Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) recorded a drop in revenue and earnings in the first half of 2023. The ongoing war in Ukraine, geopolitical tension, inflation and rising interest rates put pressure on consumer and industrial demand and are continuing to hinder the global economic recovery in the aftermath of the pandemic.
HHLA’s business performance in the first half of 2023 reflected the sentiment in the market. The significant drop in volumes due to the economic situation that was evident in the first quarter of 2023 has continued in the second quarter of the current year. In addition, shorter dwell times for containers handled at the Hamburg container terminals compared to the previous year resulted in reduced storage fees. Revenue in the HHLA Group fell by 6.7 percent to € 727.1 million in the first six months of 2023 (previous year: € 779.5 million). The Group operating result (EBIT) decreased by 50.3 percent to € 50.4 million (previous year: € 101.3 million). The EBIT margin amounted to 6.9 percent (previous year: 13.0 percent). Profit after tax and non-controlling interests came to € 8.2 million (previous year: € 43.9 million).
Angela Titzrath, HHLA’s Chief Executive Officer: “The global economic slowdown is also impacting the business of HHLA as a European logistics company. This means that 2023 will remain challenging, as was to be expected. In a quest to bolster the company’s future viability and competitiveness, HHLA is stepping up its cost discipline once again and focusing all the more on developing sustainable, innovative and profitable logistics solutions. In the first six months, we continued to invest in state-of-the-art technology, expanded our European rail network and forged ahead with a pilot project on autonomous driving in Tallinn.”
Port Logistics subgroup: performance January to June 2023
The listed Port Logistics subgroup recorded a decrease of 7.1 percent in revenue to € 707.7 million in the first six months (previous year: € 761.9 million). The operating result (EBIT) dropped by 55.8 percent to € 40.5 million (previous year: € 91.7 million). The EBIT margin came in at 5.7 percent, down by 6.3 percentage points in a year-on-year comparison. Profit after tax and non-controlling interests decreased by 93.0 percent to € 2.7 million (previous year: € 38.4 million). Earnings per share thus amounted to € 0.04 (previous year: € 0.53).
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For more information: 
Carolin Flemming
Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG
Bei St. Annen 1
D-20457 Hamburg
Tel.: +49 40 3088-3503
Mobile +49 176 30884085
flemming@hhla.de