Maersk posts $3.7 billion profit in Q2 2021, expands logistics service

Danish shipping and logistics giant A.P. Moller – Maersk has continued to deliver strong growth and profitability with profit going up to $3.7 billion in the second quarter of 2021.

Revenue was up almost 60% to $14.2 billion compared to the same quarter last year and EBIT amounted to $4.1 billion, which is up more than five times.

With a net profit of $3.7 billion in the second quarter of 2021, the net result for the first half of 2021 went up to $6.5 billion, the company revealed in its financial report.

“The results benefitted both from the exceptional circumstances in Ocean, where congestions and bottlenecks continued to drive up rates, and from solid progress in executing on our strategic transformation,” Søren Skou, CEO of A.P. Moller – Maersk commented.

“Looking at both the second quarter and the first half, I am pleased with the progress made and the high value generation, with a return on invested capital now at 23.7% for the past 12 months.”

The outlook for global market demand growth for the year has been revised up to 6-8 percent (about one percentage point), still mainly driven by American demand for Chinese goods.

Accordingly, Maersk has raised its profit guidance upwards, it now expects full-year EBITDA in the range of $18-19.5 billion (about $5 billion more than previous guidance of $13-15 billion) and underlying EBIT expected in the range of $14-15.5 billion (previously $9-11 billion).

The outlook for the third quarter is strong, with the current momentum expected to mark the fourth quarter as well, Skou pointed out.

Furthermore, the shipping major announced the acquisitions of two E-commerce logistics companies Visible SCM and B2C Europe, as high earnings and cash flow enabled the firm to accelerate its transformation strategy.

Maersk both the two companies for a combined enterprise value of $924 million.

“The acquisitions will provide Maersk with a strong growth platform in the rapidly evolving field of e-commerce, where our investments in digitalisation and integration will create significant synergies and make a big difference for customers’ ability to sell across multiple channels effectively,” said Maersk Ocean & Logistics CEO Vincent Clerc.

“Furthermore, they will allow us to have a more comprehensive offering towards small and medium sized customers.”

Within e-commerce Logistics, Maersk is building an asset-light, global business focused on two core capabilities: B2C fulfilment and B2C delivery, the company concluded.