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HHLA enables shareholder participation

(Posted on 21/06/19)

After a highly successful 2018 financial year, the Annual General Meeting of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), a leading European logistics company, has resolved to increase the dividend per listed Class A share to € 0.80. This is 19.4 percent higher than in the previous year. As such, € 56.0 million are being distributed to the shareholders of the Port Logistics subgroup for the 2018 financial year.

In her speech at the Annual General Meeting, Chairwoman of HHLA’s Executive Board, Angela Titzrath, took a positive view of the company’s growth trajectory. “HHLA has asserted its position as a leading European logistics group and undergone further expansion.” We have lived up to our promises, Titzrath said. As a result, HHLA has once again experienced profitable growth. Thanks to the acquisition of the biggest Estonian terminal operator, TK, the company has become more international. The Chairwoman of HHLA’s Executive Board referred to numerous initiatives through which HHLA is now driving the digital revolution. She highlighted in particular the company’s efforts in terms of climate protection and the prudent use of resources. “Sustainability has been a major topic at HHLA for many years now and is a subject that we treat very seriously while we search for innovative solutions,” Titzrath said. She was confident that the targets for the coming financial year could be achieved. The HHLA Chairwoman did not, however, disguise the fact that the changing political landscape, such as the trade conflict between the US and China, could have a negative impact on business

In her speech, the Chairwoman championed the expansion of the HHLA business purpose in order to be able to tap into new growth areas responsibly. For HHLA, the future is not some distant dream but a challenge to be faced, drawing on the company’s great wealth of experience, the knowledge of its staff and the support of its partners.

The Annual General Meeting resolved, with 99.9 percent of the votes, to increase the dividend per listed Class A share to € 0.80, paying out a total of € 56.0 million to the shareholders of the Port Logistics subgroup. This corresponds to an increase of 19.4 percent as compared to the dividend for 2017. At 54 percent of the profit after tax and minority interests, the distribution ratio has always remained within the target dividend payout range of 50 to 70 percent since the initial public offering.

The Annual General Meeting resolved to distribute € 2.10 per Class S share, a dividend increase of 5 percent, for the unlisted Real Estate subgroup (previous year: € 2.00). This amounts to a total of € 5.7 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 € 61.7 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 2018 financial year with 99.1 and 97.9 percent of the votes cast, respectively. The Annual General Meeting appointed Prof. Dr. Burkhard Schwenker, Chairman of the Advisory Council of Roland Berger GmbH, as a new member of the Supervisory Board. Approximately 700 shareholders and guests attended the Annual General Meeting of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG on 18 June 2019 at the Hamburg trade fair centre. This meant that 84.8 percent of the share capital was represented (previous year: 81.8 percent).