Maersk raises profit outlook on strong market

OSLO/COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danish shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Monday it had raised its full-year forecasts on the back of strong third quarter results, robust demand and the continuing disruption to shipping in the Red Sea.

Maersk said it had revised its outlook for global container market volume growth in 2024 to around 6% from a range of between 4% to 6% seen previously.

Maersk reported preliminary underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $4.8 billion for the third quarter. Analysts had forecast EBITDA of $3.7 billion for the period, according to LSEG data.

Revenue was $15.8 billion, beating the $14.4 billion forecast by analysts.

Attacks on vessels in the Red Sea by Iran-aligned Houthi militants have disrupted a shipping route vital to east-west trade, with prolonged re-routing of shipments pushing freight rates higher and causing congestion in Asian and European ports.

Maersk now expects full-year underlying EBITDA of between $11.0 billion and $11.5 billion, up from a previous range of $9 billion to $11 billion, the group said.

Earnings before interest and tax for 2024 were meanwhile seen at between $5.2 billion and $5.7 billion, up from $3 billion to $5 billion earlier.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, editing by Louise Rasmussen and Sharon Singleton)