Values and beliefs drive results

Much in the world is governed by chance, but not everything. Those who are well prepared fare best.

 

By living according to our guiding principles of Care, Innovation, and Performance we create customer satisfaction, quality, engaged employees, continuous improvements, and results. The 2024 financial year has once again generated profits and means for new investments.

 

Our ambition to double the value of each of our companies every five years is ambitious, but one we often achieve.

 

We create reserves through relatively rapid depreciation. We do not write up our vessels to market value but continue to depreciate them to zero over a twenty-year period. Today, our reserves in the market value of vessels and ports amount to approximately SEK 30 billion. Running our companies ambitiously without taking on risk is virtually impossible. Creating sustainable reserves is a major ambition focus for us. Our property portfolio therefore consists of 70 per cent residential properties, providing stable income, and a relatively low debt ratio of around 40 per cent.

 

It is crucial for us to always have sufficient liquidity to withstand several years of economic downturn without being forced to sell assets. Last year, we refinanced a total of USD 1.1 billion. At year-end, our liquidity reserves amounted to SEK 17.8 billion.

 

Selling assets is a natural part of our businesses. During the year, we sold all our three vessels for liquified natural gas (LNG), generating a profit of SEK 1.2 billion. Through Northern Marine, we manage around forty LNG vessels for other shipowners. The technical development of gas vessels is progressing relatively fast, and our technical teams are actively working on new ship designs. We are currently awaiting developments in the shipbuilding market and opportunities for profitable charterparties to find the right moment to place new orders — either for ourselves or for the shipowners we collaborate with.

 

“By living up to our guiding principles of Care, Innovation and Performance, we create customer satisfaction, quality, committed employees, constant improvement and results.”

 

We continue to order new ferries. Our partnership with the CMI Jinling shipyard in Weihai, China, has now resulted in our 17 vessel order with them. The latest vessels can operate on five different energy sources — ordinary bunker oil, bio- oil, LNG, methanol, and electricity from onboard batteries. Additionally, two of our newly ordered vessels will use sails to further reduce our fossil fuel consumption.

 

While the ability to run vessels on so many types of fuels is of course commendable, the reality remains: the cost of these alternative fuels is twice as high as that of conventional fossil fuels. Naturally, we hope that this cost disadvantage will decrease over time.

 

Because of its low cost and high availability, conventional oil will likely continue to be used for the foreseeable future. The most environmentally efficient way to extract oil is through deep-sea drilling. During the year, we took delivery of one of the world’s most modern oil drilling vessels, Stena Evolution, which is operating under a seven-year contract with Shell.

 

2024 saw a real economic downturn. None of our companies — except Stena Property and Stena RoRo — achieved the previous year’s operating results. Despite this, our ferry operations remained profitable, albeit at a reduced level. A comprehensive cost and efficiency program now in place will reduce our costs substantially.

 

Despite headwinds, we started a new route between Liverpool and Dublin and acquired 49 per cent of African Morocco Link. Its three ferry routes make it the largest ferry operator between Spain and Morocco in the strait of Gibraltar.

 

“We are proud that all our operations are now close to achieving a flawless record in terms of performance, resulting in good ratings and strong customer loyalty.”

 

Stena Bulk adapted to market conditions by significantly reducing its fleet size, while our employees are working hard to develop AI-driven optimisations for the future.

 

Our drilling business continues to report losses. However, as the drilling units become fully depreciated over time and still remain modern, we expect them to return to profitability.

 

Perfection is possible. Northern Marine’s 123 vessels completed more than a year without a single incident. We take pride in the fact that all our operations are moving closer to achieving flawless execution, resulting in good ratings and strong longterm customer loyalty.

 

Having a deep understanding of our customers and staying close to them has always been and remains our way of doing business. While volumes for all our companies in Stena Adactum have declined, our relentless focus on our costs, has allowed us to maintain strong EBITDA margins basically everywhere.

 

Our annual EBITDA is close to SEK 14.5 billion. It is an impressive figure, but our businesses are capital-intensive, and our drive to lead in everything we do remains as strong as ever.

 

In every sector we operate, the development is accelerating. Staying curious is imperative for each and everyone who wants to be productive and successful both now and in the future.

 

• We wish each other well is a good guiding principle of our goals and our interaction.
• Only through constant curiosity and understanding can we continue to innovate, contribute, and support each other.

 

Göteborg, February 2025
Dan Sten Olsson

 

Significant events

• During the year, the Stena Group invested SEK 14 billion in new assets and in the development of existing operations. This investment relates mainly to vessels and properties.
• Stena Line expanded, adding three new routes: Dublin – Liverpool in the Irish Sea and two routes between Spain and Morocco. The latter were added as a result of Stena Line investing in Africa Morocco Link (AML) and in the ferries Morocco Star and Morocco Express. Stena Line also chartered the Stena Europe to AML.
• Stena Drilling took delivery of the Stena Evolution, one of the world’s most advanced drilling vessels, in January 2024. This was the first time in 12 years that Stena Drilling took delivery of a new drilling vessel.
• Stena Bulk sold its three LNG vessels during the year, generating a profit of just under SEK 1.2 billion.
• Stena RoRo took delivery of three RoPax vessels in the E-Flexer series during the year that were chartered to waiting customers. Stena RoRo also ordered two more RoPax vessels and acquired a RoRo vessel built in 2012 from Moby Lines, which has now been renamed the Stena Shipper.
• Northern Marine Group achieved 15 months without any LTIF incidents, and for Stena Bulk’s fleet, an impressive 24 months without any LTIF incidents has now been achieved, showing continued focus on safety and operational excellence.
• Stena Property acquired the ‘Studio B’ office premises in Warsaw, Poland, and is evaluating several opportunities for further acquisitions in Poland.
• Stena Finans started the year successfully refinancing bonds totalling USD 1.1 billion, thereby strengthening the Group’s liquidity and ensuring a long-term and stable maturity structure.

Group Summary

 

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