Resolution to pay a dividend of EUR 3.50 per share approved
Actions of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board formally approved for the financial year 2020
Nicola Gehrt and Karl Gernandt re-elected to the Supervisory Board
Hapag-Lloyd AG shareholders approved today with the required majority all items on the agenda put to the vote at the virtual Annual General Meeting. This included the appropriation of the net profit and thereby the payment of a dividend of EUR 3.50 per share.
“Despite the coronavirus pandemic, we achieved a record result last year and earned our cost of capital for the first time in a decade. We are therefore very pleased that our shareholders will be able to benefit from a dividend again,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd AG, adding: “At the same time, we have gotten the current year off to a very good start thanks to the persistently very strong demand for container transports, and we are also expecting much higher results for the 2021 financial year as a whole.”
The shareholders also approved the proposal to re-elect Nicola Gehrt and Karl Gernandt to the Supervisory Board of Hapag-Lloyd AG. As Head of Group Investor Relations at the TUI Group, Nicola Gehrt brings with her many years of experience in investor relations and financial matters and has been a member of the Supervisory Board since August 2016. Karl Gernandt has extensive industrial and management experience as Executive Chairman of Kühne Holding AG and has been a member of the Supervisory Board of Hapag-Lloyd AG since March 2009.
“I am pleased that Nicola Gehrt and Karl Gernandt have been re-elected to the Supervisory Board as shareholder representatives. Both are extremely familiar with the company, which will enable us to seamlessly continue the very energetic and constructive collaboration of recent years,” said Michael Behrendt, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Hapag-Lloyd AG.
After the strong start to the year, the Executive Board of Hapag-Lloyd AG expects that the EBITDA and EBIT for the current 2021 financial year as a whole will also clearly surpass the prior year level. While the positive earnings trend is likely to continue in the second quarter of 2021, a gradual normalization is currently expected in the second half of the year. However, this forecast remains subject to considerable uncertainty due to a number of factors, including the above-average volatility of freight rates at this time; operational challenges, such as infrastructural bottlenecks; and the inability to predict the future course or economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With a fleet of 241 modern container ships and a total transport capacity of 1.7 million TEU, Hapag-Lloyd is one of the world’s leading liner shipping companies. The Company has around 13,300 employees and 395 offices in 131 countries. Hapag-Lloyd has a container capacity of approximately 2.8 million TEU – including one of the largest and most modern fleets of reefer containers. A total of 121 liner services worldwide ensure fast and reliable connections between more than 600 ports on all the continents. Hapag-Lloyd is one of the leading operators in the Transatlantic, Middle East, Latin America, and Intra-America trades.