45. Lease Liabilities

Obligations under Finance Leases

The Group has concluded various finance lease and hire-purchase agreements for a number of properties, technical equipment, and operating and office equipment. These agreements relate to, among other things, quay walls, lifting and ground-handling vehicles, container wagons and chassis, and IT hardware. For the most part, the contracts include renewal options and, in some cases, a PUT (purchase upon termination) option. The renewal options are always for the lessee; the PUT option can be used by the respective lessor to force a sale.

The main obligations from finance leases result from the lease of mega-ship berths from Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), which owns the port areas and is a related party, see Note 48. The fixed lease initially runs until 2036, but HHLA anticipates that the lease terms of these assets will extend over 50 years, as in the past. The contracts make provisions for the allocation of liability in the event of nullity and the associated premature termination of the lease as a result of conflict with EU law. The Executive Board of HHLA believes the risk of a conflict with EU law is currently very low. Following the completion of a present value test, the mega-ship berth leases are to be classified as finance lease obligations according to IAS 17. Including expected increases in rent payment rates, this results in anticipated minimum lease payments of € 232,394 thousand (previous year: € 237,531 thousand).

The minimum lease payments include interest due to the long terms of the finance leases. The underlying interest rate is 4.21 to 4.22 %, see also Note 47.

Liabilities from Operating Leases where the Group is Lessee

Contracts exist between the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and/or HPA and the HHLA Group for the lease of land and quay walls in the Port of Hamburg and in the Speicherstadt historical warehouse district by companies in the HHLA Group. The main contracts expire between 2025 and 2036. Under the terms of the contracts, the lease payments are generally reviewed every five years on the basis of price developments in relevant competing ports or based on appropriate rental indices. Provisions are made for the anticipated increases in lease payments. Leasing expenses for the space in the Speicherstadt historical warehouse district are partly linked to the development of Group income from subletting these buildings.

Without the prior approval of the lessor, the leased areas and the buildings on them belonging to HHLA may not be sold or let. Major changes to the terms of subletting agreements also require the approval of the lessor.

There are also leases relating to real estate and movable property at the container terminal in Odessa, Ukraine. On the whole, the rents payable for this are fixed and will only change during the course of the agreement as a result of future inflation. The company will not have purchase options at the end of the lease agreements. The respective lease agreements have remaining terms of between two and 31 years.

The Group also has leases for various motor vehicles and items of technical equipment. These leases have an average term of four to ten years and generally do not include renewal options. The lessee takes on no obligations when signing these leases.

Expenses of € 53,829 thousand (previous year: € 62,872 thousand) were incurred for leases in the financial year. Of this figure, € 2,085 thousand (previous year: € 2,017 thousand) related to conditional rental payments.

Operating Leases Where the Group is Lessor

The Group has signed leases for letting its investment properties on a commercial basis. The investment properties consist of office space, facilities and a commercial property not used by the Group. These leases have remaining uncancellable lease terms of between one and 17 years. After the end of the uncancellable lease period, some contracts give tenants the option of extending the lease for a period of between two years and a maximum of three times five years. Some leases contain a clause under which the rent can be increased in line with market conditions.

In the financial year, income of € 58,676 thousand (previous year: € 57,036 thousand) was earned from letting property, plant and equipment and investment property.