Matson's second quarter profits declined precipitously year-over-year, a trend the Hawaiian boxship owner does not expect to let up with the US-China trade war raging.
The New York-traded company posted $18.6m in revenue for the second three months of 2019, down 43% from the same period in 2018, while slashing its second-half forecast.
"The company continues to expect net income in 2019 to decline year-over-year; and we are lowering our outlook for Ebitda in 2019 by approximately $18 million," chief executive Matt Cox said in a statement.
"We view 2019 as a transition year and remain confident about achieving the approximately $30 million in previously-mentioned annual financial benefits from the new vessels."
Matson's second quarter earnings — in which it missed analyst expectations of $0.63 per share by $0.20 — were impacted by lower container volumes in its biggest market, Hawaii, and an $8.2m lower contribution from its west coast terminal joint venture SSAT.
The company expects SSAT to recover in the second half of the year, as the decline was due in part to new accounting standards. But it does not expect volumes to pick up in Hawaii, with freight growth not keeping up with GDP growth on the islands and the US-China trade war cutting the number of containers headed to China.
Last week, US President Donald Trump added $300bn of tariffs to Chinese goods. Monday, China let its currency weaken, setting off a sell-off across markets.
Matson shares took the biggest dollar-value hit of all shipping stocks, which were down across the board. The company closed the day $2.13 lower to $36.74.
Wednesday, Matson shares closed down 1.75% to $36.54.
