Operail further increased its profit

The international logistics and freight transport company Operail has increased all of its key financial indicators over the first 6 months of the year.

The operating profit of Operail for the first 6 months of 2019 was 18% higher compared to the previous year, amounting to nearly EUR 6 million. “We have managed to continue the trend from 2018 and kept the company highly profitable,” Raul Toomsalu, Chairman of the Management Board at Operail said. The net profit of the company for the first half of 2019 was EUR 5.2 million, which means that the result for the previous year was exceeded by 7%. “After many years, Operail also paid dividends to the owner, that is the state – we contributed EUR 1.5 million to the state treasury, on which we paid EUR 375,000 in income tax,” Toomsalu added.

Compared to the first 6 months of last year, Operail increased its operating revenue by 2% (EUR 37.7 million); with the biggest increase in sales revenue coming from income relating to rolling stock. “By the end of the first half of the year our group had leased more than 2100 wagons, with lease revenue growing by 58% and exceeding more than EUR 6 million,” said Toomsalu as he introduced the financial results of Operail. The company’s EBITDA was EUR 8.9 million, which is 14% more than in the previous year.

The freight volumes demonstrated a minimum decline (1%) in the first 6 months of the year; however, according to Toomsalu, there is nothing tragic to be seen in this. “Over the period of six months, we transported nearly seven million tonnes of goods, i.e. more than one million tonnes per month, which is a very good sign. Compared to last year, we have seen a growing trend, for example, in the transport of fertilisers, chemical products and liquid mineral fuels, and a slight downward trend in oil shale and solid mineral fuels.”

Operail is a state-owned railway company, with its main business being freight transport, the repair and construction of locomotives and carriages and the rental of rolling stock. The company employs nearly 700 people.