CMA CGM Continues Expansion, Confirms Profits

The Board of Directors of CMA CGM Group, the world’s third largest container shipping company, met under the chairmanship of Jacques R. Saadé, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, to review the financial statements for the second quarter of 2014.

In the second quarter, in a market environment shaped by diverging developments in different regions, CMA CGM reported its consolidated revenue amounted to $4.2 billion, up 3.7% year-on-year, volumes carried increased by 8% to 3.1 million TEUs, and average revenue per TEU decreased by 3.9% over the period.

Sustained growth in volumes was mainly attributable to the development of the group’s Asia-Europe and Africa lines, and of the Asia-Pacific lines of its subsidiary ANL, reflecting CMA CGM’s enhanced services portfolio in these regions. As a result the Group achieved record-high volumes for the period, the company said.

In addition, CMA CGM claimed to maintain its commitment to operational efficiency, thereby reducing costs per TEU by 4.8%. Most notably, fuel costs per TEU fall by 9.3%, thanks to the combined effect of lower bunker consumption per unit and more moderate bunker prices.

Core EBIT amounted to $204 million in the second quarter of 2014, versus $172 million in the prior-year period, representing an 18.4% increase.

Core EBIT margin therefore stood at 4.9%, up a slight 0.2 pt compared to the first three months of the year and up a sharper 0.7 pt compared to second-quarter 2013.

Consolidated net profit came to $94 million, versus $268 million in the second quarter of 2013, with last year’s amount including a non-recurring $248.0 million in proceeds from the sale of the 49% stake in our port terminal operations subsidiary Terminal Link.

CMA CGM’s financial position remained stable, with cash maintained at a healthy level and net debt unchanged, resulting in gearing of 0.71.

In the second quarter of 2014, Standard & Poor’s raised CMA CGM's credit rating to B+, with a stable outlook.

Following the arrival of the Danube, the first 9,000 TEU long-term charter vessel deployed on the Black Sea lines, the Elbe and Rhône vessels will be delivered to CMA CGM in the coming weeks.

The group is continuing to expand its port terminal operations, with the signature of a partnership agreement with the Indian company Adani to develop a new terminal in Mundra, India, and the start of bilateral negotiations as part of a project to develop a terminal in Kingston, Jamaica, following the acceptance of the proposal by local authorities. The terminal is to become CMA CGM’s transhipment hub for the Caribbean. In addition, the group recently announced its plan to make Reunion Island its transhipment hub for the Indian Ocean following the completion of work to expand Port Reunion.

Freight rates remained volatile overall, with the usual high level of volumes at this time of the year helping drive current rate increases. On this basis, CMA CGM expects its third-quarter operating performance to be sustained.

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