The 2021 financial year was dominated by significantly increased freight rates as well as operational challenges. The high global demand for consumer goods, combined with regional COVID-19 restrictions, led to a sustained disruption of global supply chains, which was noticeably reflected in extended turnaround times for ships and containers, according to Hapag-Lloyd’s release.
As a result, the transport volume of 11,9 million TEU in the 2021 financial year was only slightly above the previous year’s level (11,8 million TEU) despite high demand.
At the same time, the tight transport situation led to a significant increase in freight rates. Hapag-Lloyd’s average freight rate rose by 79.7% to USD 2,003/TEU in 2021 (previous year: USD 1,115/TEU).
Consequently, revenue increased by 74.4% to EUR 22.3 billion in the financial year 2021 (prior year period: EUR 12.8 billion).
Transport costs rose by 12.9% to EUR 10.3 billion (previous year: EUR 9.1 billion) due to supply chain disruptions and higher bunker prices.
Due to the sharp rise in sales revenue, EBITDA, at EUR 10.9 billion, was significantly higher than the previous year’s figure of EUR 2.7 billion. The EBITDA margin improved by 27.6 percentage points to 48.7% (previous year: 21.1%).
EBIT also increased strongly to EUR 9.4 billion (same period last year: EUR 1.3 billion).
The clearly improved operating result led to a jump in earnings per share to EUR 51.63 (previous year: EUR 5.27).
Net debt was completely reduced in the 2021 business year. As at the balance sheet date 31 December 2021, Hapag-Lloyd had net liquidity of EUR 2.2 billion (previous year: net debt of EUR 4.5 billion).
The liquidity reserve, consisting of cash and cash equivalents and unused credit lines, rose to EUR 8.0 billion (previous year: EUR 1.0 billion).
Due to the strong increase in earnings and the very good balance sheet ratios, the Executive Board proposes to the Annual General Meeting to increase the dividend for the 2021 financial year to EUR 35.00 per share (previous year: EUR 3.50 per share).
The Executive Board of Hapag-Lloyd AG expects earnings momentum to remain on a very high level in the first half of 2022, followed by a beginning normalization of earnings in the second half due to an anticipated recovery of supply chains. Group EBITDA is expected to be in the range of USD 12 to 14 billion or EUR 10.7 to 12.4 billion (prior year: EUR 10.9 billion) and EBIT in the range of USD 10 to 12 billion or EUR 8.9 to 10.7 billion (prior year: EUR 9.4 billion), respectively.
In view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the current situation in Ukraine, the forecast is subject to considerable uncertainty.