A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk) has published its financial results for Q1 2022, posting revenues of $19.3 billion.
The company’s EBITDA for the period of January to March 2022 amounted to $9.2 billion, and EBIT came in at $7.9 billion.
This strong performance was driven primarily by the continuation of exceptional market conditions within its Ocean business, Maersk said.
Even though volumes have declined 7 per cent compared to Q1 2021, freight rates rose by 71 per cent on average.
High freight rates are expected to carry on through Q2 2022, leading Maersk to believe its calendar year 2022 results to be higher than previously anticipated.
The Danish giant now forecasts EBITDA for the year to come in at around $30 billion, underlying EBIT to amount to $24 billion, and free cash flow to be above $19 billion. Previously EBITDA was expected to total $24 billion in 2022.
This current guidance is still based on an assumption of normalisation in ocean in early H2 2022.
The carrier revised downwards its outlook for the growth of global container demand from 2-4 per cent to -1/+1 percent.
Maersk saw its ocean revenue increase substantially in 2021, surging to $48.2 billion, up from $29.2 billion in 2020. EBITDA also tripled to $24 billion and free cash flow was $16.5 billion. This allowed the shipping line to make investments into decarbonisation and logistics growth, combined with strong cash distribution to shareholders.
This result positioned Maersk as the one of the highest earning carriers of last year, with CMA CGM following closely behind with $45.3 billion in revenue.
Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) is also believed to have been amongst the top earners of the year. However, as the business is private, the company’s financial information is not accessible.
