Maersk falls after CEO Soren Skou announces he's stepping down

By Geoffrey Smith

Investing.com -- AP Moeller - Maersk A/S B (CSE:MAERSKb) stock fell 2.4% by mid-morning in Europe on Monday after the shipping giant announced that Chief Executive Soren Skou is to step down at the end of the year.

Skou will be succeeded in January by Chief Financial Officer Vincent Clerc, a company insider of 25 years standing.

Clerc takes the helm of the shipping giant at an awkward moment for the group, which is experiencing an increasingly sharp slowdown in its core shipping business after an unsustainable boom in container traffic during the first half of the pandemic.

Maersk warned in November that: "It is clear that freight rates have peaked and started to normalize during the quarter, driven by both decreasing demand and easing of supply chain congestion."

Maersk stock has lost 42% from its peak in January this year, as the benchmark Baltic Dry Index for bulk shipping rates has extended its decline from a high of over 5,500 in 2021 to only 1,386 as of Friday. That decline reflects a sharp swing away from demand for manufactured goods (mainly from China) this year, as fiscal stimulus programs in North America and Europe dried up, leaving consumers exposed to the impact of the highest inflation in 40 years.

Clerc was the obvious choice to carry on with Maersk's long-term diversification strategy, which seeks to reduce its reliance on shipping and build up its air and land-based logistics operations. Logistics now accounts for nearly 20% of company revenues, thanks to the landmark acquisition of LF Logistics in 2021.

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