ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. was modest in its earning statement, calling a second-quarter 394% net profit rocket simply “significant improvement.”
This week ZIM reported second-quarter net profit of $25.3 million compared to $5.1 million in the same period last year.
ZIM President and CEO Eli Glickman used the same exact words, “significant improvement,” in May, when he reported the Israeli shipping line had whittled its first-quarter net loss year-over-year from $24.3 million to $11.9 million.
ZIM’s Q2 results were up “significantly” nearly across the board:
• Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for Q2 2020 was $145.1 million, up 53.7% from $94.4 million in Q2 2019.
• Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) was $72.7 million, a jump of 87.9% year-over-year from $38.7 million.
• Operating cash flow was $119.8 million, a year-over-year leap of 86.9% from $64.1 million.
Total Q2 revenues were down 4.7% year-over-year, from $834.3 million last year to $795.1 million. Total volume also was down 12.3% to 641,000 twenty-foot equivalent units from 731,000 TEUs in Q1 2019.
“I’m very pleased to report a significant improvement in ZIM’s performance compared to the same period in 2019,” Glickman said in the earnings statement. “In Q2 2020 we have delivered our best results in a decade, which we believe stem from our overall strategy. Combined with our vision and values, and the unique abilities of our people, it yielded these great and encouraging results.”
ZIM also reported digging out of the hole in the first six months of the year:
• Adjusted net profit for the first six months of 2020 was $26.9 million, up from an adjusted net loss of $14.5 million last year.
• Net profit was $13.4 million compared to a net loss of $19.2 million in the first six months of 2019.
Adjusted EBITDA also made impressive gains, from $170 million in 2019 to $242.3 million in the first six months of this year.
As with the first quarter, first-half revenues and volumes were down. Revenue was down only slightly, though, 0.7% from $1.63 billion to $1.61 billion. First-half volume in 2020 was down 8.5% from 1.39 million TEUs to 1.28 million.
Glickman said it was “important to note that this accomplishment has been achieved while we were facing the ongoing formidable challenges posed by the global pandemic.”
ZIM said the COVID-19 pandemic has “significantly impacted global economies, resulting in reduced demand and spending across many sectors, adversely affecting the volume of trade.”
Glickman said ZIM was able to combat the adverse effects with innovative services. “Our agile response and strong initiatives were very well received by shippers. We also continued to broaden our array of digital tools, improving the way we do business with our customers.
“Our constant efforts to become the most customer-oriented company in the industry gained the trust of our customers and business partners and proves to be a winning strategy for the benefit of all,” he said.
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Click for more American Shipper/FreightWaves stories by Senior Editor Kim Link-Wills.