The Future of Travel Annual and Sustainability Report 2019 In constant motion he Nordic landscape from the train window. Fields, forests, suburbs, station buildings and from time to time the sudden darkness of tun- T nels. The sound of the rails is like a heartbeat, calm and rhythmical. On the way out or going home. Music through headphones, a book, that last finishing touch to some work, a satisfying lunch, or perhaps a time for rest, makes the journey part of the goal for the millions of passengers who travel with us every year. Our goal is their journey. The world around us is changing. We are travelling in different ways, to new places. More and more people are realising how simple, convenient and time-efficient rail travel is – just climb aboard, then work, socialise or rest. Other factors helping to boost interest in the train and SJ include more departures to choose from, more customer-led offers, simpler booking routines and greater climate awareness. In the past 20 years, train travel has increased and all the signs are that this trend will continue. We at SJ have high ambitions to live up to the expectations placed on us. We are continuing to develop our offering, and over the next few years we will be investing around SEK 12 billion in expanding our fleet with more, latest-technol- ogy trains. In 2020, we are looking forward to welcom- ing our passengers aboard our new X 2000s, and in a few years’ time our new regional and high-speed trains will enter service. We are developing and expanding our collaboration with municipalities, regions and government agencies, as well as our dialogue with employees, customers and passengers. SJ — The Future of Travel Every day, 150,000 people opt to travel on one of SJ’s 1,220 departures from 291 stations. SJ operates from Narvik in the north to Copenhagen in the south, from Stock- holm in the east to Oslo in the west. That is one of the reasons why so many people choose to travel with us. In 2019, SJ had around 4,600 employ- ees and sales of approximately SEK 8.6 billion. Contents About SJ 1 Highlights of the Year 3 Statement by the CEO 4 Trends 6 Stakeholders 8 Markets 10 The future of travel Strategic Focus 14 Passenger satisfaction was higher than ever, and 34.3 million climate-friendly journeys were made via SJ in 2019. Annual Report Directors’ Report 16 Sustainability Report: Responsible Governance 17 32 Employee 18 Partnership & Resources 24 Society 26 Customer 30 Process 34 Punctuality Finance 38 Punctuality for SJ services was Risk and Risk Management 41 the highest since the industry- Statement from the Chair 43 wide target was adopted and the Corporate Governance Report 44 Together for Trains on Time initi- Board of Directors 52 ative was introduced in 2013. Group Management 53 Internal Controls of Financial Reporting 54 Appropriation of Profit 55 Table of Contents, 34 Notes to the Financial Statements 56 Financial Statements – Group 57 Notes to the Financial Statements – Group 61 Financial Statements – Parent Company 78 Notes to the Financial Statements – Parent Company 82 Board of Directors’ Assurance Statement 92 Auditor’s Report 93 We are investing the travel of the future We are investing approximately SEK 12 billion in adding more, latest-technology trains Reporting Principles – Sustainability 95 so that more people can travel with us. New X 2000s will enter service in 2020 and we Auditor’s Combined Assurance Report 97 have decided to invest in a new high-speed train fleet and a new regional train fleet. Stakeholder Dialogue and Materiality Analysis 98 GRI Index 100 Sustainability Report Index 103 Five-Year Summary 104 38 Definitions and Glossary 105 About the Annual Report and Sustainability Report The Board of Directors and the Chief Executive Officer of SJ AB (corporate registration number Full speed ahead 556196-1599) hereby present SJ’s Annual Report and Sustainability Report for the 2019 financial to new destinations year. The statutory Annual Report, including the Directors’ Report and the financial statements for We are working all-out on getting the Group and the Parent Company, consists of everything in place for the start of pages 16–92. The Sustainability Report consists services in June and December of pages 17–40. 2020, respectively, for SJ’s two new contracts: the Trafikpaket Nord The Sustainability Report consists of the section service in Norway and the Sweden– “Responsible Governance” on pages 17–40 of the Denmark Öresunds tågen service. Directors’ Report, and the report in accordance with Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) Standards: “Core”, which follows the structure of the GRI Index on pages 100–102. The structure of the sus- tainability report in accordance with the Swedish 39 Annual Accounts Act is described on page 103. Highlights of the Year Successful year based on focused efforts 4.9 % (5.2) 96.7 (96.7) 73 (69) 79 (77) Absence due to Illness Traffic Safety Index Customer Satisfaction Environmental Index Index (CSI), SJ AB 76 (76) 83% (77) 96 (95) X 40000 Leadership Index Punctuality, long- Passenger Satisfaction In terms of carbon dioxide emis- distance services Index (PSI) sions, a flight between Gothen- SJ Götalands tåg, burg and Stockholm equates to commuter services 40,000 train journeys on the same route. To highlight this, we tem- porarily renamed two of our high- speed X 2000s as X 40000s. (79) (88) (94) 80 92% 96 Performance Index Punctuality, medium- Passenger Satisfaction distance services Index (PSI) SJ Götalandståg, regional services Financial overview Net sales and operating profit, SJ Group 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 SEK million Net sales, SEK m 8,602 7,874 7,780 9,336 9,052 10,000 1,000 Operating profit1, SEK m 772 468 666 837 625 Operating margin1, % 9.0 5.9 8.5 8.9 6.9 7,500 750 Profit/loss for the year, SEK m 619 389 523 650 471 5,000 500 Return on operating capital1, % 16.2 11.4 16.4 20.0 13.2 Net debt/equity ratio1, multiple -0.14 -0.14 -0.10 0.0 0.20 2,500 250 Investments, SEK m 649 566 596 390 526 0 0 1 ) SJ’s alternative key metrics; for definitions, see page 105. 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Net sales Operating profit Read more about financial events during the year in the Directors’ Report, page 16. Net sales Operating profit 3 SJ ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2019 Statement by the CEO We are already the future of travel Reliable, Simple, Caring and Wonderful. Guided by these words, we have in recent years introduced many improvements to our offering before, during and after train journeys. So, when awareness of the climate challenge began to gather real momentum, we were well equipped to welcome more passengers and meet or exceed their expectations. In 2019, 34.3 million journeys were made via SJ. else – technology, ventilation and interior – is being replaced. The first train will enter service in 2020 and the remaining 35 as and when they are ready. We have also decided to invest in a new high-speed train fleet and a new regional train fleet in order to meet the high demand. When the new trains are in service in a few years, we will have expanded our capacity in commercial services by nearly 50 percent. In parallel with purchases of new trains, we are continu- ously investing in improvements to our existing trains, systems, IT platforms and digitisation. For example, procurement of an upgrade of SJ’s night-train carriages is under way, and an invita- tion to tender has been published. The major scale of our investments has been made possible by our strong financial position, which was boosted in the past year by substantially higher rail travel and high capacity utilisation. Partly via improved punctuality, rail travel (measured as passen- ger kilometres) by SJ increased by all of 11 percent in 2019 com- pared to a year previously. Operating profit for 2019 improved to SEK 772 million (468). One of the most important reasons why so many people chose However, our investments and adjustments will not be to go by train, and SJ, was the environmental benefits of rail, as enough to ensure that this desirable growth in rail travel is main- that is the most energy-efficient mode of transport. Our pas- tained. At peak times on popular routes, it is quite simply not sengers also say that they can use the time on board our trains possible to run more trains today, and more train operators will for work, rest or socialising, and that it is a relief not to have no longer mean more departures for passengers to choose to drive themselves and have to hunt for somewhere to park. from. The forecasts used for decisions on infrastructure invest- Many people also appreciate our wonderful train hosts and find ments have consistently underestimated growth in rail travel, it handy to be able to get on and off a train right in the city centre. whereas growth in air and car travel has been overestimated. We share the view of the Swedish government and the Even so, there are many who are surprised by how much better train Swedish Transport Administration (STA) that Sweden needs not travel is: A flight between Stockholm and Gothenburg emits as only new main lines but also improvements in the state of the much carbon dioxide as 40,000 rail journeys on the same route. existing network. STA stepped up the pace of its maintenance Rail travel is also around 20,000 times as climate-friendly as an operations last year.