Tallink Grupp's second-quarter profit fell almost 15% despite attracting more passengers.
The Paavo Nogene-led company posted a EUR 15.3m profit, down from EUR 17.9m a year earlier.
Revenue declined 1.7% to EUR 255m while overall passenger numbers along its routes reaching Estonia, Latvia, Finland and Sweden ticked up 1.7% to 2.6 million passengers.
"The results were significantly impacted by the increase in fuel prices in global markets compared to the same period last year," chief executive Nogene said.
The 20-port average price for IMO380 fuel oil has almost doubled in the past year to $469.50 per metric tonne, according to Ship & Bunker.
The group's gross profit fell EUR 2.2m from a year ago to EUR 57.1m, while operating profit fell EUR 5.3m to EUR 45.3m.
The decrease was mainly driven by, aside from higher fuel costs, a EUR 2.8m decline in charter revenue as fewer ships were chartered out, the company said.
The group is planning a secondary listing on the Nasdaq Helsinki stock exchange following a strategic review.
The company's fleet consists of nine cruise ferries, three high-speed ro-paxes and two ro-ro cargo vessels.
