HHLA Group pursues rigorous costs management
The Management of the Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) expects a downturn in volumes handled and transported, revenue, result and returns in 2009. At the presentation of the annual report 2008 CEO Klaus-Dieter Peter excluded any enforced operational redundancies of the around 5,000 employees for 2009. However, he announced a comprehensive programme of measures to confront current challenges. From the current point of view Mr. Peters expects a profitable development of business in 2009. Stretching the programme for investments in short-term increases in capacity (e.g. cancelling or postponing the expansion of storage capacity and the acquisition of new equipment) combined with rigorous costs management are measures designed to adjust performance and costs to the trend in demand this year. The investments for the realization of long-term growth opportunities, such as strengthening quay walls, extending berths, which are scheduled for the period from 2009 until 2012, will be continued without any restrictions. Compared to 2007 revenue rose by 12.4 per cent to EUR 1,327 million in 2008, while the operating result improved by 23.4 percent to the record figure of EUR 355 million. The group’s consolidated profit for the year soared up by 43.1 per cent to EUR 218 million. The Container segment of HHLA Group felt the impact of the economic crisis in the fourth quarter of 2008 in form of a 9.7%-decline in volumes compared to the last quarter of the previous year. In total the volume handled at the terminals in Hamburg and Odessa rose 1.2 per cent to 7.3 million TEU in 2008. Thus segment revenue rose 14.4 per cent to EUR 792 million, while the segment result rose by 22.6 per cent to EUR 304 million. The Intermodal segment forwarded 1.8 million standard containers (+ 11.5%) and showed a revenue of EUR 370 million (+ 11.4%) in the annual report of 2008. The operating result increased by 5.1 per cent to EUR 37 million. In an uneven market environment the Logistics segment achieved a 7.1%-increase in revenues to EUR 127 million. Because of an extraordinary depreciation of EUR 2.3 million the segment result fell 17.9 per cent to EUR 10.4 million. Quelle: Österreichische Verkehrszeitung |