After a good start to the year – thanks to strong demand and higher freight rates - Hapag-Lloyd is upbeat about the year ahead.
Based on preliminary business figures for January and the current business situation, the executive board expects the performance indicators Ebitda and Ebit for the first quarter to be significantly higher than the same period last year, according to a statement just released.
Ebitda is currently expected to be at least US$ 1.8 billion compared to US$ 517 million in Q1 2020. For Ebit, the current expectation is US$ 1.5 billion compared to US$ 176 million in Q1 last year.
The board further predicts that the Ebitda and Ebit for the 2021 business year as a whole will surpass that of 2020.
They do however caution that the forecast is subject to considerable uncertainty related to the above-average volatility of freight rates and operational challenges caused by existing infrastructural bottlenecks – as well as the inability to predict the further course or economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We will see a very strong result in the first quarter, but we anticipate a normalisation as the year progresses. We are still seeing slower container turn times, significant congestion in ports around the globe and capacity constraints in rail and truck – and the risks of the coronavirus pandemic remain. Nevertheless, we do also expect that the result for 2021 as a whole will be significantly higher than the prior-year level,” said CEO Rolf Habben Jansen.
Additional details of the 2021 forecast will be published with the release of the 2020 annual report on March 18 and the final business figures for the first quarter of 2021 will be published on May 12.
