Off the wire
• Uncertainty over London airport expansion taking toll on economy, warn MPs  • Ryanair's passenger figures grow 10 pct in April  • Spotlight: Trump gets them wrong, from trade balance to basic economics  • Across China: Chinese entrepreneur digs success in flexible display industry  • Weather forecast for world cities -- May 4  • Weather forecast for major Chinese cities, regions -- May 4  • Bangladesh places embargo on use of stickers on vehicles identifying professions  • Roundup: Chronic problems challenge Myanmar's new government in boosting export  • Sri Lankan investigators to probe parliament brawl between ruling, opposition lawmakers  • Fresh elections begin in 15 polling stations in Serbia  
You are here: 　 Home

Maersk reports sharp drop in Q1 profits

Xinhua, May 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

Danish oil and shipping group A.P. Moeller-Maersk posted a sharp drop in profits in the first quarter 2016, due to low oil prices and low average container freight prices, the company said on Wednesday.

The group earned 224 million U.S. dollars in profits in the first quarter, down from 1.6 billion U.S. dollars for the same period last year, according to the company's quarterly financial report.

Group revenue for the three months ending March stood at 8.5 billion U.S. dollars, a decline of 19 percent from 10.5 billion U.S. dollars year on year, it added.

Maersk said the slump in revenue was predominantly due to 37 percent lower oil price and 26 percent lower average container freight rates, partly offset by 7 percent higher container volumes and 15 percent higher oil entitlement production.

"Global economic conditions remain difficult to predict and our businesses and the return on invested capital are significantly impacted by large short-term volatility," Maersk said in the report.

Maersk maintained its outlook for 2016, saying "the Group's expectation of an underlying result significantly below last year is unchanged," and forecasts its gross cash flow used for capital expenditure to be around 7 billion U.S. dollars.

Following cost reductions, its oil and container division now expects a break even result as against a previous forecast of a negative underlying result.

However, the terminals and ports business now expects "an underlying result below 2015 versus previously around the 2015 level," due to reduced demand expectations in oil producing emerging economies. Enditem