HHLA share

DAX makes a surprisingly strong start to 2024

Although the German economic recovery failed to materialise and monetary policy remained restrictive, the German stock markets performed well overall in the first half of 2024. The main drivers of this positive trend were the recovery of the global economy following the challenges of recent years and the positive interim results posted by DAX companies.

In the first quarter in particular, the German benchmark index grew steadily, driven by robust international economic data, solid labour market figures and generally upbeat market sentiment. Especially companies with a high share of exports were unscathed by the faltering German economy and benefited from the increasingly positive global economic outlook.

The upward trend continued in the second quarter as the DAX climbed to a new record high of 18,869 points in mid-May. However, this was followed by a period of volatility in the second half of the quarter, due mainly to geopolitical uncertainties and concerns about renewed inflation. Nonetheless, the DAX closed the first half of the year with overall growth of 8.9 % to 18,235 points. The SDAX ended the six-month period at 14,318 points, rising by 2.6 % compared to the beginning of the year.

Share price development, January to June 2024

Closing prices indexed in %

HHLA share price decoupled from market trend

In light of the planned investment by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) in HHLA, there was little movement overall in the HHLA share price. At the start of the year, the HHLA share stood at € 16.76 and, until mid-May, remained more or less stable just above the offer price of €16.75. Following publication of the results for the first quarter of 2024, the share price climbed and at times exceeded the € 18 mark. The share reached its year-high to date of € 18.34 in the run-up to the Annual General Meeting.

Following the Annual General Meeting in mid-June and the dividend payment on the following day, the share traded at a corresponding discount and fell below € 17 again. Compared to the start of the year, however, the HHLA share grew by 2.5 % and closed at € 16.88 on 30 June 2024. For more information on the share price performance and the HHLA share, please visit www.hhla.de/investoren.

Annual General Meeting approves with large majority

The Annual General Meeting was held exclusively as a virtual event on 13 June 2024. As in the previous year, shareholders were able to follow a live stream of the event on the shareholder portal and exercise their right to speak and ask questions via video communication. Once again, many shareholders used this opportunity to speak directly to members of the Executive Board.

The Annual General Meeting approved the proposal of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board to pay a dividend per listed class A share of € 0.08 (previous year: € 0.75). A total of € 5.8 million (previous year: € 54.4 million) was thus paid out to shareholders of the Port Logistics subgroup. This corresponds to a payout ratio of around 67 %, putting it at the upper end of the target range of 50 to 70 % of the annual net profit after tax and non-controlling interests.

The Annual General Meeting also approved all other proposed resolutions with large majorities. Consequently, Bettina Lentz and Maren Ulbrich were elected as new members of the Supervisory Board to replace the previous members Dr Isabella Niklas and Susana Pereira Ventura. For more information on the Annual General Meeting, please visit www.hhla.de/agm.

Changed shareholder structure following takeover offer

On 13 September 2023, HHLA was informed by its majority shareholder, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (FHH), that it had come to an understanding with MSC as part of an investment agreement concerning a strategic investment in HHLA. According to this agreement, the City of Hamburg will continue to be the majority shareholder and will run the company together with MSC in future. To this end, the City of Hamburg intends to maintain a share of 50.1 %, while MSC will hold a share of up to 49.9 %. The public takeover bid with the respective offer document was published by MSC on 23 October 2023.

As a consequence, the shareholder base had already changed significantly by the end of 2023. Based on the share capital of the HHLA Group (incl. the non-listed class S shares), 9.7 % of the class A shares in free float had been tendered to MSC by the end of the acceptance deadline. As of 30 June 2024, the shipping company also held shares acquired on the market amounting to 13.2 % of HHLA’s share capital. Subject to the successful completion of the transaction, a total of 23.0 % of the share capital can be allocated to the shipping company as of the reporting date. Together, the City of Hamburg and MSC would therefore hold 93.3 % of the HHLA Group’s share capital as of 30 June 2024.

Shareholder structure for listed class A shares

as of 30.06.2024

With regard to the listed class A shares, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg remained the company’s largest shareholder with an unchanged stake of 69.3 % as of 30 June 2024. As of 30 June 2024, MSC had indirectly acquired class A shares amounting to 13.7 % on the market via SAS Shipping Agencies Services Sàrl (SAS). As part of the takeover offer, an additional 10.1 % of the class A shares were tendered to MSC by shareholders by the end of the acceptance deadline. Subject to the completion of the transaction, this corresponds to 23.8 % of the share capital of the listed Port Logistics subgroup. The free float portion of class A shares fell accordingly to 6.9 % as of the reporting date. For more information on the shareholder structure, please visit the HHLA website. https://hhla.de/investoren/aktie/aktionaersstruktur 

At the time of preparing this report, the completion of the transaction was still subject to the approval under merger control law of the European Commission, the approval under merger control law in Ukraine and the final approval of the Parliament of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (FHH). Subject to the fulfilment of these conditions precedent, the transaction is currently not expected to be concluded before the fourth quarter of 2024.

Dialogue with capital market

In view of the takeover offer by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and the resulting reduction in free float shares, as well as the share’s low liquidity, the capital market’s interest in the share has noticeably waned. Analyst coverage has been either suspended or discontinued. There was still, however, considerable interest in how MSC’s strategic investment in HHLA will play out. The Investor Relations team was on hand to inform both private and institutional investors.