Bonheur ASA (BONHR) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the Fourth Quarter presentation for Bonheur. My name is Annette Olsen, and I am the CEO of Bonheur and Fred. Olsen & Co. Today, as usual, our CFO, Richard Olav Aa, will start the presentation with an overview and then the individuals CEOs of our subsidiaries will then present. We'll have the Q&A session at the end. So heartly welcome. Richard?

Thank you. And also good morning from me, and welcome to this webcast. I should maybe start saying that this has been a special quarter. We have had several of our key assets out of revenue-generating activities. I think most notably, Brave Tern and Bold Tern, Brave Tern been at yard and Bold Tern in transit back from Taiwan, but also other assets have been out of operations. Despite this, we land the fourth quarter solidly, but also the full year very solidly. And on the back of this solid performance and a strong position, the Board yesterday arrived at the proposal of a dividend of NOK 6.75 per share, which is a dividend growth of 12.5% and represents several years with a consistent dividend growth of double digit, showing the strength of the Group. I will not go into detail of each segment because that is covered by the various CEOs, but just some of the highlights, starting with Renewable Energy. I think the main event in the quarter was the FID of the Windy Standard III wind farm, which Sofie will cover in more detail. When it comes to operations, we have had downtime, significant downtime on Mid Hill and Crystal Rig I. Mid Hill have been down the full quarter due to a transformer failure outside our control and also significant downtime on Crystal Rig I. That will be covered more in detail. On Wind Service, I think I already mentioned Brave Tern and Bold Tern that will be covered more in detail by Haakon Magne what those vessels have done this quarter. But despite this, it's been a good quarter in Wind Service, where Blue Tern has operated well and Global Wind Service and UWL also have operated quite well this quarter. When it comes to Cruise, we have had also there Balmoral in dry dock this quarter, a big undertaking of our oldest vessel. And fourth quarter is normally a weak quarter. Despite this, underlying corrected for last year that we had a gain on sale of Braemar and the dry docking of Balmoral in this quarter, Cruise Line is improving year-on-year also in fourth quarter. And underlying for '24, Cruise Line has an improvement of approximately NOK 100 million in operating performance. So Cruise Line is on the right track. When it comes to other investments, also an improvement there this quarter and also a strong improvement year-over-year, and this is driven by better performance in the media business of NHST and also finally, we have brought the SaaS company, Mynewsdesk finally into black figures. Already mentioned the dividend of NOK 6.75 per share. And after that dividend, the equity in the parent company stands strong of NOK 8.1 billion, which is an equity share of 66.4%. Taking a little bit on the long-term view, as we now are at the end of '24, how the year panned out and how this is in a longer term perspective. We show these graphs first time in the third quarter presentation. And our intent is to repeat them because we think it's good to consistently look at how we are doing to develop the group of companies over the long term. And the trends we have seen in the last years is also the same in this quarter that our biggest revenue area now is the Wind Service segment with Windcarrier, UWL and Global Wind Service driving the revenue. Fred. Olsen Renewables, even it's a lower generating -- revenue-generating unit is still our biggest EBITDA contributor. But this last 12 months, Wind Service is catching up and on EBITDA is now on par with the renewables. And finally, Cruise Lines emerging back from COVID with 2 new vessels and now at a higher EBITDA level than pre-COVID. And that is the same for all the 3 assets we see in this graph. Pre-COVID, it was mainly EBITDA coming from Renewable Energy. Renewable Energy is significantly higher than pre-COVID and then Wind Service going from a very low EBITDA pre-COVID to a strong EBITDA post COVID and also then Cruise Lines coming back up. So we have 3 -- all the 3 segments are now delivering solid EBITDA and also Mynewsdesk the media business is finally also delivering a positive EBITDA. Then over to the consolidated summary. Fourth quarter, lower revenues than fourth quarter last year. That is basically due to Brave Tern being at the yard and Bold Tern being in transit and utilization of [indiscernible] has been less than 33% in the quarter. And that also translates into the EBITDA, which is NOK 300 million lower this quarter than fourth quarter last year related the same to the Wind Service, the 2 main vessels being out of the market and then also NOK 100 million related to Cruise. And we booked NOK 85 million on the sale of -- as a gain on sale of Braemar in fourth quarter '23, which, of course, is not repeated in fourth quarter '24, and then you have the dry docking, so a small underlying improvement in Cruise. Depreciation at the same level as last year. Then net finance came out quite positive this quarter and especially compared to fourth quarter last year. These are really unrealized profit and loss on financial instruments, basically interest rate swaps and exchange rates. So they developed in the wrong direction in the fourth quarter '23 and developed in a very positive direction in fourth quarter '24. So the positive deviation year-over-year on net finance is approximately the same as the negative on EBITDA, so earnings before tax is at the same level. Slightly lower tax cost and then the net result is on the same level as fourth quarter last year. Then EBITDA and revenue per segment, starting on the top with Renewables on par prices and Sofie will cover this more in detail, but prices are down in especially Sweden, a significant drop in Sweden, but holding up and actually increasing in the U.K., which is the most important market. Also to note that we have booked insurance related to Mid Hill, so the downtime on Mid Hill has a very limited effect financially in the fourth quarter. Wind Service, again, very strong in fourth quarter last year, but also strong on the revenue side in fourth quarter this year. There Haakon Magne will cover this more in detail, but we have the termination fee with [ Olsen ] that is covering the quarters where we would have had the contract. Then on the Cruise segment, slightly down on revenues due to the dry docking and then other slightly up. On EBITDA, Renewable Energy, almost on par despite the operating issues and also to be noted there that we booked NOK 65 million on positive reversal of EGL in fourth quarter '23. So adjusted for that, the results are more or less on par. Wind Service, we don't need to comment anymore. Haakon Magne will come back to how we booked the termination fee. And then Cruise Lines already covered and then the improvement on the other segment driving from NHST. Then taking also a step back on looking at the preliminary figures for 2024. This will be then final in our annual report. Again, if somebody had told us that ahead of '23 with the declining energy prices, we would actually come out on the same EBITDA in '24 as we did in '23, I will have a little hard time believing that. But that's where we ended up. Renewables is down year-over-year with -- on the revenue and the EBITDA, down NOK 335 million on the revenue and approximately the same on EBITDA, mainly due to lower power prices. While Wind Service is up NOK 1.3 billion on revenues and up NOK 225 million on 2024 and a record year again for the Wind Service segment. Cruise Lines, stronger bookings, revenues up NOK 335 million and EBITDA up NOK 19 million. But if you then correct for the NOK 85 million sale of Braemar in 2023, the EBITDA is up more than NOK 100 million. And then the other segment, NOK 87 million more revenue, and NOK 74 million less loss. Also here, we have all the overhead costs of Braemar and so on. So a better performance in the media segment, meaning that we also then come out very close on the EBITDA. And then we have slightly higher depreciation. So the EBIT is down NOK 118 million, and then you have some on-the-net finance pluses and minuses. So actually, the net result for '24 is slightly higher than '23. Then finally, on the balance sheet and the capital allocation. Taking the numbers first, we end the year quite good on the cash and the debt. We have delevered the group of companies quite significantly this year. So for the entities we control 100%, we end the year with a cash position close to NOK 5.4 billion and external debt of NOK 3.6 billion. So net cash debt of what we control 100% is positive NOK 1.8 billion. Then where we have the significant debt in the joint ventures in the U.K. I think things are more or less stable with a smaller cash position and external debt being amortized as we go and a net cash debt of minus NOK 4.8 billlion. Then on the Wind Service, where we have Blue Tern, Global Wind Service, and UWL, also a significant deleverage in this year and now a net cash debt only of NOK 295 million. So then over to the financial policy. And I think I'll just repeat the financial policy here because I think this is very important for the next slide. We have 3 pillars on the financial policy that's been in place now for several years. First and foremost, the financial and liquidity position of the company shall be strong. And the company that we meet Bonheur ASA, where you find the line where we have NOK 3.6 billion in cash and NOK 3 billion in external debt and a net cash debt position of more than NOK 400 million. So we can really check the box that the company is in a strong financial and liquidity position at the year-end. Subsidiaries must optimize their nonrecourse financing. None of the debt you see in the external debt in this column has any recourse to Bonheur or any cross-recourse within the group. So we fulfill this policy. Then we are fully aware that with these strong limitations the we will never expose the mother company and that the subsidiary must find their own debt without guarantees from the mother company. There is a strong obligation on us to find innovative financing sources for the subsidiaries. And I think at the end of '24, I think we are in a good position there with several good joint ventures, industrial joint ventures. We have the fund in Hvitsten where we now will have 2 new wind farms being dropped into the fund. And of course, we are also evaluating and we have been in the past, public markets and M&A. So this financial policy stands strong. Then we have thought a lot before this quarter about how we should think about our dividend policy. We have had a dividend policy for many years. We had a discussion with our Board how we can modernize our dividend policy more into a capital allocation framework. So what I'm going to present to you is the summary of this work and the framework we have now decided on. So first and foremost, the goal of this is that the combination of the financial policy that I took you through and the capital allocation framework is to make clear the company's priorities and make clear our ambition to create long-term shareholder value. So the share -- the financial policy is the foundation on this, and we will never compromise on the financial policy. And I don't have to repeat the bullet points in the financial policy. Those are the same as I had on the last page. But on top of the financial policy, we have the capital allocation framework where the dividends must see in the context of the capital allocation framework. So again, the company's financial policy is the foundation. But on top of that, our key aim is to generate competitive long-term shareholder value through a combination of share appreciation and distributions to shareholders. And we have looked over the long term, we have looked at the S&P in the U.S. We have looked at the Oslo Stock Exchange and see over time that the very best companies they have a solid combination of share appreciation and distributions to the shareholders. Some companies reinvest everything in the business if they can generate good returns and other companies that don't see the prospects of good returns, they distribute everything to the shareholders. I think we are long-term here, and we see that a combination or share appreciation and distribution to the shareholders is the aim we want to achieve. But then it comes the key point on the capital allocation and the transparency the company wants to give with this policy is that when we are considering the balance between share appreciation and distribution to shareholders, we have then the clear goal to allocate capital only to areas where the long-term value creation on a risk basis is considered attractive. That meaning if we cannot find value creation above what the market demands on us, we should rather pay the money out to the shareholders. But this is also considering opportunities outside the current ownership holdings, which has been a key factor of our group of companies over many, many years that we have managed to innovate and transist the group from one area to others, like, for example, the entering into Renewable Energy many years ago. So on the back of that, when the Board is considering dividend proposals, the company Board of Directors then have to take into account the company's other capital allocation opportunities and measure that they can give a long-term value creation over above the cost of capital on a risk-adjusted basis, but always based on the financial policy. I think on the back of this financial policy and the capital allocation framework, the Board had a discussion yesterday and then arrived at the dividend for -- proposed dividend for 2024 of NOK 6.75 per share, which is a dividend growth of 12.5% and is now in line with several years of double-digit dividend growth. So I think that's ending my presentation, Anette.

Good. We will then move to the CEO presentations. And Sofie Olsen Jebsen is next with Fred. Olsen.

Thank you. So the highlights this quarter for Fred. Olsen Renewables were, first and foremost, the investment decision that was made into Windy Standard III. We also happily saw Mid Hill wind farm back in production after we've had this external transformer failure. And then we have had low availability in the quarter due to the Mid Hill that was operational only in January and Cristal Rig I and Hogaliden, other wind farms. We are, as a company, focusing on having a full cycle business model, as you see on this slide. And all our operational wind farms that are listed on the right, getting them to spin well. And then we now, as you see, have 2 wind farms under construction, which I will talk a bit more about later. We're very much focusing on developing our portfolio of development projects, which is now of 4 gigawatts and maturing that in a solid way to be able to move into the consented phase and then construction and to be viable and commercial projects. To go a bit back and look at the market, we have seen that there has been a low production of wind and hydro during the quarter, which has been balanced out then with increased production from gas and coal-fired generation in Europe. We do see that storage levels are low, and that is being compensated by the mild climate at the moment, hence, keeping prices moderate. We also do see a tight LNG market in Europe, especially. And why are we concerned about the gas market and prices? I think you see that on the graph to the bottom left and how closely linked the European gas and power prices are. With regards to the prices, we do also see that they are sensitive to weather changes and temperature going forward, also the geopolitical landscape, which is now currently very much moving at the moment. So moving then on to production. We have seen that the generation was lower than the P50 estimate in the quarter due to the downtime at the Mid Hill wind farm, also due to the downtime at Crystal Rig I wind farm. This is a wind farm with older turbines where -- which have been challenging technically for a while and especially this quarter where we are very much focusing to rectify this and get them all back and running again. Then we've had challenges on the Hogaliden wind farm in Sweden, where we have seen an expected failure of main components and parts, which we are working closely with the turbine manufacturer to rectify, although the replacements of parts are pending due to lags in the supply chain. This has been then combined also with a high volume of curtailments in the quarter, which is influencing the production. Regarding Mid Hill, this was, as mentioned, not generating due to a transformer failure at the external SSE substation, and we have booked the insurance claim of GBP 11.4 million in this quarter because we do have a business interruption insurance on all of our wind farms. Then the most exciting news this quarter is the investment decision that has been made on the Windy Standard III wind farm. As you see from the dots on the map, it is a wind farm located in the freezing Galloway in Southern Scotland, and it's adjacent to what we call the Windy Standard cluster, where we have 2 operational wind farms already. So the construction is commencing now in March '25, and we expect completion by Q4 '26. The capacity factor or expected yield will be 32% and as you might remember, we won a Contracts for Difference, which is a support scheme in the U.K. We won that in summer last year. So the wind farm will be generating power under this Contracts for Difference for 15 years. It's also worth mentioning that the 20-turbine wind farm that this will be will then also provide access to surplus grid capacity, which will create a quantifiable benefit for the Windy Standard I repowering project when that comes along in not too long, which will then avoid significant costs and delays for that project. Additionally, this wind farm and the investment in it falls within the scope of the Wind Fund 1 or with Hvitsten Fund. And we will, in Fred. Olsen Renewables, commence then the pre-agreed drop-down procedure with Wind Fund 1 for them to enter into their 49% partnership of the projects. The investment -- total investment of Windy Standard III is GBP 133 million, and it is an 88-megawatt wind farm. The other wind farm that we have under construction is Crystal Rig IV in the Crystal Rig cluster, another cluster of wind farms that we have. The main message this quarter is that the construction is progressing well. We are amidst installing all of the anchor cages and also most of the tree felling has been done enough so that we have the area cleared for installing all the turbines in their locations. So we are very excited about the progress of this 11 turbine wind farm sites. To sum up, this quarter, we've had low availability in the quarter due to Mid Hill, Crystal Rig I and Hogaliden, as mentioned. We have seen a steep drop in power prices in Scandinavia, offset slightly by an increase in the U.K. We've made a final investment decision on Windy Standard III and also the construction of Crystal Rig IV is progressing well. Thank you.

Next is Lars Bender, and he will present Fred. Olsen Seawind.

Yes. Thank you, Anette. I will give you an introduction to the Q4 for Fred. Olsen Seawind. And I'll start with some good news from Q4. We achieved an important milestone with our Scottish project, Muir Mhor in Q4, where we submitted both the onshore and offshore consent application. This is a significant milestone for us. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of vessel deployment on site, a lot of data gathering in order to get to that milestone. So very well done by the team and an important milestone where we actually now are the first of the Scotland projects to submit the consent application, both onshore and offshore. So good news. If we then move into this slide, which you've seen before, which is an overview of our core markets and core projects, I will come back to both Codling and Muir Mhor in more detail, but I wanted to attach a few comments to Norway on this particular slide. In Q4, we made the decision together with Hafslund not to bid and pursue Utsira Nord. We will, however, continue to monitor the Norwegian market. We will, together with Hafslund, jointly look at potential future opportunities in Norway. But for now, we will not pursue Utsira Nord. Moving on to Scotland and Muir Mhor. As I said, we submitted the consent application in Q4. And to give you a bit of background into the process we are now looking into in Scotland. This means we will, during '25, have close dialogue with the planning body in the U.K. around our application. We'll have to give more detailed information. And it's a process that can take everything from maybe 6 to 12 to 18 months depending on the interaction. It's new ground. It's floating projects, so it's not the same as earlier with bottom fixed. So that also needs to be taken into consideration when assessing a consent application in the U.K. Following consent award, the project will, in principle, be in position to bid into a future CfD auction. At the same time, we will progress and secure clarity on grid. And when we have both a final consent in hand and clarity on grid, we will be able to assess and bid into a CfD auction. So a lot of good work in '24, but also a lot of work still ahead of Muir Mhor in '25 and the coming years, but at least securing the first milestone with consent has been important to progress and really maintain a good competitive position for our Scotland project. If we then move to Ireland, also '24 was a very much a focused consent year around Codling. We submitted the consent application in September, and that has been ongoing also in Q4 in relation to observations and will continue into '25 as well. In Q4, we also saw a general election in Ireland for the parliament. Generally, Ireland has been a country where there has been support across the large political parties for offshore wind. Now a new government is in place, and it's our assessment that the stable support for offshore wind will continue also going forward. In '25, Codling will have focus around the consent, as I mentioned before, but also very much preparing the project for procurement processes on the back of consent determination. So there is a lot of work now preparing that because on the back of consent determination, we are in principle through the milestones we need to be and would be ready to later take FID on the project, but still a lot of work to be done. So I think overall and in general, a busy '24 and also a busy '25 when we look ahead, but also a very interesting year for Fred. Olsen Seawind. So with that, I'll leave the word back to you.

Thank you, Lars. And Per Arvid Holth from Fred. Olsen 1848 is going to talk about the development in technology.

Thank you, Annette. So if we can go directly to the status and update slide, then we will zoom out a bit going into this. If you go to the next one, please, and even the next after that. Then we'll zoom out a bit looking at floating solar, but starting with solar in general, and then we'll end up giving a status on our development on our floating solar technology, BRIZO. So if we go to the next slide, these are some graphs. The one -- we will start with the one to the left, which is from the reporting Renewables 2024 from the International Energy Agency. And for solar, it shows both the historic data up until 2024 and then a projection until 2030. And it shows some significant milestones when it comes to generation of electricity, so the actual product. In 2026, the IEA expects that there will be more renewable electricity produced from solar panels than from wind turbines. And in 2029, they expect that it will be more electricity-- renewable electricity produced from solar panels than from hydroelectric plants. And that growth is also supported on the graph to the right, which shows the added capacity in the last 4 years. And it also shows the domination of China, not only in the supply chain, but also in the installation. So that is a significant growth. And if we go to the next slide then, I also added this one. This shows the growth of added capacity, and it shows that the added capacity for until 2030, 80% of the added capacity is expected to be PV. And I added it because I think it's interesting that 40% of that added capacity is what they call distributed. So that's not utility. That is typical residential, commercial and industrial acreage that is utilized. So this is the backdrop for us focusing on solar. And this is a lot of solar panels. And we know that solar panels are area intensive. They do need a lot of area. And in that context, then floating solar is interesting for us. So as an example, on the next slide, I brought a picture from the Netherlands showing the market behind the [ dais ] in the Netherlands. I'm not saying by implying by this slide that there will be a utility scale development in [indiscernible]. There is certainly at least some environmental regulations in the way of that right now. But it shows what kind of acreage a sea surface can, or a water surface can provide compared to an onshore development. So if you look to the right in the picture, you will see 5 red squares, and that are 5 onshore commercial developments of solar neatly fitted into the agricultural and industrial landscape in the Netherlands totaling at about 137 megawatt peaks. So of course, compared to that, the water surface on the right provides a huge available area. If you have a huge available area of water, then the wind can make waves. And in this case, if you have a system then that can handle those waves and be cost-efficient, then that certainly gives you some potential. So on that note, the markets that we are looking at for our system BRIZO, if you go to the next slide, are basically 4. When it comes to the business case for solar applications, then it's 2 main drivers. It's the proximity to the equator and the number of clear as kind of days -- the number of days with clear skies in a year that improves your business case. So in the right markets, we are, for our system, approaching utility scale, competing with other energy sources. Another market is the displacement of hydrocarbons in island communities, which is a better business case usually. And the hybrid solutions with hydro is also a good opportunity in areas where you have dry seasons, especially. And then finally, you have the specialist applications, and that's typically consumers which are without grid or have an insufficient grid where floating solar can provide a cost-efficient addition to their energy need. So finally, a short status on the project itself. We last year completed a basic design phase, which has been important, and we're now entering a period where we are doing a validation verification based much on our pilot that we have in the south of Norway in Risor. And then we are, of course, hunting some and taking part in some specific processes for a commercially sized pilot for our system. So that's it. Thank you.

Thank you, Haakon Magne Ore, CEO of Fred.Olsen Windcarriers is next, and you have had a very busy quarter, Haakon Magne.

Yes. Thank you, Anette. I think as also as Richard said, it has been a very special quarter for FOWIC. For the last quarters, I was standing here talking about high uptime and stable operational vessels. Last quarter, we mentioned that we will have some more planned yard stay, pent-up yard activity going forward, and that what happened in this quarter. So I think if we start with the next slide, if you go back to the summary slide. Thank you. As I said, this quarter was stained by high yard activity and also a transit, meaning that we only had one operational vessel. This is as planned. On the more positive note, we had a strong order intake this quarter, also doing a full year good order intake for the company. On the market, I think I just reiterate the comment that I've had in the last quarter, we see there's limited vessel availability in the next years. We see, however, that the general issues that the offshore wind industry and value chain are facing, it impacts the timing of the demand, which again creates a more dynamic and volatile environment. Now if you go to the next slide, just briefly talking on the activity in the quarter. I think as mentioned last quarter, we decided to take Bold Tern back from the Taiwanese market, where she had been for 4 years due to a dip in activity in that market for the next years and as we saw better opportunities in Europe. That transit takes around 70 days, and it arrived late in the quarter in Europe, where it went straight into a planned yard stay to strengthen the a to make a more generic sea fastening of the 15-megawatt setup to Siemens and Vestas. The vessel is now out of yard and is starting on project mobilization and will then commence its new contract later -- late in this ongoing quarter. Brave Tern, I have to say, finally was delivered unfortunately, it was somewhat delayed from the major upgrade program. It then transited from Spain to Denmark to commence the mobilization for the NNG project. It commenced the project late in early January. On the good side, yes, the project was delayed, but I think the vessel is working very well. So that is good. Blue Tern, it continued on Vestas O&M campaign for the whole quarter. I think as we also mentioned last quarter, that will now go into yard in February or more or less these days to then have some long-awaited maintenance after almost 3 years of consecutive work. Blue Wind completed the Yunlin project demobilization this quarter, and it is preparing for the Hai Long start-up late this quarter. Going into the financials, of course, with only one vessel in operation, the utilization only came in at 33% this quarter due to the aforementioned reasons. As I said, Brave Tern left Spain in November. But due to mobilization phase and accounting rules, we did not book any revenues on that vessel in the quarter. So it's a quite modest EBITDA of NOK 11 million this quarter. And on top of that, I think that EBITDA is impacted by how we booked the termination fee of the previously announced termination of a major contract that was supposed to be done this year. So without that termination fee, I think the EBITDA would have been closer to 0. And just to reiterate how we're actually booking this termination fee the complication issues is that when we have an obligation to share part of the revenue with the original charter of the vessel as long as the original contract was supposed to have been going on. We will still book 100% of the revenue, but we have made a provision of the termination fee, so we have not booked the full termination fee. So when the vessel is not working, we will then book the previously provision to compensate for the -- that we haven't booked the termination fee. So I think we come back to it on the backlog, but I think the remaining provision left in the backlog is around at the same level that we booked this quarter. For the full year, the EBITDA came in at $116 million. That is a new record. And you also see the graph. Again, 2021 was a bad year for the industry, but we have not had 4 good years with improvement in underlying earnings. And also, just a little bit remind that the 2024 results was done with one vessel in yard for the whole period. Going over to my last slide and the backlog. As I said earlier, it was a good order intake this quarter that lifted the backlog to $448 million for our 3 owned vessels, up from $288 million last quarter. The main driver behind this was that the previously announced reservation agreement for one of our vessels was turned into a firm contract. That will take the vessel from 2025 and potentially early into 2027. On the market, I can just reiterate what I said, I think there is very limited vessel capacity available in the next years. But again, the uncertainty in the market from the value chain issues and the ongoing offshore wind issues gives some more uncertainty on the actual timing, both from delayed projects and also projects slipping to the right on the time scale. On the positive side, I think the tender activity remains at record high levels, both in terms of volumes, but also in terms of lead times. In other words, the different developers are increasingly looking to secure vessel capacity longer time ahead than what they did before. So I think that concludes my remark this time and I'll leave it back to Annette.

Good. And Richard will now talk about Fred. Olsen Cruises.

Yes. Thank you, Annette. So that will end the company presentations. So Cruise Lines, fourth quarter, it is a little bit of a repetition here. But we ended the quarter with occupancy of 65% versus 71%. That is, of course, impacted by the Balmoral 17-day dry dock, but also a couple of cruises that didn't have the -- wanted the occupancy. So strategically to drive the occupancy also going forward is very important for the Cruise Lines management, especially in the shoulder seasons, quarter 1 and quarter 4. The yield was up this quarter. I think that is more an effect of the mix of cruises, more shorter cruises with higher yield than the longer cruises with lower yields. Strong bookings, I think on the same level as we had last quarter that what we have taken in, in '24 for going forward is 16% higher than it was in 2023. So yes, I don't think there's too much more to say about Cruise Lines, Annette.

The good thing is that the management in Cruise Lines is very energized. So hopefully, we are going to see improvements when it comes to also the operation booking. So with that, we will open up for the Q&A session.

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] We will now go to our first question. One moment please. And your first question comes from the line of Daniel Haugland from ABG Sundal Collier. Please go ahead.

Yes. Good morning, everyone. So I have a couple of questions. I think I will just take them by the different business units. So if I can start on Renewable Energy with the problems on Mid Hill and Crystal Rig now you say that Mid Hill is back, but is there any time line on Crystal Rig I and when the problems there might be fixed? That is the first question. And then I have a second question also on Renewable Energy. On the NOK 161 million revenue provision you did on the insurance claim for Mid Hill, was this fully taken in Q4? And I guess there is no cost related to this? So I just want to confirm, is it a positive NOK 161 million effect both on revenue and EBITDA?

Sofie?

Thank you. I guess with respect to your first questions on operations, we are, of course, striving for operational excellence on all of our wind farms. And I can say with regards to Crystal Rig I that, that is high or the highest focus area for us at the moment to get all of these turbines spinning again as soon as possible. With regards to your second question on the insurance claim, GBP 11.4 million was booked this quarter. That is for the Q4. I think we expect to book a slightly higher sum also for -- not a higher sum, but a slight number also for the few days that the wind farm was out in January. So there will also be some insurance claim coming in then. But we are under dialogue with the insurers about that at the moment. So I think I will leave it at that for now.

Okay. Thank you. But you say 11.4, is that in pounds or?

Yes.

Yes. And that was positive both on the revenue and EBITDA line?

It should be.

Okay. Thank you. And then I had 2 more questions. One is on Wind Service. So I just wanted to check -- double check on the update on the vessels. I see you say that Bold Tern is expected to commence a new contract in late Q1. So you basically say that, that vessel has a low utilization in Q1 as well? Just want to double check that. And then I have last question on Cruise. So given that you have a lower utilization year-over-year, but I also think you say that booking numbers are quite decent. I just wanted to clarify when you say the utilization number for Cruise, is that adjusted for the dry docking? So is that only calculated on the available days or is it based on the full number of days in the quarter? So that is my 2 last questions. Thank you.

I think I can start with the easy one. Yes, Bold Tern will go straight out of yard as we speak and on to the contract late this quarter. So limited earnings because of the yards. And the other one, Daniel, is also quite easy. Yes, it's the full number of days. So 65 is what we have achieved on utilization based on the full number of days, not adjusted for the dry dock.

Okay. Thank you. That's very helpful. I will get back in line. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions] We are now going to the next question. And your next question comes from the line of Helene Brondbo from DNB. Please go ahead.

Thank you my question. I'm sorry for the background noise here. But with respect to the wind farms that have had downtime in the quarter, you also mentioned Hogaliden in your presentation. So I was firstly just wondering if -- what has happened -- what happened there? And is that wind farm back to production again?

Thank you. As I commented on Hogaliden in Northern Sweden, we've had some unexpected faults on key components where we're working very close with the turbine manufacturer to rectify this. There are some delays in the supply chain, which is affecting that.

Okay. So you don't know when it will be up and running again. Is that what you are saying?

It's not that the whole wind farm is not spinning. We are definitely producing it. A quite a lot from Hogaliden. I think what you were referring to of not up and running, we had the exceptional grid outage of Mid Hill during the quarter. That's the only time that we've seen that the whole wind farm has been out observed. So with regards to our other wind farms, we are not seeing anything like that by far in terms of outages. And that was also on MID HILL an external outage. So when I'm referring to the other wind farms and some operational hiccups, that is mainly single turbines that are experiencing some hiccups and where some parts are needed to be changed. And then you have to wait for the supply chain to come with the change and you have to -- sorry, with the parts and you have to hire a crane, et cetera. So that is the normal procedure that we are working on all our operational wind farms.

Okay. And I was also wondering on the Codling wind farm and the constant application. What do you sort of see as the most likely time line on this wind farm now?

Yes. I think, on our last quarterly presentation, tried to indicate a bit of the time line, which I can try to repeat. First of all, Ireland is a new country or new -- not a new country, but it's new when it comes to offshore wind and the planning body will deal with the first consent application for offshore wind. So that is to be taken into consideration. And we don't have any fixed time lines for when we will get the consent determination. And that's currently an unknown we have to deal with. On the top of that, in Ireland, there is a judicial review regime where a party can challenge the planning body on the consent determination. We will not be party to that, but it will be something we need to cater for time-wise if it happens. So we have those 2 uncertainties, the time line around the consent determination and the potential judicial review. The way we've addressed that as a project is that we have -- instead of having onetime line, we have strategic options that cater for different outcomes. And that's how we plan the project. We will not enter into early commitments, but instead having optionality on the outcome. Back to your question, I cannot give you a precise answer to the time line now other than saying that we will cater for an early determination in our planning, and we will also cater for a later determination.

Your next question comes from the line of Daniel Haugland from ABG Sundal Collier.

So I just got back in line. It seems like there was a lot of other questions. So I wanted to turn a little bit to the capital allocation framework because I think this is quite interesting. And I obviously appreciate that you maybe don't want to guide too much on things there. But I just noted that the Wind Service division has a very strong cash position now. So I guess there are probably discussions in the management and Board around what to do with it. So my question is, given that you are saying that you still see a strong market for wind turbine installation vessels, are you planning to buy any new vessels here?

I think, Daniel, thank you for the question. I think we have for several time now, we said that we aim for having new builds when the market dynamics are right. So that stays firm. But also back to the financial policy, it's also a fact that we also, like you probably have noted that we are upstreaming cash, excess cash to the mother company to fulfill the financial policy of that the mother company should stay liquid and strong. So in the fourth quarter, we have upstreamed quite a bit of cash both from Cruise lines, paying back their debt that Bonheur supported Cruise lines with during COVID. And we also paid back a share of the loan that Bonheur gave to FOWIC during the tough years back in 2018 and '19.

I have one follow-up there. So given this capital allocation framework, how do you think about kind of weighing, let's say, buying a new wind turbine installation vessel against, for example, taking an FID on the Codling project, which at least on my calculation, would require quite a significant amount of CapEx contribution from you guys?

Good question. Yes. I think this is very good question, Daniel. This is exactly the heart of it that we have very strong platforms to invest from. We have a very strong platform in onshore, both wind and solar, and also offshore solar. We have a strong platform in offshore wind with 2 excellent projects in Codling and Muir Mhor, and we have a fantastic position on the wind service side, predominantly with FOWIC and Global Wind Service. And also the Cruise platform is proving well. So all these platforms are giving us great investment opportunities going forward. And like you say, there are large capital opportunities. So first, we have to also leverage other external capital sources to optimize the funding and also the cost of capital. But after that, when you consider then how much equity Bonheur should contribute, what the point of this capital allocation framework is that we see that if these investments cannot generate competitive returns, then we're actually better off giving it back to shareholders. And then after you made those tests, then you have to prioritize, like we say, what are the most attractive opportunities on a long-term risk-adjusted basis. And I would like to stress long term, we think long term. So we cannot look at these returns on the very short term, but look what they will bring us over the long term, but also the point I think you are also pointing to on a risk-adjusted basis. So we try to be very disciplined on having different cost of capital for the various business units where, of course, the equity coming from Bonheur down to the business unit will cost differently from a high-risk project to a lower-risk project. But I don't think we can go into details and actually say how we evaluate each segment, but we try to do this quite systematically. So the subsidiaries, they have to fight for the Bonheur equity and come up with projects that have better returns than we otherwise could give back to our shareholders. And they also have to compete individually to have the best returns in the group to fight for a scare resource that's capital. So just a quick question back to Daniel. Was that helpful?

Yes. But yes, I think this is super interesting and kind of hitting into the core of at least my impression of what investors care about in your company. Maybe one last follow-up on this, and then I'll give the -- jump back into the queue. But do you have any stated, should I call it, required return levels or IRR levels, et cetera, in kind of the -- whether you will distribute capital to shareholders versus keeping it for projects?

Of course, this is something we have internally, but we will not share it externally.

And maybe we should add that, obviously, times are turbulent, as you all know. It's lots of challenges in all the different segments we are operating in, but there are also plenty of opportunities. So I think every day, we are waking up in the morning, looking at the news, trying to understand the picture in front of us.

Your next question comes from the line of Anders Rosenlund from SEB.

Were there any high price levies in the cost figure in the Renewable Energy segment in Q4?

I think in terms of EGL, as previously mentioned by Richard, there was a positive one-off effect in the previous quarter, NOK 70 million positive effect that was not in this quarter. So I would consider that if I were you.

But what was the full-year high price levies in the Renewable Energy segment? Because that's netted out throughout the year, isn't it? So there's provisions and go through effects?

I think, Anders, what the main effect is what Sofie is pointing to that when you compare quarter-over-quarter, we had approximately short of NOK 70 million in fourth quarter '23, and we had nothing in fourth quarter '24.

There are no further questions. I will now hand the call back to the speakers.

Thank you very much, and have a very nice day, everybody.