Maersk expects Q2 earnings to beat Q1 amid favorable demand

Danish shipping major A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S revealed that it expects an EBITDA before restructuring and integration costs for Q2 2020 slightly above the level for Q1 2020 (USD 1.5bn).

The forecast is being upgraded based as demand starts to pick up better than expected, combined with cost measures across the organisation and significant blanked sailings.

“With the current trading, the market demand in the second quarter of 2020 is developing more favourable than originally expected with volumes downfall for A.P. Moller – Maersk now anticipated to be in the range of -15% to -18% for Q2 2020, compared to the initial guidance of -20% to -25%,” Maersk said.

The full-year guidance on earnings remains suspended.

“Despite an expected 15-18 pct. drop in demand due to Covid-19 during the second quarter, I am pleased that we expect to deliver operating earnings slightly above our operating earnings in the first quarter. This also means we expect operating earnings to be higher than they were in the same quarter last year,” Søren Skou, CEO of A.P. Moller – Maersk said.

“We have been able to navigate well in a very difficult second quarter, adjusting capacity to demand to maintain high utilization of our network and managing our cost across the company. This quarter follows a first quarter where we also delivered year-on-year earnings growth despite 5 pct. lower demand and sharply increasing fuel cost as a result of the switch to low Sulphur fuel on 1 January.

While uncertainty persist because of the pandemic and low visibility on the recovery path, we benefit from a more resilient Ocean-business.”

A.P. Moller – Maersk will publish its Q2 interim result on 19 August 2020.

Maersk joins its counterparts CMA CGM in expecting profitability levels in Q2 to be better.

The French liner major said in its recent Q1 report that its operating performance for the second quarter should show significant improvement thanks to the industry’s discipline and the group’s cost control policy.

The company posted Adjusted EBITDA of USD 973 million, equating to an operating margin increase of 13.5%, revenues of USD 7.19 billion, slightly down compared to the same period last year, and positive net result of USD 48 million in Q1.

The group’s net result saw an increase by USD 91 million compared to the first quarter of 2019 and USD 170 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. The result includes a USD 185 million gain from the disposal of terminals.

CMA CGM expects volumes to decline by about 10% over the first half of the year.