Maersk 2024 net profit up 56% at $6bn

Maersk reported a net profit of $6.09 billion for 2024, up 56 percent from $3.9 billion in 2023, driven by growth across all segments and significantly improved profitability.

Total revenue increased nine percent to $55.5 billion, says an official release.

"Results were driven by higher container demand and elevated freight rates in ocean, top line and volume growth in terminals and solid improvements in most logistics & services products."

Vincent Clerc, CEO, Maersk says: "Our ability to navigate shifting circumstances and ensure steady supply chains for our customers was put to the test throughout 2024. Our efforts were rewarded with record-high customer satisfaction. We successfully capitalised on increased demand while enhancing productivity and rigorously managing costs — all of which contributed to our strong financial performance. With three strong businesses — ocean, logistics & services and terminals — plus integrated offerings across the supply chain, we are uniquely positioned to support our customers in an era where geopolitical changes and disruptions continue to reinforce the need for resilient supply chains."

Ocean revenue increased 11 percent to $37.4 billion and EBIT came in at $4.7 billion as against $2.22 billion in 2023. "Profitability in ocean improved compared to the previous year supported by a significant increase in freight rates reflecting the situation in the Red Sea and strong volume demand. High utilisation and cost discipline ensured that ocean operations were streamlined and able to tackle uncertainties. Operational costs were stable year-on-year, offsetting the increased costs and additional bunker consumption of re-routing the network south of the Cape of Good Hope."

Logistics and services revenue was $14.9 billion, an increase of seven percent, "supported by solid growth in warehousing, air and first mile product categories while profitability benefitted from progress in most products."

Terminals reported revenue of $4.5 billion and EBIT of $1.3 billion, "driven by significant top line growth due to strong volumes along with inflation-offsetting tariffs increases, a better customer and product mix, and higher storage revenue."

2025 outlook
Maersk is expecting an EBIT of $0-300 million in 2025 based on the expectation that global container volume growth in 2025 will be around four percent and growth will be in line with the market. "It is further expected that 2025 is likely to show greater supply-demand imbalance with continued new deliveries in the container shipping industry and a potential re-opening of the Red Sea. Nevertheless, this imbalance may be largely offset by supply-side drivers and strong market demand. For the purposes of the financial guidance, Maersk assumes that the Red Sea re-opens mid-year for the low end of the guidance and re-opens at year-end for the high-end. Maersk’s outlook for 2025 is subject to considerable macroeconomic uncertainties impacting container volume growth and freight rates."

Shareholder returns
Maersk returned $1.6 billion to shareholders during 2024 through dividends and share buy-backs. "The demerger and spin-off of Svitzer returned $1.1 billion to shareholders through a dividend in-kind."

The board has decided to initiate a share buyback programme of up to DKK 14.4 billion (around $2 billion), to be executed over a period of 12 months.