as well, but we found that the 7 candidates that we have to propose can cover all these competencies that are required, and there are 3 members who would continue from the current composition of the Board. Now the term of office is 3 years, and for one member of the Supervisory Board, the term would be a bit longer because Raigo Uukkivi moved on to be the head of the Tax and Customs Board, so it would make sense to make the change regarding him a bit sooner, as soon as possible, and that would be as of 26th of April this year. Now the Chairman and the candidates, I will come to them. But since we also have to propose the remuneration of the members, then the numbers you can see here. Chairman of the Supervisory Board, it's EUR 2,000 per month. It's the same as it has been. And to the members of the Supervisory Board, we propose EUR 1,000 per month. Now before we move on to the candidates, on behalf of the Nomination Committee, on behalf of myself and other members, we would like to thank the current composition of the Supervisory Board as the Chairman of the Board already mentioned that you cannot be in office more than [ 2 times ] in a row. These are the rules that we have decided ourselves. So unfortunately, some of the current members of the Supervisory Board would have to leave, but we sincerely thank Mr. Aare Tark for his excellent work in the Supervisory Board. And in terms of operations, investments, has been very successful, taken many steps forward. But also Mr. Üllar Jaaksoo; Mr. Uukkivi, Mr. Ahti Kuningas for their work in the Board. But now the candidates are in front of you on the slide. The 3 candidates who are also members of the current Supervisory Board: Riho Unt, whose competencies certainly include general management and business management, also finances, risk management, and the Nomination Committee proposes Mr. Unt to become the Chairman of the Supervisory Board. Then we also propose as candidates, Mr. Veiko Sepp. And his competencies, in addition to general and strategic management, are logistics, IT, digital competencies due to his previous and current work experiences. Then Maarika Honkonen, whose competencies also fall under strategic and general management but also through her work experience, tourism and passenger business. And she is also a current member of the Supervisory Board, and we propose that she'd continue. From the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, Mr. Ain Tatter. His competencies include logistics and cargo, but also business administration and company management since he's been a member of various boards. And he also has legal competencies and regulator relations. Mr. Kaur Kajak has long experiences in general and strategic management, and he is also highly competent in real estate and property development and also regulator and legal relations. Mr. Risto Mäeots, as a member of the Supervisory Board, is highly competent in terms of everything technical and engineering, but also business administration and being a new wave of managers kind of person, then his competencies are very good in general business as well. Mr. Marek Helm is the seventh candidate, and he has good experiences in private and public companies, in general administration, management and business administration. In addition, also smart solutions, digital developments, technical and engineering competencies as well. So thank you for that, and I hope that the general assembly approves the proposal made by the Nomination Committee. Thank you.

And now we have reached the last panel session of the day, so we are looking at the questions and answers. So we have requested [indiscernible] and we have had quite many questions, so we'd like thank you all in advance for submitting your questions. And we will try to answer your questions as well as possible. So the first question. So looking towards the future, what kind of a business field you can see the biggest growth potential? Valdo, would you like to comment?

Thank you very much for this question. In our strategy, we say that we want to be moderate in our growth in all our 4 core businesses. And it's a little bit complicated when it comes to the passengers because right now we're talking about the recovery, but I did mention that the recovery of the passenger business is showing a very good trend. So we are talking about growth but growth back to the level we used to have in cargo. Looking at the possibilities which we already described, then I think we've done quite well when it comes to ro-ro and containers, and I think that this will grow because it was said that the routes might change and we might find some new opportunities here. And a little bit longer perspective in the cargo business, we can see new types of cargo, for example, liquidized goods such as LNG and hydrogen-based products. And a little bit longer perspective again, if you look at the real estate business, we have good pre-conditions and we have done a lot of work in advance, so the growth potential is definitely there because this is more the question of the timing. When exactly do you come to the market with a certain product? Not all at once because we have 16 hectares in the old harbor, which we need to develop.

Thank you. Maybe we can continue from here with the real estate question. When the diesel [ planning permission ] application will be submitted? And when can we see the new planning permission project?

This process is ongoing. And I said that we do hope that in next few months, we can disclose our project drawings. They've been all discussed. So we have divided this land area into 5 plots, and disclosure of this draft project will take a few months. And then we take the input and following that, we have the approval process. This is very hard to evaluate how long it will take. But right now, I'm quite optimistic because a lot of work has been done by the city government.

Ando, a question on -- regarding the Supervisory Board. Why there's only one woman on the Supervisory Board?

Thank you. So perhaps we have 2 reasons. One is because we were looking for the competencies, and we can see these competencies which perhaps are more predominant among the men, and therefore, we have had more men as setting themselves up as candidates. And on the other hand, today, we have tried to find as good competencies as possible how exactly this team is going to work together. Knowing how the Port of Tallinn works, then I think that the gender balance is definitely in place. So I believe that these 2 sides will be mutually complementing each other. And now if we talk about the state-owned businesses at large, then we have supervisory boards and managements where we sometimes have only women or predominantly women, so it could be that it really depends on the field of business.

Thank you very much. Next question is about wind farms, which were mentioned during the presentation. So if we talk about the wind farm, how is this linked to the port services? Since the Port of Tallinn is partially state-owned, why should it start [indiscernible] greens?

I would like to clarify because I would like to stress that Port of Tallinn is not the developer of wind farms -- of the offshore wind farms, and [indiscernible] greens and others are our partners. So the opportunity we can see is as we are part of this project as subcontractors, we deliver. And then again, as subcontractors, we will be offering maintenance services to the offshore wind farms, so we are not developers or investors. But in order to do this -- because it's a huge volume because it's the Baltic sea, we need to have a harbor for construction and for maintenance. So this is the base for the vessels, and I would like to mention that Paldiski is going to be the base. And our deep harbor in Saaremaa is going to be the maintenance port once this business is actually ongoing.

And a follow-up, what is the return on the offshore wind farms, and when it's going to be ready?

It does not really depend on us, because it starts with the state level plannings and investment decisions. So we have understood that the first wind farm will start in 2028. And then we calculate back from there. So I mean, within 3 years, we have to be ready for construction. And this is -- the beginning is an investment, therefore, it's a cost. And then we can see already the return.

So now coming to the Supervisory Board once again. Aare, what kind of recommendations or advice do you have to the new Supervisory Board?

Thank you for the question. I suppose that we could have a lot of advice because during this 6 or 7 years, which have had -- while I was helping the Supervisory Board, the 2 key words which could characterize the work we have done is dedication and professionalism. So I believe that in our -- next Monday, we have a lot of dedicated people with a great level of professionalism, so we can see what is the principle of the selections made. So therefore, I do not doubt that the criteria are fulfilled. But based on the legislation, we have 2 main tasks: one is strategic management, so that means that the strategic management of the Management Board and supervision. And I believe that here, the Supervisory Board has done a lot of good work, and I'm sure that the next Supervisory Board will do the same. So this is the principle of the strategic management, which is the level of the Supervisory Board. So we should not really confuse this with the daily task carried out by the Management Board. And a good level of cooperation with the management is definitely the basis.

Thank you very much. A follow-up question for Ando. Which expert did you struggle to find for the Supervisory Board? Which competence was hard to find?

Thank you for the question. It's a very good question. I can answer you the right away. It was logistics, so shipping of cargo. And this is where we had the list of candidates, and either we were refused or we refused some of the candidates because in some cases, there was a conflict of interest issue, and that was definitely a challenge. And I think that the end result is very good. If you look at the competencies, so if you look at the candidates, then we can see that quite a few candidates display the necessary ability. So I suppose we've covered this position quite nicely.

You mentioned in your presentation that in our -- in your self-assessment, this score has been high. Is -- how does it differentiate from the other boards because self assessment does not tend to be objective in its nature?

[ This is the claim ]. Yes, indeed, this is a very good question because in my presentation, I did not mention that the feedback was also provided by the Management Board when it came to self assessment. And another thing is that self-assessment is on the individual level and therefore anonymous. So I do hope that this will indicate internal sort of chemistry on the Supervisory Board level. Looking at the questions, so we are checking whether we are good as the Board members, but rather, do we have an understanding of the expectations of the owners and is -- how are we able to cooperate and function hand in hand with the Management Board, and also there is appraisal to the Chairman's work. So there are quite a few categories to assess. And I believe that this is the picture, which is quite clear. If we now compare this with the other state-owned Supervisory Boards, then I have to say that the Port of Tallinn, while I have not really done the ranking table list myself, but I'm sure that we are quite high ranking. We consider to be a good result. Then on the 5-point system, we are above 4. So this is the grade, and we had almost 5.

Thank you very much. And now coming to the more current topics. Valdo, so does the war between Russia and Ukraine impact your business result? Is it negative or positive? Is it more threats or more opportunities?

I believe there are opportunities, but there are some risks as well. And we have drawn attention to this, and we have also said that in the cargo business, there are risks present if the sanctions are being applied to the entire Russian transit. We have to take this into account because the total volume, it's over 30%. So when we look at the turnover, it's about 5% of our turnover, so it's below 30%. So if financial, it's not a great risk but it exists, and is manageable, so if these sanctions will be fully implemented. When it comes to the passenger business, then we do not see a great impact there. It does not impact our passengers to Finland. It might influence a little bit of American cruise ship tours. And when it came to opportunities, then LNG project will be now rushed. It was somewhere as a backdrop, now it's accelerated. Second is new trade routes, and we have many questions on the table which were not present before. So these are completely new cargo owners who have approached us.

So let us move on to the next question. What is the passenger volume you predict for 2022?

We cannot really provide a clear forecast, but we can see a good growth for our regular routes. A week ago, we had our finished roundtable, where all our operators and the tourism agencies were represented. And when it comes to spring and summer, they're being quite optimistic, and the hope is to see quite a good growth. When it comes to our cruise business, then we have had a forecast. And looking at 250 calls which have been requested, but it does not oblige them to actually call into the harbor. And I -- we believe that this is not going to be as high, but we can see that there is interest because the vessels are there. They have crews and they have costs and they all want to travel, but this recovery is not going to be as quick because it will take a little bit longer. I would also like to remind you that our peak here was 370 cruise ships.

Thank you very much. And now we are coming to the questions regarding wind farms. If the Port of Tallinn doesn't have a possibility or a need to invest in the core business, maybe it's better to pay the dividends rather than build wind farms? I think the latter part was already answered.

Yes, indeed, but I would like to reiterate. As we are calculating our cash flows and investments, then during the general assembly through the Supervisory Board, we proposed dividends which is 100% payment of the profit, but we have taken this into account that it is quite likely that we need to invest into Paldiski. So the decision will be made this year. And this is not only for the quay for the wind farm, but it's a multifunctional quay. So in order to develop Paldiski, for other cargo as well, we need extensions. And Paldiski is smaller than Muuga, but it has a very busy traffic. So today, in this kind of situation, we do need certain extensions.

Now we have exhausted all the questions which have been submitted. I would like to thank people who answered, I would like to thank the people who asked the questions and everybody who viewed us today. And we will look forward to meeting you all again. Thank you. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]