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The Hapag-Lloyd Group profit fell 19% to $2.6 billion in 2024
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Earnings before interest and taxes improved to $2.8 billion compared to the previous year’s $2.6 billion
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Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization rose to $5.0 billion
The Hapag-Lloyd Group’s profit fell 19% to $2.6 billion in 2024 from $3.2 billion in the previous year owing to lower interest income and higher tax expenses.
Earnings before interest and taxes, however, slightly improved to $2.788 billion compared to the previous year’s $2.735 billion. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) rose to $5.0 billion from $4.825 billion.
“In a challenging market environment, we achieved solid results and further increased customer satisfaction. We have further consolidated and expanded our terminal business under the Hanseatic Global Terminals brand,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd AG, in a statement.
He also said they worked hard to further improve processes which will yield results in the years to come and stepped up investments in digitalization and training of their people.
They launched the largest newbuild program in the company’s history, “which will enable us to further modernize and decarbonize our fleet,” said Jansen.
The outlook for 2025 is uncertain due to the highly volatile development of freight rates and major geopolitical challenges, the company said. The Executive Board expects Group EBITDA to be in the range of $2.5 billion to $4.0 billion and the Group EBIT to be in the vicinity of $1.5 billion.
“In 2025 we are off to a very good start with Gemini, but the economic and geopolitical environment remains fragile. In this context, we anticipate earnings in 2025 to be lower than in 2024,” said Jansen.
In the Liner Shipping segment, transport volumes for 2024 as a whole rose by 4.7%, to 12.5 million TEU, while the average freight rate remained stable at $1,492/TEU.
Revenues accordingly increased to $20.3 billion. Despite higher transport expenses in connection with the necessary rerouting of ships around the Cape of Good Hope, the EBITDA increased to $4.9 billion.
The Terminal & Infrastructure segment recorded an improvement in its EBITDA in the 2024 financial year, to $151 million – particularly owing to several acquisitions in the course of the previous financial year. The EBIT increased to $72 million.
Based on the earnings, the Executive Board and Supervisory Board of Hapag-Lloyd AG will propose to the Annual General Meeting a dividend of EUR 8.20 per share for the 2024 financial year – this corresponds to a total payout of EUR 1.4 billion, which once again makes the Hapag-Lloyd share one of the most attractive German dividend-bearing stocks.
In the first half of 2025, Hapag-Lloyd will implement its Gemini network and expect to set new standards in terms of schedule reliability. The company will continue to develop Hanseatic Global Terminals and await to further grow its inland business.
“At the same time, we will keep a very close eye on our unit costs and focus on becoming even more efficient and climate-friendly,” said Jansen.
