The Group’s balance sheet total grew by 9.0% to € 17.8 billion as against the end of 2007. The changes in the consolidated balance sheet essentially resulted from the business cycle in tourism. The balance sheet total was also affected by the reclassification of container shipping operations to ‘Assets available for sale’ and the related liabilities according to IFRS 5.
Assets and liabilities
€ million | 30 Sep 2008 | 31 Dec 2007 | Var. % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-current assets | 7,903.9 | 11,528.2 | - 31.4 |
| Current assets | 9,847.8 | 4,755.4 | + 107.1 |
| Assets | 17,751.7 | 16,283.6 | + 9.0 |
| Equity | 2,918.3 | 3,092.1 | - 5.6 |
| Provisions | 2,125.0 | 2,445.8 | - 13.1 |
| Financial liabilities | 5,154.7 | 5,539.4 | - 6.9 |
| Other liabilites | 7,553.7 | 5,206.3 | + 45.1 |
| Liabilities | 17,751.7 | 16,283.6 | + 9.0 |
Non-current assets
As at 30 September 2008, non-current assets accounted for 44.5% of total assets, compared with a share of 70.8% as at 31 December 2007. Non-current assets declined from € 11.5 billion to € 7.9 billion in the period under review. This decrease was mainly attributable to the reclassification of the container shipping assets held for sale to current assets.
Current assets
As at 30 September 2008, current assets accounted for 55.5% of total assets, up from 29.2% as at 31 December 2007. Current assets rose from € 4.8 billion as at 31 December 2007 to € 9.8 billion as at 30 September 2007. This was mainly due to the increase in trade accounts receivable caused by the tourism business and the increase in cash and cash equivalents from advance payments received in the tourism business.
Equity
Equity totalled € 2.9 billion as at 30 September 2008. The equity ratio stood at 16.4%, compared with 19.0% as at the end of the 2007 financial year. Detailed information on the changes is provided under ‘Changes in equity’ in the notes to this interim report.
Provisions
Provisions mainly comprised provisions for pension obligations, effective and deferred tax provisions and provisions for typical operating risks. As at 30 September 2008, they totalled € 2.1 billion and were thus 13.1% down on their level as at 31 December 2007. This was mainly due to a significant decrease in pension provisions due to the increase in the long-term interest rate level in the UK and the reclassification of the pension obligations of Hapag-Lloyd AG and Hapag-Lloyd Fluggesellschaft mbH to ‘Liabilities related to assets held for sale’.
Financial liabilities
As at 30 September 2008, financial liabilities consisted of non-current financial liabilities of € 4.3 billion and current financial liabilities of € 0.9 billion. As at 31 December 2007, non-current assets stood at € 4.7 billion, with current financial liabilities of € 0.8 billion. At the end of the first nine months of the 2008 financial year, net debt totalled € 2.8 billion, down from € 3.9 billion as at the end of the 2007 financial year. Net debt as at 30 September 2008 included € 0.5 billion of ‘Assets held for sale‘ and ‘Liabilities related to assets held for sale‘.
Other liabilities
As at 30 September 2008, other liabilities amounted to € 7.6 billion, up by € 2.3 billion or 45.1% as against 31 December 2007. This was primarily due to the increase in advance payments received in tourism.