CARE FOR EACH OTHER AND THE FUTURE

Financially, we are doing well at Stena. All our business areas deliver strong results.

Our businesses have recovered in a good way after the pandemic. Profitability is stable on a high level and today all our business areas are profitable.

The summer season which is of importance for Stena Line has been favorable. After delivery of five new ships in the route network, Stena Line is modernized and well equipped for continued growth. Our customer offer is attractive, in regard to both travel and freight segments.

Since 2014, when the oil price fell sharply, Stena Drilling has had major profitability challenges. Finally, the market has turned and since July all drill ships have been chartered out on profitable contracts. Next year looks even better, especially as the new contracts will have a year-round effect, but also with the addition of the new drill ship Stena Evolution.

Stena Bulk’s tankers, which operate in a highly volatile market, continue to deliver good results. There are many reasons behind today’s strong market, but the main cause is probably a general increase in demand for tanker transport as a result of sanctions against Russian oil and also that not many new tankers have been ordered.

Stena Adactum and Stena Fastigheter continue to deliver stable results. However, we see somewhat of a slowdown in the companies in Stena Adactum’s portfolio aimed at the Nordic consumer.

Stena Metall has halved its profit. This year’s profit is still our second best ever. An important reason for the halving is declining raw material prices and a certain slowdown in industrial activities in Stena Metall’s markets.

The main reason for our continued success is that we have dedicated employees who care about each other and our customers. We want the best for each other and have the courage to continue investing, in good times as well as in bad times.

“CARE FOR EACH OTHER AND THE FUTURE” WAS THE THEME OF THIS YEAR’S SPHERE FORUM.

We live in a time of increased complexity and unpredictability. It presents us with a number of challenges but also a number of opportunities and an exciting existence. I have always been curious, asked a lot of questions to people with different knowledge and experience and I have not been afraid to explore new things. This way the complex and unpredictable becomes less scary and less complicated. We increase the possibilities to solve the challenges that come with our time.

All the speakers at this year’s Sphere Forum referred to this complexity and unpredictability. The most interesting question will then be how we can continue to be successful regardless of what the conditions are. There will be higher demands on all of us to continue to explore and learn new things at an ever-increasing pace in order for us to continue to be relevant as a company and to our customers. At the rapid pace of change we are experiencing, the need to think effectively and act with consideration and care is therefore increasing. Care paired with reflection will continue to be even more of a guiding light for how we work together and do business. A good way to get even better at it is to regularly take a pause and reflect. Taking time out for a short break every now and then is important. This way, we get access to our full capacity and can use our human capa-bilities to the full.

The rate of development means that it is no longer enough to increase the pace, instead we have to work smarter. When exploration and learning basically become the future strategy, we also need to set aside time for learning. A successful way to achieve this is to add so called ”learning time”/ learning blockers into the calendar to encourage and enable continuous learning. I encourage all of you to do so. I look forward to learning about what new knowledge and abilities we can bring to Stena.

With the need to explore more and learn new things at a higher rate, the need for care will also increase. The success of the last few years has shown that perfection is possible. Perfection is based on care. Our future is about care for each other as well as for the world around us. In our continued development, care must therefore remain the guiding light for both our own and Stena’s successes.

Overall, we are well equipped for the challenges of the future! In the really long term however, we will face enormous cost problems following the transition to fossil-free fuels.

The gains from our rapid digital development are then very encouraging.

During this year’s Sphere Forum, Nina Schick presented her view on what the new technology can achieve going forward. Nina is a leading expert in Generative AI. AI is a machine’s ability to display human-like traits, such as reasoning, learning, planning and creativity. Generative AI is about using self-learning computing power to generate texts and reports as well as photos and movies. The level of technology has now reached such a point that we can no longer determine with our senses whether something is generated by a computer or not.

In addition to a summary input or order for what is being searched, the production of a text or image can take place extremely quickly and without human intervention. The technology spreads incredibly quickly thanks to the fact that we now have a global digital ecosystem. About 65% of the world’s population uses the internet today and about 85% have a smartphone.

The most talked about AI application today is ChatGPT, which is a virtual assistant for answering questions and generating texts. The spread of the application is incredibly fast. It took Facebook 10 months in 2004 to reach one million users. In 2010, Instagram needed 75 days. ChatGPT managed the equivalent in just 5 days and the forecast is 100 million users by November!

Humanity is now experiencing one of the biggest technological revolutions ever. Nina expressed it as follows – during the coming generation we will experience a greater technology driven change for humanity than during all previous generations combined.

With new powerful technology comes of course both opportunities and risks. I think everyone has heard what some say could happen if/when technology becomes smarter than humans. As always, I reason, it is not the technology itself that is the risk, but how we as humans choose to use it. For the first time, however, it may be that the system takes over before we realize the danger or that it has already happened.

The possibilities are still fantastic! We can only hope that they will be used correctly. For companies with leading ambitions, the implementation of the new technology will be a requirement. It is us as employees who must find the right way together – with responsibility and care. I urge everyone to think about and discuss with your colleagues how the new AI technology can and should be used in your respective businesses.

Dan Sten Olsson, CEO

Göteborg September 2023