A.P. Moller – Maersk has confirmed that container volumes continued to improve in Q3 of 2020, and are expected to hold steady throughout the fourth quarter.
Maersk told investors today that it anticipated to report an unaudited revenues of £7.6 billion and an EBITDA before restructuring and integration costs of $2.4 billion for the third quarter of 2020.
Søren Skou, CEO of A.P. Moller - Maersk says: "A.P. Moller - Maersk is on track to deliver a strong Q3 with solid earnings growth across all our businesses, in particular in Ocean and Logistics & Services. Volumes have rebounded faster than expected, our cost have remained well under control, freight rates have increased due to strong demand and we are growing earnings rapidly in Logistics & Services. The outlook for Q4 is solid for the same reasons, and we are therefore able to upgrade our expectations for the full year.
"The outlook for 2021 remains uncertain due to the ongoing pandemic. The positive impact from stimulus packages may be less strong in 2021, potential new lock downs will impact demand and the timing and effectiveness of a potential vaccine will impact 2021.”
The company now reports an unaudited revenue of USD 9.9bn and an EBITDA before restructuring and integration costs of USD 2.4bn for Q3 2020, driven by a continued recovery in demand and our initiatives to improve cost. Volumes in Ocean declined by around 3 pct. in Q3 2020 compared to previous year, which is slightly better than the anticipated mid-single digit contraction.
A.P. Moller - Maersk expects to take a restructuring charge of around USD 100m in Q3 2020 related to the redundancies of approx. 2,000 employees as the consequence of the changes to the organisation in Ocean and Logistics & Services announced on 1 September 2020.
Given the result in Q3 2020 and the current earnings momentum we see across the businesses, the full year 2020 EBITDA is now expected to be in the range of USD 7.5-8.0bn, before restructuring and integration costs (previously USD 6.0-7.0bn). All other parameters of our guidance released on August 19th remain unchanged.
Trading conditions for the quarters ahead remain subject to a higher than normal uncertainty given the disruptions caused or potentially being caused by COVID-19.