Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) has achieved positive earnings growth in the financial year 2024, with EBIT rising 22.7 per cent to €134.3 million ($144 million).
HHLA reported a net income of €32.5 million ($35 million) after minority interests, an increase from €20.0 million ($21.5 million).
Container handling grew 0.9 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to 5.97 million TEUs, from 5.91 million TEUs.
While volumes to and from the Far East and Middle East declined, strong growth occurred in North and South America, especially with the US. Cargo volume also rose for other European ports, notably Belgium and Greece.
READ: HHLA ends 2024 with €1.59 billion revenue
In the Intermodal segment, container transport rose 11.6 per cent to 1.78 million TEUs, from 1.60 million TEUs.
Rail transport increased 13.2 per cent to 1.54 million TEUs (vs. 1.36 million TEUs), driven by strong growth in German-speaking countries, which offset declines in Adriatic and Polish traffic.
The acquisition of Roland Spedition GmbH reportedly boosted growth.
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Revenue grew 14.6 per cent YoY to €711.3 million ($767 million) from €620.5 million ($669.2 million), outpacing transport volume growth, driven by price adjustments and a higher rail share in HHLA’s intermodal transport (up from 85.2 per cent to 86.5 per cent).
EBIT rose 14.8 per cent to €83.7 million ($90 million) from €72.9 million ($78.6 million), with an EBIT margin of 11.8 per cent, roughly in line with last year’s 11.7 per cent.
The positive EBIT trend was mainly due to higher transport volumes, offset by increased union wages and rail transport expansion.
Angela Titzrath, HHLA’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “Based on the growth of revenue and earnings, we are now able to look forward with optimism to 2025.”
