A.P. Moller – Maersk A/S (Maersk) has once again revised its full-year financial guidance for 2024, marking the fourth upward revision this year. This comes as a result of continued strong demand in the container market and ongoing disruptions in the Red Sea, which have significantly impacted global shipping operations.
In a trading update released on Monday, Maersk reported robust preliminary results for the third quarter of 2024, with revenue reaching $15.8 billion, an underlying EBITDA of $4.8 billion, and an underlying EBIT of $3.3 billion. These figures far exceed expectations and have prompted Maersk to raise its financial outlook for the remainder of the year.
The company now forecasts an underlying EBITDA of $11.0–$11.5 billion and an underlying EBIT of $5.2–$5.7 billion for 2024. This represents a notable increase from its previous guidance of $9–$11 billion EBITDA and $3–$5 billion EBIT. Additionally, Maersk has updated its free cash flow expectations, now projecting it to exceed $3 billion.
Maersk attributed this significant upgrade to a combination of strong container market demand and prolonged instability in the Red Sea, where Houthi-led attacks on vessels have disrupted shipping lanes and affected global freight rates.
The global container market volume growth forecast for 2024 has also been revised upward to around 6%, compared to the earlier projection of 4-6%.
This latest guidance revision follows a series of earlier upgrades. At the start of 2024, Maersk had anticipated a much more cautious outlook, with an underlying EBITDA projection of just $1 to $6 billion, primarily due to concerns about global container overcapacity and the assumption that Red Sea disruptions would not have a long-term effect on freight rates. However, the evolving market dynamics have prompted multiple upward revisions.
Maersk will release its full third-quarter results on October 31, 2024, providing further insights into its strong financial performance this year.
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