Copenhagen - AP Moller-Maersk, Denmark’s biggest company, reported a 16% advance in first-quarter profit, as higher oil prices helped the energy division while the container line lost money.
Maersk’s had net income of $245m in the first three months of the year, missing the average estimate of $275m in a Bloomberg survey of 10 analysts. Group revenue rose 5% to $8.96bn, the Copenhagen-based company said in a statement on Thursday.
Maersk said it still expects the global container market to grow 2% to 4% in 2017 and that the liner unit will improve its underlying result by more than $1bn compared with 2016. Still, Maersk Line reported an underlying loss of $80m in the quarter, hurt by weak rates on north-south trade.
“Whilst we cannot be satisfied with the overall profitability in the first quarter, the result is as expected and we reiterate our guidance for the year for the Group,” CEO Soren Skou said in the statement.
Read Fin24's top stories trending on Twitter: Fin24’s top stories