A.P. Møller - Mærsk A/S

Revenue was $15.8 billion, up 20% year over year. EBITDA was $3 billion and EBIT was $1.6 billion. Free cash flow was positive at $549 million versus negative $373 million a year ago, while operating cash flow was $2.3 billion and cash conversion was 75%. Ocean revenue increased 23% year over year to $10.5 billion, with EBITDA of $2 billion and EBIT of $935 million; loaded volumes rose 4.1% year over year to 3.4 million FFE and average loaded freight rates increased 22% year over year and 32% sequentially. Logistics & Services revenue was $4.2 billion, up 15%, with EBIT of $217 million and margin of 5.1%; Forwarding margin was 6.4%, Landside margin 6.3%, and Solutions margin 1.7%. Terminals revenue was $1.4 billion, up 11%, with EBIT of $458 million and EBIT margin of 31.6%; ROIC was 14.8%. Management upgraded full-year guidance to underlying EBITDA of $10.5 billion to $12.5 billion, underlying EBIT of $4.5 billion to $6.5 billion, and positive free cash flow. CapEx guidance remained unchanged at $10 billion to $11 billion for '25 to '26 and the same for '26 to '27.

Vincent Clerc framed the quarter as evidence that Maersk is benefiting from both strong demand and a more constrained supply chain, especially in Ocean. He said the market is experiencing a structural shift: bottlenecks are moving from ships to landside infrastructure, which is making rate events more frequent and more volatile. He also emphasized operational agility, saying Maersk redeployed capacity quickly, protected customer supply chains, and recovered higher costs through commercial measures.

Robert Erni highlighted that the quarter was stronger than both last year and the first quarter, driven mainly by Ocean. He cited revenue of $15.8 billion, EBITDA of $3 billion, EBIT of $1.6 billion, positive free cash flow of $549 million, $18.5 billion of cash and deposits, and a net cash position of $1.5 billion. He explained that free cash flow lagged earnings because working capital rose on higher receivables from stronger Ocean rates and higher bunker inventory from higher energy prices; gross CapEx was $931 million, in line with annual guidance, and shareholder returns totaled $367 million, mostly via buybacks.

Analysts focused on why Maersk is gradually returning services through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, and management said about 1/3 of normal services are now transiting, with safety still the overriding criterion. Vincent Clerc said the company believes conditions currently allow a gradual return, but the assessment is made daily and services can be rerouted if security changes. Questions also centered on whether stronger rate gains versus peers and the tighter land-side environment signal a more volatile but structurally firmer pricing backdrop; management said it can react faster than peers in volatile markets, and that future rate movements will be driven increasingly by inland capacity constraints, not just ship supply.