Wilh Wilhelmsen Holdings’ bottom line continues to benefit from the company’s stake in the world’s largest car carrier owner.
The Oslo-listed shipping conglomerate recorded a $153m profit for the third quarter, up from $93m for the same period last year amid modest growth from its maritime services and new energy businesses and an “all-time high” contribution from its ownership stake in Wallenius Wilhelmsen.
Wilh Wilhelmsen Holdings’ share of Wallenius Wilhelmsen’s third-quarter earnings totalled $113m, up from $81m for the same period last year.
The Thomas Wilhelmsen-led company owns nearly 38% of Wallenius Wilhelmsen, which counts 126 vessels in its fleet.
Its investment in car carrier-owning peer Hyundai Glovis through Treasure ASA contributed $20m, up slightly from the $19m reported in the third quarter of 2022.
It owns 11% of that company.
Elsewhere, its maritime services division, including ship management, and ship and port services, brought in $178m in income.
The division was led by ship services, bringing in $115m, up from $100m for the third quarter of 2023. Ship management earned $22m, up from $17m year over year.
In total, the division brought in a $10m profit.
New energy, which includes the NorSea offshore supply chain management outfit and its holdings in offshore wind shipowner Edda Wind, Reach Subsea and autonomous vessel company Massterly, recorded an $8m profit.
DNB Markets analyst Jorgen Lian said the results were overall neutral, coming in short of his expectations.
He said maritime services performance was a miss but new energy saw greater activity.
Lian noted the company’s belief its car carrier holdings would continue strengthening in the short term.
“A favourable supply-demand balance in global ro-ro shipping has lifted the earnings and dividend capacity of the company’s strategic holdings, and management expects this situation to remain in the short term,” he said.
In early trading on the Oslo Stock Exchange, Wilh Wilhelmsen Holdings’ non-voting series B shares were up NOK 2 ($0.18) from the previous close to NOK 315, while its series A shares jumped NOK 6 to NOK 326.
