Hamburger Hafen und Logistik Aktiengesellschaft (HHFA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our conference call on the financial results for the first 9 months of 2024. Before our CFO, Annette Walter, takes you through the financials in detail, I would like to say a few words about the market environment in which we are currently operating and highlight our key achievements in the current year. In the first 9 months of the year, ongoing economic weakness, in particular in Germany, the military conflict in the Middle East with its impact on sea routes, and the war in Ukraine continue to impact global trade. Upcoming events such as the U.S. election are also affecting the flow of goods. The significant rise in cargo flows to and from North America, for example, is an indication that U.S. companies are stocking up in anticipation of potential punitive tariffs after the U.S. election. Despite these global challenges, HHLA's business performance was resilient overall. Of particular note is the significant increase in transport volumes. Although rail traffic was adversely impacted by severe weather conditions such as the widespread flooding in Eastern Europe and construction work in Germany, the rail transport operations of the intermodal subsidiaries, Metrans and Roland Spedition performed well throughout Europe. The HHLA container terminals also recorded a slight increase in container throughput, supported by a strong volume development from our international terminals. Even our terminal in Odessa resumed waterside handling activities in the third quarter. Overall, revenue and earnings developed very positively due in no small part to the temporary increase in container dwell times at our Hamburg terminals and the successful expansion of the European rail network. In order to further strengthen our resilience as a network logistics provider in Europe, we are continuously working to develop our business fields and expertise. By constantly expanding our European network, we can offer our customers integrated solutions along the entire logistics chain. The acquisition of a majority stake in Roland Spedition this year will help to enhance our service portfolio. HHLA is committed to making the logistics industry more sustainable. This also involves the use of cutting-edge technologies at our terminals. In the third quarter, for example, we reached further milestones at our container terminal Buchardkai in Hamburg, where the first automated guided vehicles are already being extensively tested. By the end of 2025, 116 AGVs will be in operation at CTP to handle container transport from the key side to the storage. In addition, construction work on the new modern repair shop is making good progress. We are also committed to using climate-friendly handling methods at our international terminals. In the Port of Trieste, in Italy, for example, we are working on expanding the terminal and are implementing the environmentally friendly redevelopment of our former steel work site. We are also pressing ahead with the expansion of the terminal rail connections, thus enabling more goods to be transferred from road to rail. There were also further developments in the third quarter regarding the planned investment by the shipping company, MSC in HHLA. The Hamburg State Parliament gave its final approval for the investment in September. The EU Commission also granted merger control clearance in early October. At the moment, only merger control clearance in Ukraine is still pending. During the course of the year, HHLA, the City of Hamburg, and MSC agreed on the key points for further development of HHLA, which are set out in a business combination agreement. This has enabled HHLA and its stakeholders to reach important agreements such as commitments to continue the company's successful strategy to maintain the neutrality of HHLA's business model and to safeguard employee rights. We, at HHLA, are ready and prepared to take advantage of the opportunities offered by MSC's investment. Despite the changes occurring in the industry, we remain committed to our goal of becoming one of Europe's leading providers of sustainable, digitalized, and network logistics solutions. We will, therefore, continue to focus on intelligent solutions and the strength of our network. For now, I would like to hand over to Annette, who will talk you through the key financial figures.

Thank you, Angela, and good afternoon, everyone, also from me. The container throughput achieved a slight increase of 0.9% to 4.5 million TEU in the first 9 months of 2024. Our terminals in Hamburg were almost on par with the previous year with an increase of 2.0% to 4.3 million TEU. Regarding seaborne volumes, the picture has -- was mixed, where volumes for the Far East and Middle East declined, volumes from the North and South America shipping regions increased. There was particularly strong growth in cargo volumes for the United States. In addition, temporary road adjustments caused by the military conflict in the Red Sea also led to a rise in cargo volumes with other European seaports. Feeder traffic volumes grew moderately as traffic with Sweden and Poland recovered, while Lithuania and Germany recorded strong volume gains. As a result, the feeder ratio of seaborne handling increased by 0.6 percentage points to 9.0%. The international container terminals recorded an increase in throughput volume of 20.2% to 203,000 TEU. This was driven by the strong increase at the multifunctional terminal HHLA TK Estonia and the resumption of key side handling at the Odessa terminal in the third quarter of 2024. This more than offset the lower throughput volumes at PLT Italy in Trieste due to ship rig routing or cancellations as a result of the military conflict in the Red Sea. Segment revenue increased slightly by 8.2% year-on-year to EUR 578.1 million. This was mainly due to longer dwell time and the resulting increase in storage fees. On top of that, HHLA's international container terminals also contributed to the increase in revenue. EBIT costs increased by 3.8% compared to the previous year, mainly due to the rise in personnel and energy expenses as well as persistently lower other operating income. Moreover, the EBIT cost of our multifunctional terminals in Trieste and Tallinn increased compared to the previous year. However, these cost increases were offset to a large degree. The measures being implemented since March last year to safeguard earnings at the Hamburg container terminals as well as further transformation processes had a favorable effect here. We achieved a strong decline in expenses for external maintenance services as well as a reduction in expenses for consulting services and insurance. There was also a positive effect from a partial reversal of the restructuring provisions as well as from a significant reduction in depreciation and amortization expenses following the remeasurement of useful economic life for certain assets in the technical equipment and machinery asset class. Against this backdrop, EBIT rose by 87.1% to EUR 51 million, while the EBIT margin increased by 3.7 percentage points to 8.8%. So let's now have a look at the Intermodal segment. Despite a number of challenges such as severe weather conditions with widespread flooding in Eastern Europe and construction work on the rail network in Germany, the rail transport operations on the Intermodal subsidiaries, Metrans and Roland Spedition made good progress in the first 9 months. Container transport volumes were up 8.1% to 1.3 million TEU. Especially rail transport benefited from the strong increase in transport volumes in the German-speaking regions, which more than offset the decline in traffic with the Adriatic seaports and Poland. This positive volume trend was also aided by the acquisition of a majority interest in Roland Spedition GmbH in the second quarter. In total, rail transport increased by 10.2% to 1.14 -- 44,000 TEU. The road transport continued to decline moderately by 4.1% to 178,000 TEU. As a result, revenue turned positive and recorded growth of 12% to EUR 521.9 million. In addition to routine price adjustments, this resulted from a favorable rate share of total transport volumes, which increased by 1.7 percentage points year-on-year to 86.6%. At EUR 62.7 million, EBIT was 2.2% up on the previous year. In addition to shifts in the cargo mix and increased union wage rates, there were also adverse effects from the cost of strike action at the Hamburg terminals in the third quarter as well as costs relating to the expansion of the rail transport business. As a result, the EBIT margin of 12.0% was 1.12 percentage points below the prior year figure. Let's turn briefly to the Logistics segment, where we have pooled the vehicle logistics, consultancies divisions, leasing activities as well as business activities with which HHLA aims to tap new growth fields. In the reporting period, the consolidated companies reported revenue of EUR 60.2 million, which was up 1.9% over previous year. Despite the strong decline in the revenue generated by vehicle logistics, there was year-on-year growth in the segment's other business fields, most notably its leasing activities. As a result, EBIT was negative at minus EUR 1 million, whereas vehicle logistics declined strongly compared to the exceptionally profitable previous year. The contribution to earnings from leasing activities rose strongly. And equity earnings amounted to EUR 2.8 million for the first 9 months of 2024, mainly driven by the strong performance of bulk cargo handling. Coming back to the Port Logistics subgroup as a whole. Before we have a closer look at our cash flow development, I would like to emphasize that we successfully issued an ESG-linked promissory note bond of EUR 250 million in the third quarter of 2024 for general corporate purposes. The tenors are 5, 7, and 10 years, each with fixed and floating tranches. However, the settlement date was October 1, and this is why you can't see it in the cash flow statement for the 9-month period. Having said that, let me now turn to the cash flow development in the reporting period. Cash flow from operating activities decreased by almost EUR 3 million to EUR 153.3 million as of September 30, 2024. It mainly compromised earnings before interest and taxes, write-downs and write-ups on nonfinancial assets, and an increase in trade receivables and other liabilities. The main items with an opposing effect were the increase in trade payables and other liabilities as well as lower income tax payments. Investing activities resulted in a net cash outflow of EUR 180.9 million, which was roughly EUR 1 million under the prior year figure. This development was mainly due to scheduled capital expenditure focusing on the expansion of our own transport capacities for the intermodal business and the transformation program at our Hamburg container terminals. There were no payments for short-term deficits in the first 9 months of 2024. As a result, free cash flow of the Port Logistics subgroup was negative at EUR 27.7 million. Financing activities resulted in a cash outflow of EUR 90.7 million. This resulted mainly from outgoing repayments of financial loans, the repayment of lease liabilities as well as from dividends and compensation obligations to shareholders totaling EUR 5.8 million and to noncontrolling shareholders totaling EUR 25 million. This was offset by payments received from taking out financial loans. There were no proceeds from reductions in shares in fully consolidated companies. Overall, our available liquidity as of the end of September 2024 remained at EUR 47.2 million. For a review of our outlook for the 2024 financial year, let me now hand back to you, Angela.

Thank you, Annette. Ladies and gentlemen, despite the global challenges such as the persistently weak German economy, military conflict in the Middle East with its impact on shipping routes, and the war in Ukraine, HHLA performed well in the first 9 months of 2024. This was due in particular to the strong increase in transport volumes as well as a strong revenue and earnings trend on the whole for the Port Logistics subgroup in the third quarter. Against this backdrop, we have adjusted our forecast for the 2024 financial year and published an ad hoc announcement on October 28 this year. While a significant increase is still expected in container transport, we have lowered our growth forecast in container throughput, again, from moderate to a slight increase. With regard to revenue development, we have raised our expectations from significant to a strong increase compared to the prior year figure. This is mainly driven by increased revenue from rail transport. In view of the higher income level resulting from temporarily longer container dwell times at the Hamburg terminals, our expectations for EBIT have also been raised to a range of EUR 110 million to EUR 130 million. Within this range, a strong year-on-year increase in segment EBIT is expected for both the Container and the Intermodal segment. As a result of delays in the implementation of investment projects, particularly in the Intermodal segment and mainly due to exogenous factors, capital expenditure for the Port Logistics subgroup has been lowered to a range of EUR 300 million to EUR 350 million. Annette and I will be happy to take your questions now. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions] Ms. Titzrath, there are no questions.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your interest in HHLA. We are committed to becoming one of Europe's leading providers of sustainable, digitalized, and network logistics solutions regardless of the changes in the industry. As a European group of companies, we are preparing ourselves for the challenges of future freight transport and we'll continue to focus on intelligent solutions and the strength of our networks. Take care, and goodbye.