The global maritime industry continues to benefit from soaring freight rates due to continued supply chain disruption, and international shipping giant A.P. Mueller-Maersk (hereinafter referred to as "Maersk") performed strongly in the second quarter. However, as the risk of recession rises and consumer confidence declines, Maersk warns that global container demand growth will slow in 2022.
htmlOn August 3, Maersk released a strong second quarter report. During the reporting period, revenue increased to a new high of US$21.65 billion, a year-on-year increase of 52.14%; EBITDA increased to US$10.327 billion, a year-on-year increase of 103.93%; EBIT was US$8.988 billion, a year-on-year increase of 12.08%; net profit was US$8.621 billion, a year-on-year growth rate of as high as 130.14%. In the first half of the year, the company's net profit was US$15.4 billion, a year-on-year increase of 138.7%. In terms of
points business, in terms of shipping business, this shipping giant, known as the "international trade weather vane", had revenue of US$17.412 billion in the second quarter, and EBIT increased to US$8.526 billion. Its profitability increased significantly year-on-year, mainly due to the continued congestion of global supply chains that pushed up freight costs. Among them, freight revenue increased by 57%, and freight freight costs increased by 64%. However, due to the continued disruption of supply chains in Europe and North America, the company's load capacity decreased by 7.4% year-on-year in the second quarter, partially offsetting the revenue brought by higher freight rates.
In terms of logistics and service business, the company's revenue in the second quarter increased by 61% to US$3.502 billion, and EBIT increased to US$234 million. During the reporting period, the company also completed the acquisition of Pilot Freight Services (Pilot), a full-process and cross-border logistics solution provider headquartered in the United States, and Senator International, a global air transport company. Management said in its financial report that the company also established Maersk Air Cargo to further strengthen air freight services. In terms of
terminal business, Maersk's revenue increased to US$1.124 billion in the second quarter, and its profit before interest and tax was US$316 million. The company said the terminal performance was mainly driven by strong U.S. import demand, high growth in Asian markets, and higher storage revenue, but higher costs offset some of the performance growth. Søren Skou, CEO of
, said that driven by strong long-term contract freight rates in sea freight, rapid growth in logistics business profits and continued steady performance in the terminal business, the company achieved outstanding results this quarter. However, with the continued congestion of some ports and the impact of the situation in Russia and Ukraine, consumer confidence has been hit, causing sea freight volume to fall. In terms of
guidance, Maersk expects EBITDA to be US$37 billion in 2022, EBIT will be US$31 billion, and free cash flow will exceed US$24 billion. Based on adjusted performance expectations, the Maersk Board decided to increase the stock repurchase plan from US$2.5 billion per year to US$3 billion per year between 2022 and 2025.
Maersk also said that although company contract freight rates are higher than the same period in previous years due to strong market demand and continued global supply chain congestion, short-term and spot freight rates have declined compared with the first quarter. In terms of the industry scenario, Maersk believes that geopolitical conflicts, inflation and deteriorating economic situation have weakened consumer demand, which may cause the global shipping market to return to normal by the end of the year. In terms of supply, as data shows that suppliers' delivery time is still long, the company is not sure when the supply chain problems, including land transportation and warehousing bottlenecks, can be completely resolved. Maersk expects global container demand to remain flat in the lower limit of the ±1% range in 2022, and downside risks will dominate. After the strong second quarter report of
was released, the company's stock price continued to rise. As of press time, Maersk rose nearly 6%.
net profit in the first half of the year was US$15.4 billion.
This article comes from Wall Street News, welcome to download the APP to view more
