Bonheur ASA
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Welcome to the fourth quarter presentation of Bonheur USA. Today, our CFO, Richard Olav Aa will start the presentation. And we also have the different CEOs for the different segments that will be part of the presentation. And we will open up for questions and answers at the end. So Richard, go ahead.
Thank you, Anette, and a hearty welcome from me. Before we go into the numbers, I would just reflect on the quarter, it's been a good financial quarter. And I would say, especially Fred. Olsen Windcarrier had a stellar quarter but we have some -- also some significant headwinds in the quarter on the tax side. That has not reflected in the numbers, but we'll bite us going forward. And our colleague, Anders Bade will cover that July going forward, but that has been a great concern in the quarter, but it's not reflected in the numbers. So then going through the numbers. We have a strong improvement in the revenues and also the EBITDA in this quarter compared to first quarter last year and revenues come in north of NOK 3.3 billion and EBITDA close to NOK 1.3 billion. an EBIT of almost SEK 1 billion or a little bit more than NOK 1 billion, which is up from NOK 900 million fourth quarter last year, a result after tax of SEK 732 million, which is also an improvement of close to SEK 100 million from fourth quarter last year. So before I go to the parent, I can cover the various segments. We have renewable energy, which has an EBITDA more or less in line with the fourth quarter last year, also fourth quarter last year at high power prices, but then they were on the way up this quarter at high power prices, but this quarter, they are on the way down based on falling gas prices. Generation is lower than normal in this quarter. The wind speeds has been 11% lower than the P50. We also have higher OpEx in this quarter that is related to a few different factors. It's the land rent that we pay on high power prices, but also more business development costs, both on the onshore side and the offshore side and also grid charges. And then we have the tax situation, which Anette shall come back to more into detail. But again, it's not accrued for any of these new taxes and levies in our accounts for '22. They will come with effect from 1st of January 2023, but we have 3 slides for that later in the presentation. So I'll not go into further detail now. Then we have the win service, which had a very strong quarter with EBITDA of more than SEK 400 million, up from NOK 147 million fourth quarter last year. With a good operational quarter for Fred. Olsen Windcarrier with close to 100% utilization compared to 31% utilization fourth quarter last year. However, then we have bolt-on in for [Indiscernible] and also Blue Tern in yard stay in Denmark. Also very promising, and Alexandra will cover this in our presentation. The backlog have increased further by 2 new contracts where strategic and important contracts in this quarter that she will go through in more detail. On the negative side this quarter and probably the only operational negative item this quarter is global wind service have had a couple of projects that have been very difficult during the winter, which have been delayed and have lower-than-expected results this quarter. UWL had a good operational quarter. Cruise Lines had an EBITDA of minus NOK 85 million, which is the same level as fourth quarter last year. Bunker costs continue at a high level, especially diesel is very expensive. And we had the 2 out of the 3 ships out of service partly in the quarter. Bolette was taken out due to market conditions, and we had Borealis at the Ørsted. But occupancy was very low, 64%. We have made a decision to make Braemar available for sales. So she is now out in the market for sales. The bookings have recovered nicely. We see good bookings now so far in the year. I think that's on the back of a strong travel sector in general. We see it across many travel sectors, but also Cruise Lines have experienced a very good start of the year in terms of other investments, EBITDA of NOK 51 million negative, a slight drop in EBITDA for NHST also related to some organizational changes and costs associated with that and also that we have cost in Fred. Oslen, and general overhead costs. Then on the parent company to the bottom right, the Board proposed a dividend of SEK 5 per share on the back of good financial year and also that we have some realized gains in connection with the establishment of the [ windfall ] and a total of SEK 213 million is proposed being paid out to the shareholders. Equity in parent stands strong at more than SEK 8 billion, which is an improvement of close to SEK 1.3 billion from fourth quarter last year, and that also related to the establishment of the wind farm and the dividends received up to the parent company from that transaction. And that gives an equity ratio of more than 70% in the parent and cash in parent close to SEK 3 billion, which is also a strength from last year. So all in all, a good operational fourth quarter and also has considerably strengthening of the financial situation in the parent. Then going to the consolidated summary. I already comment on the improvement on the revenues and EBITDA. On depreciation, we see depreciation of NOK 261 million this quarter, which is increase of SEK 55 million. The depreciation level this quarter is the normal level. Fourth quarter last year is a normal low because we changed after long discussions with the auditors, which changed the depreciation schedule of the wind farms. We would like to have them shorter. The auditors would like to have them longer. So we had to make them slightly longer and the reduction in depreciation then came in the fourth quarter '21. Then we have 2 Scottish wind projects that we have worked on for a while that we see will not come into realization. So we made an impairment decision of those of SEK 14 million. On the net finance, it's worth commenting. We had positive net finance result for quarter '21 of NOK 14 million and a negative of SEK 167 million this quarter and a change of NOK 181 million. SEK 170 million of that change is related to the interest rate swaps in production and new birds. We have secured approximately 70% of the interest on those loans. So when interest goes down, we get unrealized gains as we did in the fourth quarter '21 and interest rates goes up as it has done in the fourth quarter '22, we get a loss. So that is the main explanation of the change of SEK 181 million. So that leaves an EBIT of SEK 835 million, and we had a more positive tax situation this quarter, which will be negative going into '23. So the net result was SEK 732 million, an improvement of NOK 95 million. We also reduced net interest-bearing debt quite considerably during the year in the group, close to SEK 1.7 billion reduction in net interest-bearing debt on the back of strong results, but also the sell down on 49% of the 3 Scandinavian wind farms. Each of the segments, we have then a total improvement of revenues of SEK 648 million. We see that the main improvement comes in Wind Service and Wind Service and a renewable energy is now more or less on par in terms of revenue and also an improvement in Cruise Lines on the back of 3 ships being partly in operation.On the EBITDA, we see renewable energy despite a slight increase in revenue, a slightly reduction in EBITDA. That's again related to more development cost in the quarter, both for offshore and onshore and great charges and also the land rent. So $44 million reduction there. Wind Service, an improvement of NOK 258 million. That is a very strong improvement in Windcarrier, while UWL and GBS have a reduction compared to fourth quarter '21. Cruise Lines on par, high bankers cost this in fourth quarter '22 and also the OpEx in connection with Balmoral and sailing with a low occupancy has been much better than being in dock, but not contributed significantly to the EBITDA. So the EBITDA is on par. And another already commented on. But all in all, an improvement of SEK 177 million compared to fourth quarter [Indiscernible]. Then on the cash debt and guarantees, we have simplified this slide a little bit. We got some feedback that is probably grown too big, and we have taken it down and slimmed it down again. So it's no more easily accessible. Some information get lost in that, but that you will find in the notes. But the main point here is to show what we control 100% and what is in companies that we don't control 100%. You see at the top, we have the 4 or the 3 main business segments, renewable chain service and cruise and then [indiscernible] others should control 100%. There we have now a total cash of around SEK 3.8 billion and debt of SEK 3.3 billion. So what we control 100%, we actually now have more cash than that and also in the mother company, Balmoral also, we see that the cash position is quite much larger than the external debt position. While in the joint ventures and the not 100% owned company, there, we try to optimize the capital structure, not at least for the wind farms. So there we see a cash situation of around SEK 900 million for the renewable energy and a debt of SEK 5.2 billion related to the Scottish wind farms. On in-service cash of close to SEK 0.5 billion and debt related to UWL Global in Service and Blue Tern. But all in all, a sound capital structure and also built now on the green finance framework. We see that alone, we now also -- new loan we did in Blue Tern in Alexandra's mid-carrier was also built on the green finance [Indiscernible]. And before I leave the word over to back to Anette and our colleagues. I just want to dwell with this slide also. This is a slide we are extremely proud of. That sums up the ecosystem, our companies, our strong partners and also the synergies we have between our various units. I think that's a good lead in to the various companies' presentation.
So thank you, Richard. And next one out is Anders Bade, Co-CEO of Fred Olsen [Indiscernible].
Thank you, Anette, and for link to all of you from myself. I will present on slide on the portfolio and then 2 on the revenue and revenue drivers, and then scare go a bit deeper into the tax situation and have sites going back. So we can start with the portfolio. And since we only have this slide on the portfolio today, I will comment a bit on the first columns. The on-site investigation, we are running with solid progress in all markets. Norway now also opening up for more positive spare renewables from the municipalities and people in general, come back to the tax situation, which is a major problem. Floating solar also had a very solid progress, but we don't comment further on that today. And we've also now on PV, onshore PV signed up the first and agreements in our markets onshore PV. To the next column, development. The rest of the slide here is now only onshore wind. U.K., we have increased by 90 megawatts this quarter. So solid progress in that market as well. And Norway, Finmec is opening up. We have 2 projects there together with Finmec. They have exactly the same view as we have on the tax still, but the tax needs to change. We do not get for the investments in Norway. Sweden, we have added 2 sites on extension of to an existing one and another 100. But we also have taken out a large -- one of the large sites we have a 300-megawatt site closed the linen February due to the same heavy recovery are posing to it. And really, it's key to us for us to have a strong a trustful relationship with the same villages. Italy also continue to grow, and we now have a portfolio where we have filed for the application for consent of 250 megawatts in Italy. Next column, consented. We actually had 2 new sites consented in the quarter, Vattenfall, that's an extension to [Indiscernible] around 40 megawatts and [Indiscernible] a large expansion there of 126. They were consented in October so they were also mentioned on the previous quarterly report. And on construction, we have Fäbodliden II the construction and operational sites. I will come to on the next couple of slides. So if you go next, we have solid growth in our production. 50 for this year is around 2,250 gigawatt hours. And with the pipeline you saw on the previous slide, this is certainly going to even higher growth going forward. Then to the quarter, the revenue drivers. And Norway, we started strong wins and strong production capacity factor in the high 40s, which is about normal, strong win for the quarter. But as Curt mentioned, we had some lower wind speeds, and that relates to the 2 sites in Northern Sweden, Boliden and the Christie complex in Scotford. So capacity factor and production in the U.K. and Sweden, somewhat lower than normal for the quarter. Power prices in the down left corner continued to be solid in Q3, but down from the very high level we saw in the U.K., Continental Europe and Southern Norway for Q3, but still at solid levels, going continue to go somewhat down in Q4 in the Q1 this year. I'll come to the drivers on the right-hand side. Sweden had high and strong power prices for Northern Sweden in Q4. That helped on our revenues. Looking at the right-hand side, you see the key drivers. Right corner, you see both gas, carbon and coal prices. We have previously not reported on the coal prices, but now Europe is shifting a bit more to coal. So you see coal prices coming somewhat down on the very high levels, but it's still gas that really sets the price for most hours on in continental Europe and also then Southern Norway and to some extent, in Northern Sweden and obviously in the U.K. So gas, the blue there came down from very high levels, now down to more still higher than the prices in Ukraine but more and not as a normal levels. And then carbon prices also starts to have a bigger impact on the price, typically a gas-fired modern power price power plant, they run at efficiency of between 50 and 60. So to get to the marginal power price for when the gas power price gas power plants are willing to produce, you need to divide from multiply the gas price with about 2% and 1/3 of the carbon price. The reason for gas prices coming down is mainly weather over the last, say, 4, 5 months, wild and windy in Continental Europe and also the wet weather in Norway has helped. So the final there on the right corner, [Indiscernible] balance in Scandinavia. We have a very -- we had a very wet in Southern Norway in particular and it has improved also in start of this year with a lot of wind in Continental in Europe, actually driving imports to Norway. So we now have around normal [Indiscernible] balance for Norway, both Northern and Southern. Norway is now about normal for [Indiscernible]. It's not the imbalance which is between Austria in Northern and Southern Norway. We need still some of the -- a bit lower, but not far from normal in terms of otologic fiber power balance. So then we go to the taxes. I'll start with showing the impact on our financials from the proposed tax changes. And then we have U.K. and Norway on the slide. You can see we have estimated, first, the tax rate at GBP 100 per megawatt hour. That's the tax we pay on every top line revenue. And then we have an estimated marginal tax in terms of higher prices. So starting with the U.K. for 2023, we will not see sky high taxes at 100 per megawatt hour. So the government there, although they drive higher taxes for the sector, they want to maintain incentives to invest also at GBP 100 per megawatt hour, which is normally a solid power price. But then they increase significantly, the estimated marginal tax in terms of higher prices. Corporate tax is increasing in general from 19 to 25. They have the tax on prices above GBP 75, I'll come to that on the next slide that drives the marginal tax on higher power prices up to 68%. But Norway is really the big issue. We have, on the power price of 100 per megawatt hour. We estimate for [Indiscernible] that we will pay 64% on every top line revenue, government taxes. And if you have a higher price than that, we pay 85% next year of every revenue in government taxes, up from 22% this year. And you can also compare that to the petroleum sector, which obviously have had very high super profits, even they pay lower taxes and needed with the current proposal from the government. We can also compare this to our 2 other markets. Sweden is a country where investors are probably more should we invest in Norway and Sweden, power prices tend to be similar and wind resources similar, they stick to 180-megawatt hour price that the EU has agreed on. So there are no additional taxes until you reach EUR 180 in Europe per megawatt hour, also Italy, a key market for us where -- which many Norwegians would continue to be more risky than Norway. They also stick to the El standards of no additional taxes until we reach EUR 180 per megawatt hour. So Norway is really out there the way we see it in Europe. If you go to the next slide, we see the statements and our position and the process going forward. Yes, starting with the U.K., the main tax -- corporate tax rate will increase to 25%. That goes across all sectors. Then they have a 45% levy on extraordinary profits -- sold at higher than GBP 75 per megawatt hour. They index this from 2024, this GBP 75 and they have a NOK 10 million allowance on group level, which actually makes us not pay taxes any of this levy until we reach 90 per megawatt hour and limited until we reach 150. The powers will be in place for 5 years. Our position is that we need to index it, and that's now agreed the price threshold. We also strongly believe that this should reflect precrisis prices in December 2021, which is somewhat higher than the historic which had been in place maximum for 3 years. And any market in Europe really needs new renewable investments. So investors and power producers should be able to deduct some of the tax when you do reinvestment in [Indiscernible]. The process in the U.K. consultation process is concluded, and they are clear that no payment will be required until the is formally fined and also received royal consent. The U.K. is obviously an issue for us, but as I said, nothing compared to Norway. Norway, as most of you know, the government has proposed an effective resource, we saw a pretax of 40% for onshore wind. High in addition to that, high price contribution at 23%. And you have an excise duty and you have a new resource tax. The 2 lower ones, we don't have a problem with. The high resource, the high price contribution, which has probably got the most attention due to hydropower somewhat an issue, obviously, but it's the resource tax, which really is detrimental to the investments in wind going forward in Norway. So our position is that the resource tax for new onshore wind projects, they must be fully cash neutral, that's simply in line with what we have for hydro and even for oil and gas in Norway, which is more profitable but for some reason, the current proposal is not in line for onshore wind, as what it is for the more profitable sectors. Secondly, probably even more important is that the resource tax must not be implemented on existing wind farms. We constructed, we started around 10 years ago, and many did similar does. That was with the Norway’s report. It was with tax incentives from the government. And I must say, nothing less in terms of incentives and political drive for onshore wind and what you now have for offshore wind. And you don't need to be very -- how to say, paranoid in order to fill that very similar tax, but they now have it based on existing onshore wind farms will later also be imposed on offshore wind and also onshore solar. So both for us and the investor community, we have as partners and dialogue with internationally, they take this as -- this is a reason potent to invest not only in onshore wind, but also in other sources of renewables in Norway. The consultation process will be concluded in mid-March. So -- it's a key month ahead of us. We are really working to enlighten the politicians, but it's -- we'll see how it goes. And then subsequently, the government will send the final proposal to the parliament. Then as a final comment or perspective on this, we are comparing the onshore wind taxation to what you see in oil and gas. So for oil and gas, there was a tax to package of around -- estimated by EY, GBP 100 billion during recovered price. And that comes on top of cash neutral and ground rent a regime. This seamless package according to Star Energy has enabled around 4x higher investments in oil and gas, what you actually the government provided a stimulus package. Onshore wind as a prediction to this, the same, the tax regime is not cash neutral, even on new tax on new wind farms and certainly the tremendous to existing wind farms. The regime, as proposed, will increase the breakeven electricity prices by 20% to 25% compared to a cash-neutral regime. And when investors are looking where to invest and they can invest in Sweden or Norway, it's obviously we have a very strong consequence. So government should expect on the marginal new onshore greenfield investments. This what is now on the table, what is approved and certainly also significant impact on investors' trust and ability and willingness to invest in onshore solar but even more importantly, in offshore wind. Also, it's hard to say, interesting to look at this in the backdrop of the communication, where you have a narrative from the Norwegian government, but we now are going green. We are doing the transition from oil and gas to wind in particular. But the access and the money is not where the math is. You also have a situation now with U.S. coming with strong incentives and holding the sector to invest in U.S. EU is debating how to meet that and is also looking at more incentives for the renewables, while Norway is going then in the complete a different direction. And this is also the backdrop of what we have on the lower section on this slide, the one that really makes the super profit in the circumstances of the energy prices, that's the Norwegian government. The annual energy and sport, particularly oil and gas, has increased from around NOK 500 billion to run rate of autumn 2022, that was when the tax was proposed of around NOK 2 billion, NOK 2,000 billion. That was also serve an article from the economies, which was also picked up by the region press at the time. So it's really important, not mainly for us, but for the green transition in Norway that the tax is not going through to what is now on the table. Our position is clear, but we have to have a very important month and a few months ahead of us to get this right. With that, I hand back to Anette.
Thank you, Anders. Next is Lars Bender, CEO of Fred. Olsen Seawind. So Lars.
Yes. Thank you, and also good morning from me. I will take you through the highlights of fourth quarter for working wind in our core markets. But before I do that, a couple of maybe more general infections on offshore wind and our business. We've been through a very intense quarter with a lot of regulatory activity in our core markets, and that is definitely on the back of a lot of activity in offshore and in general, I would say, across the globe. There is a strong push for offshore wind and renewables in a lot of sectors, and we also see that in our core markets. That also means that we are currently seeing tendencies to constraints in general and also wind on supply chain in other places. But in general, for our business, a positive development with a lot of push for offshore wind. And I think that leads naturally into our project in Ireland, the [ Ukraine ] wind park. And on the regulatory side, in Ireland, we've seen positive development over the last quarter with a lot of clarifications on the future CFD regime and the terms and conditions for the upcoming auction. In general, when we look at that, it's been a positive outcome of the legislative process. Main highlights include that we see a 20-year CFD contract instead of expected 15 years. We see indexation covering the main inflation risk in the CFD contracts, and we also see compensation for great assets, the general infrastructure assets as well. So overall, a bit more positive than what the industry expected. But naturally, as I said before, it's also on the back of a market with some constraints in relation to, for example, supply chain. The Irish government is still very ambitious on the time lines. So Phase 1, which we are a part of with [ Ukraine ] offshore wind park and still had a planned auction in late April 23, and it's our expectation they will stick to that schedule. And secondly, they are now preparing for a Phase II and Phase III. And we do see a lot of players moving into the Irish market, which is a sign of the general attractiveness of the Irish market. Another highlight this quarter is that we received the final award of MAC, which is the Maritime Area Consent, and that is a very important milestone for us. It's something that project has worked towards for a long time. It basically gives us the right to move the project into detailed planning and apply for a planning consent. But it also very importantly, it gives us the right to participate in the upcoming auction in April and in principle, also in a later auction. So an important milestone for us and positive development on the legislative framework in Ireland. In Norway, we've all seen movement on the regulatory framework in Q4, mainly OED has published the competitive framework for [ Oceanor and Silicon Norte ]. And the highlights include a competition on [Indiscernible], which is a seabed competition in first instance with 3 areas of 500 megawatt. Second part of the competition will be a pure price competition, most likely based on CFD regime and that will happen 2 to 3 years after seabed. That is the current expectation. But the first instance, the sea better mobility based on qualitative criteria. So very similar to what we have experienced from in Scotland, which I'll come a bit back to with the media war project later. And then second, there will be some sort of price competition 2 to 3 years down the road. On Silicon [Indiscernible], the system -- suggest system is a bit different. There, the expectation is a combined seabed award and price auction in one go. There will only be one site allocated and not for competition. So all parties will compete around the same site of 1,500 megawatt. Naturally, this is a competition which probably is less developer-friendly. We are a lot of developers all preparing for the same auction and there will only be one winner in that auction. So from an industrial point of view, we couldn't wish for a framework with more allocation that would definitely have supported a more industrial development of offshore wind. The time lines for this, is that all awards should be done in the ’23, whether that is achievable or not, I think it's a very good question. It's definitely a huge push on OED to get all the framework in place. But currently, they are sticking to a time line, and we are preparing for that accordingly for both sides. So positive that we now see a competitive framework. I should caveat that. Alex went through the taxation. And of course, it is a concern for offshore wind, how will the taxation discussion end. And actually, we are following that very closely because in order to achieve a good offshore wind market and a good industrial development on offshore wind. We need a framework that supports and incentivizes investments into Norway. As I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of markets coming up and Norway needs to be, of course, at least on par with other markets for the investments to go into Norway. If we then move to Scotland, we've had a good quarter with a lot of important milestones. Most important that we have started the deployment of LiDAR and collection of wind days are on the site, which, of course, is something we worked to watch for quite a while. In addition to that, we are planning for [Indiscernible] to be started off in March and April. So all the collection of data is now on the way either already started or contracted to start a bit later in the year. And if we recap the Mirror project, we started off and was awarded a seabed lease exclusivity early last year. And now within roughly a year from that, we have a full team operational and we have most of the initial contracts signed and also some of the deployment already undertaken. So also there, I think the last year has been a good year and had good progress. Importantly and strategically, this puts us in a position to submit an early consent and be one of the first projects in the Scotland compensation to submit a consent for the project, which, of course, there are still also in scuttling a lot of uncertainty around the regulatory, especially around grid. We are following that closely. Most have probably picked up that there is a change also politically now in Scotland. And we're, of course, following that closure to see how that potentially will impact offshore wind going forward. So a short recap of the quarter is that we've received a MAC in [ Ukraine ]. That was an important milestone. We are now deploying LiDARs in Scotland, but also an important milestone. And then we've seen regulatory framework progressing in Norway, but with the caveat that there are still a lot of uncertainties around that in relation to the attractiveness. And with that, I will give the word back to you, Anette.
Thank you, Lars. Sofie Olsen Jebsen, CEO of Fred. Olsen 1848.
Thank you. So I'm starting here with a picture of BRUNEL, the floating foundation we're developing for a 15 megawatt turbine. And just to show the size that floating offshore wind will have because here, the structure is much larger than the tallest building in Oslo. We see the industry moving forward with an impressive speed and we're also moving full force ahead with our technologies and have some exciting developments ongoing. Starting off to give you an update on the floating maintenance solution. This is an operational maintenance solution where we are able to carry out the blade exchange and gearbox exchange at site instead of towing the foundations to port and that being an expensive and time-consuming operation where you have to account for weather windows, et cetera. So as I've told you before, we -- for this solution, we turn to [Indiscernible] the frame manufacturer to help us develop this crane that can be lifted on top of the floating foundation with a fan offshore service vessel and then it operates with the same moment as the floater and we're then able to exchange the components. We have some good activities ongoing here. We're working on a FEED study for the solution, where we're detailing all the commercial, technical and operational elements working very well together with developers and wind turbine manufacturers on this. The next update I wanted to give you is on BRUNEL, the floating foundation that we are developing. That is based on steel tubulars, and that makes it able to tap into the existing global supply chain so that it can be ready for mass production, and that is actually what's needed to be able to build out all these floating giga parks that are coming. This modular design is then very well fit for serial mass production. We are also getting increasing feedback that it's very optimized for HSEQ, especially since you can have the fabrication and all the corrosion protection building, et cetera, than in a close environment. And on this presentation, I'm very happy to announce that we have engaged amber to perform the design scope for BRUNEL and we think that Ramboll, with their experience, they will be able to take the development of BRUNEL to another level together with our team. We're also undergoing another important process, and that is developing a control system together with EFA in ore. All the floating wind turbines, especially those single point more will need to have a -- or a control system developed in order to avoid your [Indiscernible] misalignment. This is an important knowledge that we're building out now and that will be applicable to all floating foundations. And we have received a grant from the Research Council of Norway for this project and are very excited to go on with it. We're also working on the operation and maintenance solution for BRUNEL, and that leads me on to the next slide, where I'm proud to present in more detail the operation and maintenance solution that we have for BRUNEL because it is much more cost efficient than the more generic solution that I showed you on the previous slide. In generic solution, I mean for the more generic and submersible foundations. So here, you see that we have the same crane that is placed on a barge together with the components. It's then floated over the foundation. The foundation is then deballasted so it lifts the barge up as you see on the picture here. And then we are able to exchange on blades and perform the maintenance activities because everything operates with the same margins as the float. We believe this has some really good benefits as we take away all dynamic lifts. We also see a lot of flexibility in this solution. Blades -- sorry, barges are available worldwide and is especially applicable for the U.S., where availability of vessels would be an issue, but partners are ready available. So we see the benefits of having the maritime experience in our team and in the related companies that could create solutions that are good for the industry and where the technology gap is quite low, i.e., that we have a crane that looks like Ukraine, et cetera, because we believe that this is very important to be able to bring floating going forwards to the levels necessary.That was the end of my presentation. I'm looking forward next time to talk to you a bit more about our activities in floating solar.
Thank you, Sophie. Alexandra Koefoed, CEO of Windcarriers.
Good morning, everybody. I will start the presentation with an update on the quarter and what we have been up to in FOWIC windcarrier. So starting with the 3 vessels. Bolton has installed turbines on the Formosa 2 project in Taiwan for the complete quarter. That project was finished in January this year. So that was -- means the completion of the first bank industrial project in Taiwan. So we are happy to have contributed to that. [ Blue Tern ] has also been operating in Taiwan in not less than 3 different projects. So we installed turbines on the [Indiscernible] project on the beginning of the quarter, and then the vessel has been utilized on both Greater Changhua and from Oslo for the latter part of the quarter. So I think that's a record 3 T&I contracts for 1 vessel in a quarter. But it shows sort of the flexibility of the organization and trying to help the industry and our clients to get turbines installed under challenging conditions. [ Blue Tern ] is now on her way back to Europe. So she's completed her tenure in Taiwan. And we did mobilization for the next project in Batam, Indonesia. She's now on our way from Mauritius to South Africa, but we'll start a project in France in the next quarter. Also importantly, in terms of [ Blue Tern ], we have previously communicated that we've made an investment decision on a complete upgrade as we did on Bold, and we have now signed a firm yard contract with Vamps pricing or the conversion scope, which will happen in Navantia in the oral facilities. -- and start late Q4, early Q1 '23, '24. And Luton. She is operating on the [Indiscernible] wind farm slowly but steadily installing in piles for Jacket Foundation, and she is due to install turbines on that same project later in the year. Also importantly, in terms of Blue Tern, we have refinanced her in Q4 last year. That was -- I think it's what I can mention about that. There was a $35 million facility. It was in significant better terms than our last facility on Blue Tern and also under the green framework, as Richard mentioned.So then I think we'll move on to the next slide in terms of the results. And as Richard has already mentioned, it has been a very solid quarter. We had a little bit of a slow start to 2022, but with very solid quarters in Q3 and Q4, it has turned out to be a very, very good year. So 2021 was our best year so far, but 2022 is significantly better with an EBITDA increase of almost 50%. So revenue in the quarter was EUR 57.8 million, and EBITDA was EUR 38.2 million. Or the attentive reader or a listener, there's -- there may be sort of a discrepancy there, but to understand the difference between revenue and EBITDA was that in Q3, we did major remobilizations in Taiwan, shifting the setup of the vessels. So that generates higher revenue but also slightly lower EBITDA. But in Q4, the vessels have been operating more or less continuously with only slight modifications in port between projects. So all in all, a very good quarter, but also a very good year overall. And that's linked to partly previously communicated higher rates on both term after the main conversion but also in general, high utilization and, in general, also increasing rates on the other vessels. Future backlog, although we've had a very good quarter and produced a lot of revenue. We have also managed to increase the overall backlog, which now is at EUR 553 million, up from EUR 473 million last quarter. And this additional revenue is linked to 2 reservation agreements. And just to explain what those reservation agreements are about. We have the clients pay sizable reservation fees. And then I'm talking cost minus EUR 5 million, while we take the vessel off the market and negotiate a final contract. So we do expect these reservation agreements to turn into fixed contracts late Q1, possibly early Q2.I will not really what the projects are, but I can mention one of them is a flagship project. It's next-generation turbine so we are very proud to have won that contract. And the other one is a contract on existing turbines on Blue Tern, which means the crane upgrade on Blue Tern will be postponed with 1 year. In addition to that, I can mention that we see very significant tender activity. We see clients approaching us earlier and earlier, and that has been true for the T&I market for some time, but we now see that applying to the O&M market as well. So a very good year, but also a very good outlook with now a solid backlog for the next 4 years, which means Bolette is in a very good position for the offshore market to come.
Thank you all [Indiscernible]. Back to Richard.
Thank you, Anette. Just a few more slides before we open up for Q&A. Going through cruise. Cruise has, as you know, we have been hit very hard with the COVID and we're still struggling coming fully out of Covid and fourth quarter was also a quarter where we were really prepared to come back into normal operations. So we had -- in the quarter, Borealis was out 16 days in dry dock. So she is now fully ready for the high season now starting this spring. Bolette we took out of the market because the market was just too weak, and she is also a fully now in shipshape for going into the high market this summer, and then we will do Balmoral this quarter. So all 3 vessels will be prepared for the high seasons.So we spent the time now a little bit if you compare back to Windcarrier, where we had fourth quarter last year, really had ships in layup, and I'm preparing for what we saw coming. We hope that we can see some of the same effects here in cruise, but we now have prepared all the 3 vessels for the season that is coming. The fourth quarter in itself is weak. 64% occupancy, still a slow market in the U.K. in the fourth quarter, a lot of uncertainty in consumer spending, consumer behavior. Net ticket income per DM is reasonable, 172 million is higher than it's been before, but still lower than we would like to see it. So what is very interesting now is that what we see a slight shift in the market where we, hopefully, it's not only pent-up demand, but that we maybe see a shift in the consumer sentiment. We hear it across the travel sector and maybe more so in the premium part of the sector than the mass market that the market is somewhat back. And we see that in the booking numbers for '23 and '24 so far. And hopefully, that can stay up and that when the ships and the excellent crew and the staff is ready that we can produce some better numbers for cruise lines this year. So by that, Anette, I think we can end the presentation.
Good. We will then move into Q&A. So please, questions.
[Operator Instructions] And your first question comes from the line of Anders Rosenlund from SEB.
I have 2 questions. My first question is on the Irish CFD auction. You mentioned that around 2 years already in planning, what's the time line for round 2? And my second question is on the Cruise segment. Do you expect crews to be contributing positively on EBITDA in 2023.
As I understood the question, you asked about the second CFD auction, what would the timing be? As I mentioned, the first one is now scheduled for April. And the current expectation is that the second action will be 2 years later. That could be moved forward. But I think the best says by the industry now is 2 years intervals.
I think, unless, if we kind of go back and look at what happened to the cruise lines. First, you have the COVID gone. Then you have the Omicron. Then you had the Russian invasion, then you have the inflation and customer costs. So we've been hit with all kinds of negatives in the crews, but we continue to book and continue to fight and with the absence of any kind of new sudden events on the geopolitical side or deterioration in the U.K. economy. Definitely, we see that the bookings are back, and that the ships are in good shape and received excellent customer feedback on the onboard experience. So in the absence of either some geopolitical events on deterioration in the economy or bunker prices going high wire again. Obviously, we expect to produce a much better result in '23 than in '22.
Our next question comes from the line of Rod Hardison of Clarksons Securities.
First, congratulations on your strong results. So certain news media have reported you have filed an application to repower the wind standard wind farm in Scotland. Can you give some color on the repowering of that wind farm and what potential improvement output could we see with our repowering?
My understanding of the question was about the repowering of what we call Wind Standard 1 -- so that is a wind farm, which was -- which will end with rock in 2027. So we are planning to then build the new green farm. We have been totally different turbines. The current turbines are 600 kilowatts, I think. The ones we now are consenting are probably 6 or more 1,000 kilowatt different sizes, but also different number of turbines. Obviously, we are on the rich. That's why we have fewer turbines than with the previous -- with the current setup of western with a much higher total megawatt installed and also much better capacity back. This was built on top of the rich good site, I would say. We wish to find more of those sites. So that will be a very healthy financial case and also a site we see various positive outlook on ability to consent. That was the question, right?
And just to follow up on sort of the repowering theme. You also have some other older wind farms like Crystal Rig Wind Farm 2003 and [Indiscernible] 2005. I guess you still have some good years left in them. But once the time comes, how are you thinking about repowering of those?
I think this is something we're thinking about all the time. It is a challenge to make sure that we choose the right turbines and certainly look at the opportunities of each individual Wind Farm. So I think it's a general question and you'll get a general answer.
[Operator Instructions] And your next question comes from the line of John A. Olaisen of ABG.
I wonder at the end of your concrete renewable projects that have been impacted by the recent tax changes or rather not the current one, but rather new ones. Have you put any projects on the shelf or delay the investment decisions, et cetera, due to the tax changes, please?
Well, I think for Norway, the situation is such that the taxes out we're hearing. So it's too early to answer. And when it comes to the U.K., obviously, for the wind farms that we have in the pipeline to be built. We need to take the tax as one of the elements going into the total consideration.
Maybe I would like to add, John, because it's a very good question, and it also goes back to something Lars said in his presentation that this sudden surprise that we got in -- with the proposed state board shut also have a very heavy burden towards the offshore wind. We get a lot of feedback from our partners and investors that also what we hear that this taxation on the onshore is so detrimental that it also is a major showstopper for investing in offshore wind. We are hopeful that the Norwegian government will come to a different solution that they have come to now. So we haven't stopped any activity. But for the offshore in Norway, it's really a problem if this goes through.
And for the onshore in [Indiscernible]?
Yes, yes, but people tend to forget the spillover to the offshore.
Of course, for now, the EU and the U.K. tax changes are the onshore break, is that correct?
Yes.
But I agree, of course, people would think 1 plus 1 is equal to 2. I also wonder, have you seen any of your clients for your offshore Wind Service operations or to call it that? Have you seen any offshore projects being delayed in Europe due to failed tax? Just in general, are your clients worried about increased tax offshore?
Yes. I think certainly there was an extra inflation rewards interest rates and with the tax questions on top of it, it certainly will be a question when it comes to dueling out the wind farms. Anders, do you like to answer that.
I think I can comment somewhat. I don't think we see sort of the tax issue as the Magnus. It's been a turbulent year for everybody in the offshore industry. I think if you can look to -- we have 2 sets of clients, it's the wind farm developers and it's the turbine manufacturers. And if you look at the numbers for the turbine manufacturers, it's relatively easy to see. We're in a challenging environment. And of course, that results in them in increasing prices. And if you, for instance, follow the U.S. there, you have seen some -- yes, at least what we see as potential for postponement due to wind farm developers stating that PPAs are too low given the current environment. So not directly taxes, but other financial circumstances. And also projects stock in permitting is a recurring topic, but I think I heard it's still 80 gigawatts starting permitting in Europe.
But I think you heard [Indiscernible] very much focusing on the fact that for Norway. I mean we want to build an industry in renewable energy. And certainly, it's extremely important if we are really serious about this to make sure that we have a regime here that attracts both investors and people who want to build up. And we are, at the moment, very worried. And that's why we talk about it.
Probably with a good concern share the concern. Second question is on the cruise. When you say the upcoming season, would that be from May? I just wanted a little bit of details for Q1, for instance, I presume it's still Q1 more likely to be similar to Q4 and then improvements from Q2. Is that -- would that be correct?
Well, I hope, John, that we can also improve Q1 versus Q1 because if you recall back to Q1 '22, it was not a good quarter. There we had a contend we actually had to take some cancer, some crews and so on. So we're not planning for that at all. But I think when you look at cruise lines, historically, it's typically the amounts, like I say, from Easter until end of October. That's really the strong months where you have a lot of good cruises up against to the Nordics north of the U.K. into the Baltics and so on, which are very good cruises. While in the winter, it's more difficult to fill the ship and often you have to go to the more southern places where the net EMs are lower.
[Operator Instructions] And there are no further questions at this time. So I'd like to hand back to the presenters.
Thank you very much, everybody. That concludes this session.