World’s biggest shipping company posts Q4 loss, revenue up
Posted Feb 21, 2019 04:15:56 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
COPENHAGEN — Danish shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk is reporting a fourth quarter loss of $34 million, down from a $32 million profit a year earlier.
Its fourth quarter revenue increased to $10.2 billion, from 8.4 billion. For all of 2018, revenue was up 26 per cent to $8.1 billion with growth in all segments.
Maersk said the revenue improvement was driven by higher freight rates, greater efficiency in its operations, and synergies from the 2017 acquisition of German container shipping company Hamburg Sud.
Chief Executive Soeren Skou said Thursday the group had increased revenue “despite significantly higher bunker fuel prices and lower than expected container volume growth in the second half of 2018. However, profitability needs to improve.”
Shares were down nearly 10 per cent in Copenhagen.
The Associated Press
