Earnings position

The development of HHLA’s performance data varied slightly in the first half of 2022. At 3,368 thousand TEU, container throughput was stable compared with the previous year (previous year: 3,369 thousand TEU), even though seaborne handling at the terminal in Odessa has been suspended since 24 February 2022. This trend was made possible by strong volume growth at the TK Estonia container terminal and a slight increase in container throughput at the container terminals in Hamburg.

Container transport rose slightly by 2.2 % to 851 thousand TEU (previous year: 832 thousand TEU). While road transport fell significantly as a result of the ongoing challenges in the market environment, rail transport increased moderately due to a rise in traffic from the North German seaports and in Polish traffic.

The HHLA Group’s revenue rose by 9.9 % to € 779.5 million in the reporting period (previous year: € 709.2 million). This resulted, on the one hand, from the significant increase in storage fees at the container terminals in Hamburg, Tallinn and Trieste due to longer dwell times caused by supply chain backlogs and, on the other hand, from the further increase in the rail share of HHLA’s intermodal transport and temporary surcharges to compensate proportionally for the significant rise in energy prices.

In its Container, Intermodal and Logistics segments, the listed Port Logistics subgroup generated revenue of € 761.9 million in the reporting period (previous year: € 695.1 million). This increase was largely in line with the trend for the Group as a whole. The non-listed Real Estate subgroup posted revenue of € 21.5 million (previous year: € 18.4 million).

During the reporting period, changes in inventories amounted to € 2.6 million (previous year: € 1.6 million) and own work capitalised to € 2.2 million (previous year: € 2.1 million).

Other operating income increased by 20.6 % to € 23.6 million (previous year: € 19.6 million)

Operating expenses rose by 10.1 % to € 706.7 million (previous year: € 641.9 million). The increase varied widely across the different types of expenses. While other operating expenses and the cost of materials rose strongly, depreciation and amortisation  increased significantly and personnel expenses rose moderately.

The cost of materials went up by 16.8 % to € 235.8 million during the reporting period (previous year: € 202.0 million). In addition to higher prices for electricity and fuel, the increase resulted primarily from operational interruptions to rail transport due to storm damage in February and construction work on the German rail infrastructure and from the disruptions to international transport chains. The costs of materials ratio rose to 30.2 % (previous year: 28.5 %).

There was a moderate year-on-year increase of 4.0 % in personnel expenses to € 289.5 million (previous year: € 278.4 million). The increase resulted from a higher headcount due to the expansion of operations in rail transport and new activities and from additional expenses due to the very high storage load at the container terminals. The personnel expense ratio decreased to 37.1 % (previous year: 39.3 %). In the previous year, allocations to the restructuring provision were higher than in the reporting period, during which restructuring provisions were partially reversed due in particular to interest rates.

Other operating expenses rose significantly by 20.5 % to € 91.4 million in the reporting period (previous year: € 75.8 million). This was due to an increase in expenses for consultancy and services for ongoing projects, primarily the restructuring of the Container segment and new activities in the Logistics segment. The ratio of expenses to revenue rose to 11.7 % (previous year: 10.7 %).

The operating result before depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 8.5 % to € 191.3 million (previous year: € 176.2 million). The main cause was the significant rise in storage fees at the container terminals. However, the EBITDA margin decreased slightly to 24.5 % (previous year: 24.9 %).

Within depreciation and amortisation, there was an increase of 5.0 % to € 90.0 million (previous year: € 85.7 million), which was related to the valuation allowance required in the area of new business activities. The share as a percentage of revenue decreased to 11.5 % (previous year: 12.1 %).

There was a strong increase in the operating result (EBIT) of € 10.8 million or 11.9 % to € 101.3 million during the reporting period (previous year: € 90.5 million). The EBIT margin amounted to 13.0 % (previous year: 12.8 %). In the Port Logistics subgroup, EBIT rose by 9.4 % to € 91.7 million (previous year: € 83.8 million). In the Real Estate subgroup, EBIT increased by 43.7 % to € 9.4 million (previous year: € 6.6 million).

Net expenses from the financial result rose by € 1.8 million or 13.1 % to € 15.4 million (previous year: € 13.6 million). This was mainly due to the rise in interest expenses as a result of interest rate increases.

At 31.4 %, the Group’s effective tax rate was slightly lower than in the previous year (previous year: 31.8 %).

Profit after tax was up 12.3 %, from € 52.5 million to € 58.9 million. There was a strong year-on-year increase in profit after tax and minority interests to € 43.9 million (previous year: € 38.8 million). Earnings per share amounted to € 0.58 (previous year: € 0.52). Earnings per share of the non-listed Port Logistics subgroup were € 0.53 (previous year: € 0.49). Earnings per share of the non-listed Real Estate subgroup were also up year-on-year at € 2.03 (previous year: € 1.45). The return on capital employed (ROCE) amounted to 8.9 % (previous year: 8.5 %).