Hapag is worth more than Maersk on the stock exchange

Hapag is worth more than Maersk on the stock exchange

Hapag is worth more than Maersk on the stock exchange

INVESTORS

Although Hapag-Lloyd is much smaller than Maersk in transport capacity, the stock market value of the German shipping company has been above that of the Danish container giant for months.

At the end of the trading day on June 30, Hapag was worth almost two billion dollars more than Maersk based on the share price: converted 44 against 42.2 billion. This is apparent from a comparison of the stock market value of container shipping companies, which Sydbank has drawn up at the request of ShippingWatch.

According to analyst Mikkel Emil Jensen of this Danish bank, it cannot be concluded from this that the prospects of the German shipping company are rosier than those of Maersk. According to him, the most important explanation is that Hapag has a limited ‘free float’ (the number of freely tradable shares – ed.) of only 3.6% of all shares.

Investors

“The stock market’s ability to determine an effective share price for Hapag-Lloyd has deteriorated significantly,” said Jensen. The vast majority of the shares are held by strategic and institutional investors. For example, transport billionaire Klaus-Michael Kühne and Chilean CSAB both own 30%.

Nevertheless, this is a remarkable development because in terms of transport capacity, Maersk is two and a half times larger than Hapag: 4.3 million teu against 1.8 million. In recent years, Maersk’s stock market value was well above that of Hapag, but that situation reversed in the first half of this year. In the course of May, the difference even increased to about 50%. In the middle of that month, the stock market value of the German shipping company was $82 billion, compared to 55 billion for Maersk.

Hapag is worth more than Maersk on the stock exchange

INVESTORS

Although Hapag-Lloyd is much smaller than Maersk in transport capacity, the stock market value of the German shipping company has been above that of the Danish container giant for months.

At the end of the trading day on June 30, Hapag was worth almost two billion dollars more than Maersk based on the share price: converted 44 against 42.2 billion. This is apparent from a comparison of the stock market value of container shipping companies, which Sydbank has drawn up at the request of ShippingWatch.

According to analyst Mikkel Emil Jensen of this Danish bank, it cannot be concluded from this that the prospects of the German shipping company are rosier than those of Maersk. According to him, the most important explanation is that Hapag has a limited ‘free float’ (the number of freely tradable shares – ed.) of only 3.6% of all shares.

Investors

“The stock market’s ability to determine an effective share price for Hapag-Lloyd has deteriorated significantly,” said Jensen. The vast majority of the shares are held by strategic and institutional investors. For example, transport billionaire Klaus-Michael Kühne and Chilean CSAB both own 30%.

Nevertheless, this is a remarkable development because in terms of transport capacity, Maersk is two and a half times larger than Hapag: 4.3 million teu against 1.8 million. In recent years, Maersk’s stock market value was well above that of Hapag, but that situation reversed in the first half of this year. In the course of May, the difference even increased to about 50%. In the middle of that month, the stock market value of the German shipping company was $82 billion, compared to 55 billion for Maersk.