EQS-News: HHLA starts the new financial year with strong revenue and earnings development

_{Publication of interim statement January to March 2025}

HHLA starts the new financial year with strong revenue and earnings development

• CEO Angela Titzrath: “The successful start to 2025 shows that our investments – particularly in the expansion of HHLA’s European network – are paying off.”
• Container throughput increased by 5.5 percent to 1,544 thousand TEU (previous year: 1,464 thousand TEU)
• Container transport up by 28.7 percent to 496 thousand TEU (previous year: 386 thousand TEU)
• Group revenue rose by 19.8 percent to € 435.6 million (previous year: € 363.6 million)
• Outlook confirmed for the 2025 financial year

Hamburg, 15 May 2025 | Despite the continually weak German economy, geopolitical tensions – notably the war in Ukraine and the escalating situation in the Middle East – as well as increasing uncertainty due to US trade policy, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) was able to register strong year-on-year growth in the first quarter of 2025 both in terms of revenue and operating result. Revenue in the HHLA Group rose by 19.8 percent to € 435.6 million (previous year: € 363.6 million). The Group operating result (EBIT) climbed by 86.6 percent to € 32.5 million (previous year: € 17.4 million). The EBIT margin amounted to 7.5 percent (previous year: 4.8 percent). Profit after tax and minority interests came to € 7.9 million (previous year: € -1.1 million).

Angela Titzrath, HHLA’s Chief Executive Officer: “The first quarter was still shaped by geopolitical tensions and weak economic growth. US trade policy in particular curbed global trade and increased uncertainty in global supply chains. In this challenging environment, HHLA was able to steadily develop its European business. Container transport by rail in particular showed strong growth – a result of our ongoing investments in our European network strategy.”

Port Logistics subgroup: performance January to March 2025

The listed Port Logistics subgroup recorded a strong increase of 20.1 percent in revenue to € 426.3 million in the first three months of 2025 (previous year: € 354.9 million). The operating result (EBIT) increased by 109.5 percent to € 28.8 million (previous year: € 13.7 million), while the EBIT margin rose year-on-year by 2.8 percentage points to 6.7 percent (previous year: 3.9 percent). Profit after tax and minority interests came to € 5.8 million (previous year: € - 3.4 million). Earnings per share thus amounted to € 0.08 (previous year: € - 0.05).

In the Container segment, container throughput at HHLA’s container terminals increased significantly by 5.5 percent to 1,544 thousand standard containers (TEU) (previous year: 1,464 thousand TEU).

At 1,472 thousand TEU, throughput volume at the Hamburg container terminals was up 5.1 percent (previous year: 1,400 thousand TEU). Whereas volumes in overseas traffic decreased for the North America and Middle East shipping regions, there was strong volume growth for the Far East shipping region, particularly for China. Additional cargo volume was also recorded for other European seaports, particularly in Belgium, France and Portugal. This was due to temporary route adjustments – which continue to apply – caused by the military conflict in the Red Sea. There was also a strong year-on-year increase in feeder traffic volumes. In addition to Finnish traffic, there was also a strong rise in container throughput within Germany, as well as from Poland. The proportion of seaborne handling by feeders amounted to 20.0 percent (previous year: 18.8 percent).

The international container terminals reported a strong increase in throughput volume of 13.8 percent to 72 thousand TEU (previous year: 63 thousand TEU). In addition to the slight volume growth at the multifunctional terminal HHLA TK Estonia, this was also due in particular to the resumption of seaborne container handling at Container Terminal Odessa (CTO) starting in the third quarter of 2024.

Segment revenue rose by 11.4 percent in the reporting period to € 206.4 million (previous year: € 185.3 million). This was mainly due to significantly longer dwell times for containers handled at the Hamburg container terminals, which continued to have a positive impact on storage fees. The positive trend at HHLA’s international container terminals also contributed to the increase in revenue. Against this backdrop, the operating result (EBIT) climbed by 68.3 percent to € 18.0 million (previous year: € 10.7 million). The EBIT margin rose by 2.9 percentage points to 8.7 percent (previous year: 5.8 percent).

The Intermodal segment saw a strong increase in volumes in the first quarter of 2025. Container transport increased by a total of 28.7 percent to 496 thousand TEU (previous year: 386 thousand TEU).

Rail transport rose year-on-year by 30.1 percent to stand at 428 thousand TEU (previous year: 329 thousand TEU). This strong volume growth was largely due to traffic with the North German and Adriatic seaports, as well as traffic in the German-speaking countries. Moreover, the transport volumes of Roland Spedition were not yet included in the same quarter last year. There was also a strong rise in road transport of 20.4 percent to 68 thousand TEU (previous year: 56 thousand TEU).

With a year-on-year increase of 33.1 percent to € 202.0 million (previous year: € 151.8 million), revenue growth was stronger than the increase in transport volumes. Alongside routine price adjustments, this was due to rail’s higher share of total transport volumes – up 0.9 percentage points year-on-year at 86.3 percent (previous year: 85.4 percent).

The operating result (EBIT) amounted to € 20.0 million in the reporting period and was thus 42.1 percent above the prior-year figure (previous year: € 14.1 million). The EBIT margin rose by 0.6 percentage points to 9.9 percent (previous year: 9.3 percent). The main reason for this strong EBIT growth was the increase in transport volumes. Due to adverse operational effects, such as construction work on major transport routes, there was only a slight improvement in the EBIT margin.

Real Estate subgroup: performance January to March 2025

HHLA’s properties in the Speicherstadt historical warehouse district and the fish market area of Hamburg recorded positive growth in a stable market environment, with occupancy almost full in the first quarter of 2025.

Revenue rose slightly by 2.1 percent in the reporting period to € 11.6 million (previous year: € 11.4 million). While income from the fish market area remained stable, the increase was due to successful lease renewals and reletting of space in the Speicherstadt historical warehouse district. The operating result (EBIT) also rose slightly by 2.0 percent to € 3.7 million in the reporting period (previous year: € 3.6 million). This increase was primarily due to increased rental income and a decrease in maintenance costs, which more than offset higher depreciation and amortisation.

Outlook for the 2025 financial year confirmed

In the first three months of the 2025 financial year, there were no new events of material importance to necessitate any change to the expected course of business in 2025 as published in the 2024 Annual Report at the end of March.
 

Key figures for January to March 2025