Moller-Maersk Group, the world's largest shipping company by capacity, announced a slump in third-quarter profits on Wednesday due to low freight prices which it said were down 16 percent year-on-year.
Its underlying profits reached $426 million in the third quarter of this year, from $662 million seen a year ago. This was better than analyst expectations in a Reuters poll. However, net profit fell 43 percent to $438 million from $778 million a year ago, which was below estimates of $490 million.
Søren Skou, chief executive officer of Maersk Group, told CNBC on Wednesday that he was not satisfied with the results, but added that the firm had plans to restructure. The goal is to divide the oil and energy side of the business from shipping and logistics.
"We will update the markets on that in December and the third-quarter results do not affect our intended strategy," he said.