Hapag-Lloyd Results Up in First Quarter

Posted by Michelle Howard May 9, 2019

Hapag-Lloyd closed the first quarter of 2019 with a significantly higher operating profit as Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased to $240.5 million (Q1 2018: $57 million).

The group net result increased to $107.9 million (Q1 2018: $38 million). Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose to $549 million (Q1 2018: $242 million), also impacted by the first-time application of the reporting standard IFRS 16.

“Thanks to higher transport volumes, better freight rates and a stronger US dollar, we achieved a good result and got the year off to a very decent start,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, Chief Executive Officer of Hapag-Lloyd.

Revenues in the first quarter increased by 17% to $3.4 billion (Q1 2018: $2.9 billion) and transport volume rose 2% to 2,929 TTEU (Q1 2018: 2,861 TTEU). The average freight rate improved to 1,079 USD/TEU (Q1 2018: 1,029 USD/TEU), and the result was also positively influenced by a stronger average exchange rate of 1.14 USD/EUR (Q1 2018: 1.23 USD/EUR). In contrast, higher bunker prices of USD 425 per tonne had a negative impact on the quarterly result (Q1 2018: USD 372 per tonne).

The report for the first quarter is available online.

* Due to the first-time application of the reporting standard IFRS 16 as of January 1, 2019, the results of the first quarter of 2019 (including first-time application of IFRS 16) can only be compared to a limited extent with the results of the first quarter of 2018 (excluding first-time application of IFRS 16). In individual cases, rounding differences may occur in the tables for computational reasons.