Earnings position
In the first three months of 2025, container throughput at the HHLA container terminals increased year-on-year by 5.5 % to 1,544 thousand TEU (previous year: 1,464 thousand TEU). At the Hamburg container terminals, there was particularly significant growth in volumes for the Far East shipping region, especially China. There was also a strong year-on-year increase in feeder traffic volumes. Throughput volumes at the international container terminals rose strongly during the reporting period. This was largely due to the resumption of seaborne handling at Container Terminal Odessa (CTO) in the third quarter of 2024.
Container transport rose strongly by 28.7 % to 496 thousand TEU (previous year: 386 thousand TEU). This was primarily due to the strong increase in transport volumes in rail traffic with Koper, the North German seaports and the German-speaking region, as well as the strong growth in road transport. Moreover, transport volumes of Roland Spedition were not included in the same quarter last year.
The HHLA Group’s revenue rose by 19.8 % to € 435.6 million during the reporting period (previous year: € 363.6 million). This strong increase was largely due to the significant increase in performance data. There was also a positive effect in the Container segment from higher storage fees at the Hamburg and Trieste container terminals. In the Intermodal segment, revenues also benefited from scheduled price adjustments and rail’s increased share of total transport volumes.
The listed Port Logistics subgroup recorded a strong rise in revenue to € 426.3 million (previous year: € 354.9 million) in the reporting period. In the non-listed Real Estate subgroup, revenue amounted to € 11.6 million (previous year: € 11.4 million).
Other operating income increased by 57.1 % to € 15.7 million (previous year: € 10.0 million). This increase was due in part to the passing on of higher property taxes. Moreover, the restructuring of O’Swaldkai during the transfer of a site to the City of Hamburg resulted in income of around € 1.7 million.
Operating expenses increased by 15.9 % to € 417.4 million (previous year: € 360.2 million ). The moderate decrease in depreciation and amortisation expenses was largely due to the remeasurement of the economic lives of certain assets in the asset class “Technical equipment and machinery” at the container terminals in the second quarter of 2024. By contrast, there was a strong increase in the other expense types – especially the cost of materials and other operating expenses.
The rise in the cost of materials was primarily due to higher operating costs for container transport. In the case of other operating expenses, higher consultancy costs and increased property taxes in the real estate business were the main cost drivers. There was also an increase in personnel expenses: the reasons included business expansion in rail transport, wage rises, improved performance data and the increased deployment of employees from the staffing pool of GHB (Gesamthafenbetriebs-Gesellschaft, personnel service provider for the Port of Hamburg) for the container terminals in Hamburg.
The operating result (EBIT) rose by 86.6 % to € 32.5 million during the reporting period (previous year: € 17.4 million). The EBIT margin amounted to 7.5 % (previous year: 4.8 %). In the Port Logistics subgroup, EBIT rose by 109.5 % to € 28.8 million (previous year: € 13.7 million), while in the Real Estate subgroup it increased by 2.0 % to € 3.7 million (previous year: € 3.6 million).
Net expenses from financial income rose by € 0.5 million, or 4.4 %, to € 12.3 million (previous year: € 11.8 million).
At 34.7 %, the Group’s effective tax rate was below the prior-year level (previous year: 42.0 %). This decrease is partly attributable to the stronger improvement in earnings as compared with tax expenses. This effect was particularly prevalent among the Group’s foreign subsidiaries.
Profit after tax grew by € 9.9 million to € 13.2 million (previous year: € 3.3 million). There was a year-on-year increase in profit after tax and non-controlling interests to € 7.9 million (previous year: € - 1.1 million). Earnings per share amounted to € 0.10 (previous year: € - 0.01). Earnings per share for the listed Port Logistics subgroup were € 0.08 (previous year: € - 0.05). Earnings per share of the non-listed Real Estate subgroup were down year-on-year at € 0.77 (previous year: € 0.83). The return on capital employed (ROCE) amounted to 5.1 % (previous year: 2.8 %).