The A P Moeller-Maersk group was turning its fortunes around and was on its way to becoming a growth company again, said group CEO Søren Skou in a conference call last Friday to announce the group’s second quarter (Q2) earnings.
He said the group had seen revenue growth of 24% which was a “major improvement” over 2016 when it started its transformation journey.
“We would have liked to see a lot more of the growth in turnover actually also hit the bottom line.” He added that low freight rates and higher bunker prices – “somewhere north of $1 billion of extra fuel cost” – had hurt the business and negatively impacted Maersk Ocean’s results.
He said the group had significantly curbed its capital expenditure and that by the end of 2019 Maersk would have almost no committed CapEx except for the commitments it had on certain terminal concessions.
The transport and logistics group’s results are often used as a yardstick by which to gauge the outlook for the rest of the global seafreight industry
CAPTION
A P Moeller-Maersk group CEO Søren Skou.
