Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) continued the positive development of the current financial year and once again exceeded the already strong results of last year in the first nine months of 2018. In the Port Logistics and Real Estate subgroups, revenue and operating profit increased for the former and remained almost stable for the latter. Turnover in the Port Logistics subgroup increased by 2.2 percent. Container throughput increased by 1.0 percent.

In view of the positive business developments, HHLA once again confirms its targets for the current financial year. The aim is to achieve sales, comparable to ​​the previous year, while EBIT in the Port Logistics subgroup and at Group level will increase significantly.

Angela Titzrath, CEO HHLA: "In the current financial year, HHLA remains on a successful route. We will certainly achieve our predicted targets for 2018, despite a changing market environment. By investing, we continue to strengthen our core business in order to be able to meet the requirements of our customers in the future as well. It is just as important to look for new, digital business fields. It is our overarching goal to make a decisive contribution so that in the future our customers can transport their goods and raw materials safely, quickly and efficiently from A to B. HHLA will be the gateway to the future."

Port Logistics subgroup: Business development Jan-Sep 2018
In the Port Logistics subgroup, revenues in the first nine months increased by 2.2 percent to €939.9 million. The operating result (EBIT) also increased slightly -by 0.7 percent- to €143.6 million, while the EBIT margin remained practically stable at 15.3 percent.

In the Container segment, container throughput increased slightly by 1.0 percent to 5.5 million standard containers (TEU). The continued positive development of the Far East volumes and the growth of the international HHLA container terminals contributed to this slight increase. Sales increased by 1.3 percent to €571.2 million, slightly more than container throughput, which is mainly due to a lower feeder rate than in the same period of the previous year. The segments EBIT margin was 18.0 percent.

Subgroup Port Logistics: Outlook
For 2018, HHLA expects container throughput to be in line with the previous year. Container shipping is also expected to be in line with the previous year, as Polish intermodal transport will be realigned as part of the integration into Metrans. At the subgroup level, this should result in sales in the range of the previous year.

The operating profit (EBIT) of the Port Logistics subgroup is expected to increase significantly in 2018 compared to last year. Development of the earnings is largely determined by the Container and Intermodal segments.

Source: HHLA