HHLA shareholders benefit from successful financial year

12 Jun 2018 16:10 Economy

Following a very successful 2017 financial year, today the Annual General Meeting of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) resolved to increase the dividend per listed Class A share to € 0.67. This is 13.6 percent more than in the previous year. As such, € 46.9 million is being distributed to the shareholders of the Port Logistics subgroup for the 2017 financial year. The payout ratio has increased by one percentage point year-on-year to 66 percent of the profit after tax and minority interests. As in the last few years, this ratio is at the upper end of the dividend payout range of 50 to 70 percent. The dividend proposal made by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board was ratified by 99.9 percent of the votes cast.

In her speech at the Annual General Meeting, Chairwoman of HHLA’s Executive Board, Angela Titzrath, explained: “HHLA rests on solid foundations. Notwithstanding changing parameters, we therefore believe there is a good chance that we will further strengthen the company’s future viability and creative power.”
 
HHLA’s customers can rely on their freight continuing to be handled and shipped onward safely, quickly and efficiently in the future. “The customers’ confidence in HHLA’s performance is something we have to validate each and every day,” said the Chairwoman of the Executive Board. The focus is therefore on the customer, this being the only way for HHLA to maintain its position in the face of tough competition among the North Range ports and within Europe’s hinterland.
 
HHLA was well prepared for the challenges of the future, she said. Thanks to ongoing capital expenditure, HHLA now has state-of-the-art terminal technology at its disposal for the handling of container ships with a capacity of more than 20,000 standard containers, stated Titzrath. Approximately € 1 billion will be invested over the next five years. But HHLA is now a lot more than merely an operator of container terminals, she added. “The Intermodal segment has been very successful in becoming the second vital pillar of our business,” said the Chairwoman of HHLA’s Executive Board. There is now an extensive network of 13 terminals stretching from Hamburg to South-Eastern and Eastern Europe. “We are therefore in an excellent position at the western point of the New Silk Road.”
 
Titzrath made reference to the many factors that affect HHLA’s business over which the company has no influence itself. These include the political upheavals around the world which are now also resulting in protectionist tendencies. The Chairwoman of the Executive Board again expressed her hope that work would begin this year on the dredging of the river Elbe’s navigation channel. 
 
The Annual General Meeting resolved to distribute € 2.00 per Class S share for the unlisted Real Estate subgroup, totalling € 5.4 million. All of the Class S shares are held by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. HHLA is therefore distributing a combined total of € 52.3 million to the shareholders of the two subgroups for the last financial year.
 
The shareholders formally approved the actions of both the HHLA Executive Board and the Supervisory Board during the 2017 financial year with 99.3 percent and 99.2 percent of the votes cast, respectively. The Annual General Meeting appointed Dr. Isabella Niklas, Managing Director of HGV Hamburger Gesellschaft für Vermögens- und Beteiligungsmanagement mbH, and Dr. Torsten Sevecke, State Secretary at the Ministry for Economy, Transport and Innovation  of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, as new members of the Supervisory Board.
 
Approximately 670 shareholders and guests attended the Annual General Meeting of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG on 12 June 2018 at the Hamburg trade fair centre. As such, 81.8 percent of the share capital was represented (previous year: 82.9 percent).
 
The voting results of the Annual General Meeting, the speech by the Chairwoman of the Executive Board, Angela Titzrath, and the accompanying presentation will be available on the HHLA website in the Investor Relations section under “Annual General Meeting” (https://hhla.de/en/investor-relations/agm/2018/).
 

HHLA shareholders benefit from successful financial year

Press contact

Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA)
Annette Krüger
Phone +49-(0)40-3088-3503