Maersk has delivered record earnings during the third quarter of the year, with revenue reaching US$16.6 billion, and earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) being raised by almost five times.
In particular, the global logistics leader reported revenue growth of 68% and skyrocketing increase in EBIT that completed US$5.9 billion.
Furthermore, the Danish shipping company achieved tripled rise in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) to US$6.9 billion, while return on invested capital (ROIC) increased to 34.5% over the Q3 of the previous year.
“In the ongoing exceptional market situation, with high demand in the US and global disruptions to the supply chains, we continued to increase capacity and expand our offerings to keep cargo moving for our customers,” stated the CEO of A.P. Moller – Maersk, Søren Skou.
In the ocean sector, results in the third quarter were driven by high freight rates in an exceptional market situation with revenue almost doubling year-on-year to US$13.1 billion, EBITDA increased by US$4.4 billion to US$6.3 billion and EBIT elevated by US$4.4 billion to US$5.3 billion.
“To further guarantee reliable transportation, the share of long-term contracts was further increased, now accounting for 64% of long-haul volumes compared to 50% a year ago,” explained Maersk in a statement.
Meanwhile, the company’s sector of logistics and services during continued the positive momentum during the last quarter with revenue totalling US$2.6 billion, reflecting a 38% growth compared to 2020Q3, which was driven by strong activity increase across all products and strong commercial synergies to Top 200 Ocean customers.
EBIT for the “logistics and services” sector rose to US$194 million, almost doubled from last year’s figure while EBIT margin grew by 7.5%, “well ahead of our mid-term target of above 6%,” according to Maersk.
Maersk’s CEO announced that given the significant progress of our transformation into a logistics integrator and the continued commitment to shareholder returns, the Board of Directors has decided to extend the current share buy-back programme by an additional US$5 billion over the years 2024 and 2025.
“As a natural next step in expanding our multi logistics offering, we announce the acquisition of Senator International and the ordering of additional aircraft, building on our existing Air Freight capabilities and adding even more flexibility to our customers’ supply chains,” added Skou.
The Copenhagen-based group noted that the current trading conditions are still subject to a higher-than-normal uncertainty due to the temporary nature of current demand patterns and disruptions in the supply chains and are expected to continue at least into the first quarter of 2022.
Therefore, Maersk forecasts for the full-year an underlying EBITDA in the range of US$22 – 23 billion, an underlying EBIT ranging between US$18 – 19 billion and a free cash flow of a minimum of US$14.5 billion.
