Maersk trims profit guidance, sees shares fall

The adjustment reflects the market challenges facing Maersk Line, the world's largest containership operator. The Group is maintaining its result guidance for 2015 for all its other businesses.

The previous expectation, announced in group's second quarter report, had looked for an underlying result contribution from Maersk Line above $ 2.2 billion. The Group now expects an underlying result from Maersk Line of around $1.6 billion.

The Group's sensitivity guidance for the last six months of 2015 states that a general decline in the freight rate of $100 per FFE (Forty Foot Equivalent) will impact Maersk Line's result negatively by around $ 0.5 billion, and that a volume reduction of 100,000 FFE will have a negative impact of around $ 0.1 billion.

"Maersk Line has over the years taken steps to ensure a cost effective and resilient operation, but the current deterioration in the container shipping market is impacting also our business," says Group CEO Nils S. Andersen..

In the third quarter Maersk Line achieved an average freight rate of $2,163/FFE down from $2,679/FFE in the equivalent 2014 quarter) and carried 2,427,000 FFE (2,401,000 FFE in Q3 2014. These results were lower than expected.

As a result of the market circumstances, says the Group, "initiatives have been taken to adjust Maersk Line's network accordingly."

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