A.P. Møller - Mærsk (APMM) has raised its profit guidance for the year again as its quarterly performance beat its earlier expectation.

The Danish shipping giant increased its profit guidance to US$30 billion in 2022 — US$6 billion more than the US$24 billion it was earlier expected to make.

The announcement came as Maersk noted that its first quarter financial performance was ahead of its forecast.

"APMM has realized a financial performance for the first quarter of 2022 ahead of previous expectations with a revenue of US$19.3 billion, an underlying EBITDA of US$ 9.2, billion, and an underlying EBIT of US$7.9 billion," the shipping line said.

Maersk said the strong result is driven by the continuation of the exceptional market situation within the ocean, which has led to a 7% decline in volumes and an average 71% increase in freight rates compared to the same period in 2021.

"As a consequence of the strong Q1 results, the expectation that the current market situation will continue in Q2 combined with higher contracted rates, APMM now expects the full year 2022 to be stronger than previously anticipated," it added.

"Consequently, the full-year guidance for 2022 has been revised upwards. Underlying EBITDA is now expected to be around US$30 billion (previously around US$24 billion), " Maersk said, adding that underlying EBIT is expected around US$24 billion (previously expected at around US$19 billion), and a free cash flow above US$19 billion (previously above US$15 billion).

Maersk said, however, that the current earnings guidance is still based on an assumption of normalization in Ocean early in the second half of 2022.

"Based on volume developments in the first quarter, APMM has revised downwards its outlook for the growth of global container demand from 2-4% to -1/+1%," it added.