Germany’s HSH Nordbank, the world’s biggest ship finance bank, said it doesn’t expect a recovery in shipping markets to get under way until the end of 2013, even as it announced a sharply lower net loss.
The state-owned bank slashed group net losses in the first nine months of the year to 25 million euros ($32.5 million) from 269 million euros ($349.7 million) a year ago.
Hamburg-based HSH, which is a leading financier of Germany’s container ship fleet, the world’s largest, said it expects to hike loan loss provisions in the coming months “in view of the significantly dampened expectations in individual markets, in particular shipping.”
Although it faces “continuing strains ... for the time being,” the bank, which got a $41 billion state-funded bailout in 2011, sought to allay investors’ concerns over its financial health.
“An increase of state guarantees is currently not being planned, nor are there talks about such a move. Management’s goal remains to tackle the challenges from its own strength,” a spokesman said.