hapag-lloyd © Hieronymusukkel
© Hieronymusukkel

Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd reported preliminary results that were broadly in line with expectations.

Key highlights:

– Ebitda and Ebit were significantly higher despite the coronavirus pandemic;

– Freight rate improved, although transport volumes slightly below prior-year level;

– Its “Performance Safeguarding Program” was successfully implemented.

Strong where it matters 

Adding that 2020 ebitda rose to more than $3bn, it also disclosed ebit surging to about $1.5bn even though it includes one-off expenses in Q4 ’20 “of around $140m, mainly related to fleet optimisation”.

“Both key figures are therefore in line with the most recently published earnings forecast for the 2020 financial year. The main drivers of these positive business developments have been improved freight rates and lower bunker prices as well as cost savings of roughly $500 million resulting from the successful implementation of the Performance Safeguarding Program.”

2020 revenues were up by ~ 3% to $14.6bn thanks to “improved average freight rate of 1,115 USD/TEU (2019: 1,072 USD/TEU) whereas transport volumes were slightly below the level of the previous year at 11.8 million TEU (2019: 12.0 million TEU) or minus 1.6 per cent.”

The group will publish its 2020 annuals and the 2021 outlook on 18 March.

The full release can be found here.

Here is our previous coverage: “Don’t moan about Hapag-Lloyd – blame absent BaFin“.

Comment on this article


You must be logged in to post a comment.