Financial Position

Balance Sheet Analysis

Compared with year-end 2016, the HHLA Group’s balance sheet total decreased slightly as of the reporting date to € 1,789.0 million.

At € 1,329.6 million, non-current assets were virtually unchanged from the previous year (31 December 2016: € 1,329.0 million). Capital expenditure was roughly offset by depreciation of property, plant and equipment and investment properties and a reduction in the carrying amount of deferred tax assets due to interest rate-related changes in pension provisions.

At € 459.4 million as of 30 June 2017, current assets were € 24.5 million below the corresponding figure on 31 December 2016 (€ 483.9 million). This decrease was attributable to several factors, including a € 13.8 million reduction in other assets and an € 11.1 million fall in cash and cash equivalents.

Equity rose by € 31.7 million to € 602.5 million as of the reporting date (31 December 2016: € 570.8 million). This increase stemmed from net profit after tax of € 70.3 million in the reporting period and the change in actuarial gains and losses netted with deferred taxes totalling € 9.6 million. The distribution of dividends totalling € 46.7 million had an opposing effect. As a result, the equity ratio improved to 33.7 % (31 December 2016: 31.5 %).

The € 33.3 million decrease in non-current liabilities to € 994.8 million compared to the year-end figure (31 December 2016: € 1,028.1 million) resulted primarily from a € 14.8 million reduction in pension provisions due to the adjustment of actuarial parameters and a € 16.6 million fall in non-current financial liabilities.

Current liabilities fell by € 22.3 million to € 191.7 million (31 December 2016: € 214.0 million). This was due above all to a € 22.1 million reduction in current financial liabilities.

Investment Analysis

Capital expenditure in the reporting period totalled € 63.6 million, slightly below last year’s figure of € 67.2 million. Property, plant and equipment accounted for € 61.4 million (previous year: € 59.2 million) of capital expenditure, while investments in intangible assets made up € 2.2 million (previous year: € 8.0 million). The majority of this capital expenditure was for replacement investments.

Capital expenditure in the first half of 2017 focused on the acquisition of container gantry cranes at the Container Terminals Burchardkai and Tollerort, large-scale equipment for horizontal transport at the Container Terminals Altenwerder and Burchardkai, and a storage crane system at the Container Terminal Burchardkai. Capital expenditure continues to focus on increasing productivity in the existing terminal areas and expanding the high-performance hinterland connections in line with market demands.

Liquidity Analysis

Cash flow from operating activities rose by € 35.6 million to € 148.1 million as of 30 June 2017 (previous year: € 112.5 million). With many items offsetting each other, this was largely due to the € 32.0 million improvement in EBIT.

Investing activities led to cash outflows of € 56.3 million (previous year: € 45.6 million). The € 10.7 million rise resulted from a year-on-year decrease in inflows from the reduction of short-term deposits and slightly higher investment outflows.

Free cash flow, which is the total cash flow from operating and investing activities, amounted to € 91.8 million at the end of the reporting period (previous year: € 66.9 million). It was therefore up € 24.9 million year on year.

The cash outflow from financing activities amounted to € 93.6 million as of 30 June 2017 (previous year: € 101.2 million), a decrease of € 7.6 million. Funds were paid out in the previous year to increase a shareholding. However, there were no proceeds from new loans in the reporting period, which had the opposing effect.

As of the reporting date, the changes described above resulted in financial funds of € 230.1 million (30 June 2016: € 135.4 million), which were thus down slightly on the beginning of the year (31 December 2016: € 232.4 million). Including short-term deposits, the Group’s available liquidity as of 30 June 2017 totalled € 240.1 million (30 June 2016: € 192.0 million).