The VR Group's turnover sees growth of more than 10%

1 November 2013 VR Group indicators from 2013 Q3 (figure for Q3/2012 in brackets)

• Turnover 382.5 (378.5) MEUR
• Comparable turnover grew by 10.4%
• Comparable operating profit amounted to 42.3 (18.6) MEUR
• The Group is undertaking major reforms The quarter's comparable operating profit increased significantly from the previous year.

The improvement in the company's financial performance is due to the increased turnover and improved cost efficiency. - Our staff has over the past year done a huge amount of work to turn our company around. The improved financial performance is clear proof of this. We will continue with reforms and improvements to improve the efficiency of our company to improve our competitiveness and to be able to cover upcoming investments, says President and CEO Mikael Aro .

The turnover of passenger services increased during the third quarter by 3.6% to 133.3 (128.7) MEUR. A total of 23.4 (23.1) million trips were made by rail and road. The number of trips grew by 1.2% compared with the previous year. The operating profit of passenger services was 12.9 MEUR and saw a marked increase over the reference period (7.8). The demand for logistics services is highly dependent on domestic industrial production, which is why the domestic transport volumes are smaller than in the previous year. Demand can be expected to pick up only in 2014.

Freight volumes in international transports have increased significantly over the comparable period and the trend is expected to continue. The turnover of Logistics totalled 108.6 (141.6) MEUR, down 23.3% from Q3 in 2012. The decrease was mainly due to the impact on turnover of the business operations sold in 2012 (LTL Logistics, international functions). Comparable operating profit amounted to 6.8 (3.5) MEUR. Comparable transport volumes of Logistics increased slightly year-on-year and transported volumes amounted to 10.4 million tonnes. The Q3 turnover of Infrastructure Engineering grew very strongly and amounted to 111.7 (82.2) MEUR.

Turnover exceeded the figure of the corresponding period in 2012 by 35.9%. The order book remained strong. Cumulative operating profit turned positive in August, i.e. earlier than last year. The operating profit amounted to 15.0 MEUR in Q3 and saw a marked increase over 2012 (9.1). Cumulative operating profit (5.1 MEUR) was significantly better than in the previous year (-9.2). The comparable turnover for 2013 is expected to improve year-on-year. Operating profit is also expected to improve significantly due to the rationalization measures and cost savings.