* A.P. Moller-Maersk seen reporting half-year net loss
* Results released on Friday Aug. 21
* Net loss seen at 2.91 bln crowns
COPENHAGEN, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Danish shipping and energy group A.P. Moller-Maersk is expected to post a net loss for the first half of 2009 because of low freight rates and slipping oil prices, a Reuters poll of analysts showed.
The group was seen swinging to a net loss of 2.91 billion Danish crowns ($552.6 million) in the six months to the end of June from a net profit of 11.59 billion in the same period last year, according to the average of 14 estimates.
Maersk is due to report results on Friday, Aug. 21.
Total revenue at the world's biggest container shipping group was seen falling 14.2 percent year on year to 127.3 billion crowns.
"Maersk has suffered from a significant slow-down in the container market and low container rates. Maersk Oil & Gas has been hit by a very low oil price compared to the year-ago record level," Jyske Bank analyst Karsten Sloth said in a research note.
Operating earnings in the Oil and Gas division were seen down by 53.6 percent at 11.9 billion crowns, while the container and shipping business was seen posting an operating loss of 6 billion crowns.
Maersk operates the world's largest container shipping fleet, Maersk Line, and controls about 85 percent of Danish oil production in the North Sea together with partners Shell and Chevron.
Of the 13 analysts who disclosed their recommendations on Maersk's stock, four had neutral views, three were positive and six were negative.
Maersk's big shipping competitors include Taiwan's Evergreen Marine Corp., Japan's Mitsui O.S.K Lines Ltd, Korea's Hanjin Shipping, Germany's Hapag Lloyd and privately-owned MSC.
Data for Reuters Nordics earnings polls compiled by Inquiry Financial Intelligence. For more details on the data, please click on www.ConsensusEstimates.com.
(All figures in millions of crowns except EPS and dividend, which are in crowns)
ESTIMATES FOR THE FIRST HALF OF 2009
Mean Median High Low No. Yr ago Total revenue 127,326 130,510 137,500 114,801 13 148,365 EBITDA (group) 22,304 21,269 27,673 18,000 13 40,021 EBIT (group) 9,030 9,433 13,376 5,000 13 33,804 - cont., shipping -5,958 -6,207 -4,588 -7,130 8 1,854 - terminals 645 638 771 548 6 n/a - tank, offshore 1,560 1,542 2,073 1,142 8 4,292 - oil & gas 11,867 11,337 16,291 10,139 8 25,563 - retail 1,000 1,009 1,170 772 8 1,221 - industrials 1 -91 580 -379 8 1,051 Pretax profit 4,787 4,316 9,741 2,414 13 31,788 Net profit -2,907 -2,603 -930 -5,852 14 11,594 EPS -707.43 -633.50 -226.00 -1,424.0 14 2,817.00 FULL YEAR 2009
Mean Median High Low No. Yr ago Total revenue 260,593 261,695 275,000 244,980 12 311,821 EBITDA (group) 49,470 48,817 55,079 42,880 10 83,945 EBIT (group) 23,047 22,600 29,638 17,615 11 60,627 - cont., shipping -9,465 -9,121 -7,667 -11,723 7 4,940 - terminals 1,473 1,551 1,747 1,184 5 1,593 - tank, offshore 3,816 4,390 4,768 2,451 7 6,539 - oil & gas 25,358 26,643 29,699 19,218 7 45,267 - retail 2,379 2,361 2,613 2,010 7 2,569 - industrials -298 -341 -90 -563 7 -1,255 Pretax profit 16,486 14,600 23,561 10,499 11 52,819 Net profit -1,878 -2,543 3,853 -6,000 12 16,960 EPS -456.92 -618.50 937.00 -1,460 12 4,122.00 FULL YEAR 2010
Mean Median High Low No. Total revenue 280,140 280,106 295,000 269,571 11 EBITDA (group) 65,933 65,782 70,500 61,109 9 EBIT (group) 40,169 40,080 43,167 35,788 10 - cont., shipping -2,801 -3,017 5 -4,865 6 - terminals 1,657 1,691 1,930 1,316 4 - tank, offshore 4,122 4,025 6,730 1,514 6 - oil & gas 35,052 34,631 38,296 32,854 6 - retail 2,475 2,462 2,912 2,013 6 - industrials -182 -111 -22 -419 6 Pretax profit 33,941 33,558 38,139 28,659 10 Net profit 8,472 8,204 13,000 4,833 11 EPS 2,061 91,996 3,163 1,176 11 Dividend per share 560.33 650.00 750.00 250.00 6
NOTES:
- "No." denotes the number of estimates.
- A.P. Moller-Maersk's main business areas are its oil and gas activities mainly in the North Sea (oil & gas in the table), container and shipping (cont., shipping in the table), terminal operating company (terminals in the table), retail solution segment (retail) and sand, gravel and excavating activities (industrials).
- The following banks and brokerages provided the estimates: ABG Sundal Collier, Carnegie, Dansk Aktie Analyse, Fearnley, Handelsbanken Capital Markets, ING, Jyske Bank, Morgan Stanley, Nordea, Nykredit Markets, SEB Enskilda, Societe Generale, SP Equity Research, Sydbank and UBS.
($1=5.266 Danish Crown) (Reporting by Martin Dahl; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)