Maersk Raises Full-Year Outlook After Beating Q3 Profit Forecasts on Soaring Container Volumes
On Thursday (November 6), global shipping giant Maersk from Denmark reported third-quarter operating profit above expectations and raised the lower end of its full-year forecast, driven by a sharp increase in container volumes.|
Regarded as a barometer of global trade, Maersk announced preliminary underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $2.68 billion for the period from July to September.
The figure topped analysts’ estimates of $2.6 billion in a poll conducted by LSEG, but was sharply lower than the $4.8 billion recorded in the same period last year.
Notably, Maersk also raised its full-year operating profit forecast to a range of $9–9.5 billion, up from its previous guidance of $8–9.5 billion.
“I think what allows us to lift the outlook is really the story of resilience,”
said Vincent Clerc, Maersk’s Chief Executive Officer, on CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe on November 6.
“We’ve seen a recovery in demand across all geographies toward the end of the quarter — even the U.S. is rebounding as we head into the year-end peak season,” he said. “And our operations are also improving because despite inflationary pressures and uncertainty, we’ve been able to cut costs and maintain good cost control, which has boosted margins across all business segments.”
Maersk’s shares fell more than 5% on November 6. Year to date, however, the company’s stock has gained over 5%.
Along with the upgraded earnings guidance, Maersk said it expects global container market volumes to grow around 4% in 2025, compared with the previous forecast of 2%–4%.
When asked how Maersk would describe the outlook for global trade, Clerc said that talk of the “death of globalization” still seems “rather premature.”
“On the contrary, we are seeing levels of trade and economic integration increasing,” Clerc added. “The main driver behind this is the strength of China’s manufacturing power, and we continue to see growth across multiple regions.”
“This has been the key story over the past two years and one of the reasons why we keep being surprised by the strength and resilience of demand for all the products we ship.”
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