Danish logistics giant A.P. Moller-Maersk has announced a positive set of results for the first nine months to 2008, with net profit up 39 per cent to US$3.6bn (€2.8bn) during the period ended 30 September.
Year-on-year revenue increased 28 per cent from US$ 36.9bn in 2007 to US$47.1bn, attributed to higher oil prices and soaring freight rates and volumes in its container activities.
Results were boosted by the group's container shipping activities, with Maersk Line and Safmarine increasing the number of container units transported by 5 per cent to 5.3m FFEs (forty-foot equivalent units). Average freight rates jumped 11 per cent compared with the same period of 2007.
Revenue in APM Terminals increased by 29 per cent during the nine-month period, Maersk said, with profit 'significantly exceeding' that achieved during 2007.
Maersk added that profit for full-year 2008 is expected to hit US$4bn-US$4.3bn, down from an August estimate of US$4bn-US$4.6bn, as a result of negative developments in financial items and lower results from Danske Bank.
'The outlook for 2008 is still subject to uncertainty, not least due to the development in the world economy and the financial markets,' the group said in a statement. 'Specific uncertainties relate to the development in container freight rates, transported volumes, exchange rates, oil prices and prices of securities.'
