2023-07-28 19:50:51
With the mass arrival of new boats at shipowners, CMA CGM does not believe in a relaunch in the second half of maritime transport prices. FOCKE STRANGMANN / AFP
The Marseille shipowner is suffering the consequences of the slowdown in world trade. But, in the first half, it still made $3.3 billion in profits.
We kinda suspected that. With the slowdown in world trade, CMA CGM, which had been the most profitable company in France in 2022 (24.9 billion dollars in profits) will not repeat this performance this year. In the first half of the year, it divided its profits by five, to 3.3 billion dollars in net income, against 14.7 billion at the same time last year. Be careful, the world’s third largest shipowner is not doing badly: in the first half, it still made 3.3 billion dollars in profits. Nothing to do with the pre-Covid situation: in 2019, it had lost $152 million over the same period.
And, by dint of multiplying acquisitions (port terminals, Gefco, Ingram Micro CLS, Colis Privé, etc.), the Marseilles group has changed in size. In the first half, it achieved a turnover of 25 billion dollars against 15.1 billion in 2019, the year before Covid. Simply, it no longer has the stratospheric results it displayed during the pandemic when shipping costs soared. ” As expected, our industry continued to normalize in the second quarter », commented soberly in a press release Rodolphe Saade, CEO of CMA CGM. A few months ago, he had been more forthcoming on the subject: “ After two exceptional years, our industry has entered a phase of normalization linked to the slowdown in global growth, inflation and a destocking phenomenon which continues almost everywhere in the world. “, he underlined then.
As a result, the group is marking time this year: sales, Ebitda, net income… all its indicators are down dramatically in the first half compared to last year. Thus, its turnover fell by more than 33% to 25 billion dollars. The fall was even accentuated in the second quarter (- 36.9%).
Diversification pays off
And the slide would have been more spectacular if CMA CGM had not accentuated its diversification. In the second quarter, its historical activity, the transport of goods by container ship, fell by 47.9% when logistics, less subject to jolts, remained stable. This second pole should be further strengthened: CMA CGM reached an agreement with Bolloré a few weeks ago to buy back its Bolloré Logistics division. the shipowner will pay 4.7 billion euros to acquire this company which last year achieved an Ebitda of 437 million euros for a turnover of 7.1 billion euros). The time to have the authorizations of all the competition authorities concerned, the king of container ships should control Bolloré Logistics at the end of the year at the earliest. This will enable it to become the world’s fifth logistician whereas it is only the sixth today.
In the meantime, CMA CGM does not expect a rebound in its activity in the second half. According to experts, the world economy should experience very moderate growth. And the many deliveries of container ships expected by the end of the year do not anticipate a rise in maritime transport prices. Nothing to worry too much about CMA CGM, which over the past two years has pocketed more than forty billion dollars in profits.
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