Gasum Group Q1 2021 – Increased demand for gas in industry, maritime and road transport

• Group income totaled €325.9 million (Q1/2020: €238.6 million)
• Group operating profit was €11.0 million (Q1/2020: €12.3 million)
• Balance sheet total came to €1,363.1 million (31.3.2020: €1,133.0 million)
• The Group’s equity ratio was 35.7% (31.3.2020: 44.1%)

Gasum Group CEO Johanna Lamminen comments on the first quarter of 2021:

”We continued to systematically implement our strategy and grew in all our key segments: industry, maritime and road transport. Regardless of the uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to ensure business continuity and the progress of our projects.

The Group’s revenue was €298.6 million, other operating income was €27.3 million and operating profit was €11.0 million. Revenue development was affected by volumes and clear growth in all our segments as well as the trend in the price of gas compared to a year earlier. Despite the changes taking place in the operating environment, the profitability of our Group’s business was at the projected level.

Combating climate change plays a key role in Gasum’s Corporate Responsibility Program. Positive development in the demand for cleaner energy in maritime and road transport as well as in industry during the period under review, enabled our customers to significantly reduce emissions and contributed to their goals of transitioning towards low-emission logistics solutions and production processes.

Demand for cleaner fuel solutions in maritime transport continued to grow during the period under review. We entered into an agreement with the City of Vaasa, NLC Ferry Oy and Wärtsilä Finland Oy to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Wasaline, which operates the Vaasa–Umeå ferry route, and for use in Wärtsilä’s new Smart Technology Hub. We aim to continue to expand the geographic outreach of our maritime fuel offering and to this end obtained a distribution license for LNG on the French market.

Interest in the use of gas and renewable energy in industry continues to grow. We signed a contract with Nynäs AB, which is connected to the Swedish gas grid, to deliver natural gas to their refinery in Gothenburg. In addition, a shipment of biogas we supplied to Essity’s tissue mill in Sweden will reduce the mill’s carbon dioxide emissions to almost zero. We signed a 10-year agreement to deliver wind-generated renewable energy to Borealis AB’s facility in Sweden. The wind power will be generated by our partner Stena Renewable AB. The wind power will reduce Borealis’ direct carbon dioxide emissions at its Stenungsund plant by approximately 10,000 tonnes a year.

We continued to expand our network of gas filling stations serving road transport and opened three new filling stations in the Nordic countries. HKScan’s Swedish subcontractor Green L Equipment AB started to use a biogas-fueled truck in its logistics. The new truck helps the company to progress towards its climate targets and to considerably lower its carbon footprint. In Sweden, we worked with MaserFrakt logistics companies in testing the use of liquefied biogas (LBG) in six of their trucks. The tests delivered positive user experiences.

We set new sustainability targets to mitigate climate change and aim to reach cumulative emission reductions of a million tonnes by increasing the availability of biogas. By 2025, we intend to make 4 TWh of biogas available on the market from our own production and that of certified European partners. We also intend to reduce the emissions in LNG and biogas production chains in our own operations and to implement energy efficiency measures. During the period under review, the entry into commercial use of the Lohja biogas plant (40 GWh) in January contributed to our sustainability targets.”

Read more about Gasum Group Financial Result Q1 2021 >