Financial position

Balance sheet analysis

Compared with year-end 2019, the HHLA Group’s balance sheet total declined by € 2.6 million to € 2,607.4 million as of 31 March 2020 (31 December 2019: € 2,610.0 million).

On the assets side of the balance sheet, non-current assets decreased by € 16.3 million to € 2,108.0 million, primarily due to adjustments in deferred taxes (31 December 2019: € 2,124.3 million). Current assets increased by € 13.7 million to € 499.4 million (31 December 2019: € 485.7 million). This was largely attributable to the increase in trade receivables.

On the liabilities side, equity rose by € 38.4 million to € 617.3 million compared to the year-end figure for 2019 (31 December 2019: € 578.9 million). The increase was largely due to interest rate adjustments to pension provisions and to the positive result for the reporting period. There was an opposing effect from foreign currency translation differences. The equity ratio rose by 1.5 percentage points to 23.7 % (31 December 2019: 22.2 %).

Non-current liabilities decreased by € 71.1 million to € 1,678.7 million (31 December 2019: € 1,749.8 million). Primarily as a result of the interest rate adjustment, pension provisions decreased by € 41.4 million compared to 31 December 2019. Furthermore, non-current financial liabilities decreased by € 21.1 million and non-current liabilities to related parties by € 9.6 million. Current liabilities increased by € 30.1 million to € 311.4 million, primarily as a result of the increase in trade liabilities, other liabilities and current financial liabilities (31 December 2019: € 281.3 million).

Investment analysis

Capital expenditure in the reporting period totalled € 51.0 million, well above the prior-year figure of € 35.4 million. The acquisition by METRANS of locomotives and container wagons, the procurement of container gantry cranes, storage cranes and large-scale equipment for horizontal transport at the HHLA container terminals in the Port of Hamburg and Odessa, as well as the development of the Hamburg Speicherstadt historical warehouse district accounted for a major share of capital expenditure in the first quarter of 2020.

Liquidity analysis

Cash flow from operating activities declined by € 15.5 million to € 78.9 million as of 31 March 2020 (previous year: € 94.4 million). This was primarily due to the decrease in EBIT.

Investing activities led to cash outflow of € 64.3 million (previous year: € 47.9 million). This development was primarily the result of the year-on-year increase in payments for investments in property, plant and equipment, with lower payments for short-term deposits having an opposing effect.

Cash flow from financing activities was virtually unchanged with cash outflows of € 18.9 million (previous year: € 18.7 million).

Financial funds totalled € 202.1 million as of 31 March 2020 (31 March 2019: € 282.3 million). Including all short-term deposits, the Group’s available liquidity at the end of the first quarter of 2020 amounted to € 257.1 million (31 March 2019: € 322.3 million).