Expected Group performance

Comparison with the forecast of the previous year

The forecast published in the 2018 Annual Report was exceeded in terms of container handling and container transport volumes, as well as for revenue. The figure for operating result (EBIT) developed in line with expectations. Capital expenditure also exceeded the forecast due to catch-up effects. Course of business and economic situation

Expected earnings position

The worldwide coronavirus pandemic has led to extraordinary measures being implemented to prevent the spread of the virus.

In the countries affected, these measures aim to minimise social contact between people. Both at a national level and in international transportation, this is leading to a contraction in economic activity whose true impact and duration cannot be reliably gauged.

The contraction is affecting all areas of the economy, including international trade, which is critical to HHLA.

It is not possible to make any reliable forecasts under these conditions, but we can assume that revenue and operating result (EBIT) for the Port Logistics subgroup will be strongly below previous year. This is primarily due to the possible at least temporarily sharp declines in container throughput and transport.

The operating result (EBIT) of the Real Estate subgroup is also considered to be possibly significantly below the previous year's figure. At a Group level, we can expect to see a strong decrease in the operating result (EBIT) due to the effects mentioned above.

Expected financial position

Owing to the uncertainty described above, HHLA's financial management focuses on securing liquidity. For this purpose, HHLA will continually review and adjust its investments and cost development.

Due to the liquidity available on 31 December 2019 and the measures mentioned above, and based on feasible estimates for 2020 as a whole, HHLA assumes that its liquidity should enable the company to meet all its payment obligations despite the burden caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

 A further area of focus for the management is on protecting the health of employees, as well as maintaining all systems that play a role in the critical infrastructure of the Container and Intermodal segments.