Hapag Lloyd's third quarter profits shrink to US$96 million

GERMAN Travel giant TUI AG, the biggest shareholder with a 43 per cent stake in the Hapag-Lloyd, has posted a shrinking third quarter net loss of EUR9.4 million (US$12.3 million), down from EUR470 million a year earlier.

What goes news the company had, came from its container line, which reported a profit, though it too had declined together with interest income, reported Bloomberg. Sales for the three-month period ending June 30 decreased by 4.2 per cent to EUR4 billion year on year.

TUI said in a statement that profit from Hapag Lloyd was EUR74.5 million (US$95.86 million) as the shipping line posted record earnings on a recovery of freight rates and volumes.

"Hapag is benefiting from the ongoing recovery of the container business as German export booms and intra-Asian cargo traffic increases," Martina Noss, an analyst at Norddeutsche Landesbank in Hanover, told Bloomberg.

TUI Travel Plc, in which TUI holds a majority interest, posted a net loss of GBP81 million pounds (US$128 million) for the quarter due to disruptions to air traffic caused by the volcanic ash clouds over Europe in April and May and consumer holiday spending cuts in both Germany and the UK.

TUI said earlier it expects that Hapag-Lloyd will "post significantly positive operating earnings" because of a "notable recovery" in the industry. Hapag received German state loan guarantees worth EUR1.2 billion last year, which the report said it hasn't used.
(Source:www.schednet.com)