Oil write down hits Moller-Maersk profits

The Danish shipping and energy group Moller-Maersk has revealed that it suffer a big loss – $2.5 billion (2.2 billion euros) in the final three months of last year.

That was because it wrote down the value of its oil assets by that amount.

Maersk warned investors that slumping oil prices and low rates for container freight mean it expects its underlying net result in 2016 to be significantly below last year’s $3.1 billion (2.75 billion euros).

Chief Executive Nils Smedegaard Andersen said the oil price was the biggest short-term challenge for the company.

The company’s shares fell further on Wednesday, they have lost half their value since April last year.