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Shipping giant Maersk shares slide 15% after suspending share buybacks amid Red Sea disruption [1]
['Karen Gilchrist']
Date: 2024-02-08
LONDON — Shares of Danish shipping giant Maersk slumped nearly 15% in morning trade Thursday after it flagged "high uncertainty" in its 2024 earnings outlook amid Red Sea disruptions and an oversupply of shipping vessels.
The company also said that it would be suspending share buybacks on the back of the uncertainty.
Maersk said it expected underlying EBITDA (or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) of between $1 billion and $6 billion this year, compared to the $9.6 billion recorded in 2023.
Shares were trading 14.69% lower at 2:00 p.m. London time.
"The impact of this situation is causing new uncertainty for how this is going to play out from an earnings perspective throughout the year," CEO Vincent Clerc told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe."
"We have very little visibility as to whether this is a situation that will resolve in a matter of weeks or months, or whether this is something that is going to be with us for the full year," he added.
In a statement, the company added that its board had decided to "immediately suspend the share buy-back programme, with a re-initiation to be reviewed once market conditions in Ocean [division] have settled."
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[1] Url:
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/08/maersk-q4-earnings-2023-suspends-share-buybacks-amid-red-sea-disruption.html
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