Hamburger Hafen and Logistik AG (HHLA) performed successfully in the 2021 financial year, according to the company's release. Group revenue rose by 12.7 percent to € 1,465.4 million (previous year: € 1,299.8 million). The Group operating result (EBIT) increased by 84.7 percent year-on-year to € 228.2 million (previous year: € 123.6 million). Profit after tax and minority interests were 163.9 percent higher than in the previous year at € 112.3 million (previous year: € 42.6 million). Earnings per share thus amounted to € 1.50 (previous year: € 0.58). The return on capital employed (ROCE) was up 4.7 percentage points year-on-year at 10.6 percent (previous year: 5.9 percent). While container throughput rose by 2.5 percent compared with the previous year to 6,943 thousand standard containers (TEU), the transport volume increased by 10.0 percent to 1,690 thousand TEU.
The listed Port Logistics subgroup generated revenue of € 1,435.8 million (previous year: € 1,269.3 million) and an operating result (EBIT) of € 212.6 million (previous year: € 110.3 million). The operating result from the previous year was influenced by additions to provisions amounting to € 43 million. Without these provisions, the operating result in the previous year would have been € 153 million. A strong increase in storage fees during the year as a result of the ongoing disruptions to global supply chains and major ship delays, which led to longer container dwell times and additional container movements at HHLA’s terminals in Hamburg, had a positive effect on the development of the revenue and earnings in the 2021 financial year. In addition, a higher subsidy for route prices of approximately € 11 million granted retroactively made a positive contribution to the Port Logistics subgroup’s earnings. Profit after tax and minority interests rose significantly to € 103.1 million (previous year: € 35.3 million). Earnings per class A share thus came to € 1.43 (previous year: € 0.50).
In the 2021 reporting year, there was a slight year-on-year increase in total container throughput at HHLA’s container terminals of 2.5 percent to 6,943 thousand standard containers (TEU) (previous year: 6,776 thousand TEU). At 6,328 thousand TEU, throughput volume at the three Hamburg container terminals was up 2.2 percent on the previous year (previous year: 6,193 thousand TEU). The positive development of cargo volumes was largely due to the Far East and North and South America shipping regions. Throughput volumes at the three international container terminals in Odessa, Tallinn and Trieste rose by 5.3 percent to 615 thousand TEU (previous year: 584 thousand TEU). Container throughput at the international terminals therefore exceeded the pre-pandemic level of 2019 by 0.4 percent.
The container transport volume increased by 10.0 percent to 1,690 thousand TEU (previous year: 1,536 thousand TEU). Rail continued to benefit more than road from the recovery in freight volume. Rail transport rose by 12.8 % year-on-year to 1,379 thousand TEU (previous year: 1,222 thousand TEU). In a persistently challenging market environment, road transport volumes of 312 thousand TEU were on a par with the previous year (previous year: 314 thousand TEU).
HHLA’s properties in the historical warehouse district Speicherstadt, a World Heritage Site, and Hamburg’s fish market area were much less affected by strong market fluctuations for office and commercial space during the pandemic and made steady progress in the 2021 financial year with almost full occupancy. In 2021, revenue amounted to € 38.1 million (previous year: € 38.1 million.) The revenue-based rent agreements, which were only reinstated during the course of the year due to the pandemic, and a planned revenue shortfall caused by the renovation of a property could be offset by increased rental income from individual properties.
The cumulative operating result (EBIT) increased by 18.0 percent to € 15.3 million (previous year: € 12.9 million). The reasons for this were a moderate decrease in maintenance volumes and, in particular, the correction of receivables written down in the course of the pandemic in the previous year.