Maersk, the world's largest container shipping firm, recently reported its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2022 and the full year. Despite a decline in earnings in the fourth quarter, the company posted its best-ever full-year results, with an underlying EBITDA of $36.84 billion.
The company's exceptional performance in 2022 was largely due to a continued rise in ocean freight rates. However, this positive trend has now peaked, and a normalization of rates is expected to negatively impact earnings. This was highlighted by former CEO Søren Skou in the company's third-quarter earnings report, when he warned of "dark clouds on the horizon."
Despite the challenges ahead, new CEO Vincent Clerc remains optimistic and determined to drive the company's transformation and operational excellence. He stated that in 2022, the company not only achieved its best financial result but also strengthened its partnerships with customers by supporting their supply chains end-to-end during highly disruptive times.
The company faced additional challenges in the form of a 14% decline in loaded volumes and a 3.5% decrease in loaded freight rates, leading to a slight fall in revenue. Maersk also faced a $511 million hit from efforts to wind down its operations in Russia. However, the company reported an increased free cash flow of $6.5 billion in the fourth quarter and issued a $685 million share buyback. Additionally, the company raised its dividend to 4,300 Danish krone per share from 2,500 DKK per share.
For
2023, Maersk expects underlying EBITDA to drop to between $8 billion and $11
billion, based on the expectation that the inventory correction will be
complete by the end of H1, leading to a more balanced demand environment, and
that global GDP growth will remain muted. The company also expects the global
ocean container market to grow in a range of -2.5% to +0.5%.
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