Shipping giant Maersk’s shares jump 10% on profit beat despite trade uncertainty

Maersk shares jumped more than 10% after the shipping giant posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter results on Thursday, putting shares on course for their best daily performance since 2016.

Earnings before interest, depreciation, taxes and amortization (EBITDA) rose 26% to $12.13 billion in the full-year stretch and came in at $3.6 billion in the fourth quarter, exceeding the $3 billion analyst forecast for the three-month period cited by Reuters.

“We saw growth across all three of our segments. We saw also a pretty strong price environment on the back of that growth and some shortages of capacity, so global trade continuing to be strong allowed us to deliver a very strong quarter,” Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday.

“At a time of very high macroeconomic uncertainties, we were able to be sufficiently agile.”

The return to profit growth follows a plunge in 2023, as the impact of global supply chain constraints drove a huge spike to record highs in 2021 and 2022. Maersk EBITDA was $36.8 billion in 2022.

Maersk, whose performance is seen as a bellwether for trade and growth trends, said it sees EBITDA between $6 billion and $9 billion in 2025 and forecasts the global economy will expand this year, while lower interest rates stimulate demand.

On this outlook, Clerc told CNBC that “certainly we will see some normalization on the price side, but we still expect the economy to chug along at quite some strength, with a 4% growth expected in the market and in the traded volumes.”

Analysts at JP Morgan flagged stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter profit driven by its ocean and terminals performance in a Thursday note, but said the company outlook indicates that the key ocean freight shipping is “heading into losses” in the second half of the year.

The analysts also noted that the company had initiated a $2 billion share buyback “despite this negative dynamic.”

This is a breaking news story and will be updated shortly.