By Ole Mikkelsen

COPENHAGEN, Feb 10 (Reuters) – Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk tumbled to a lack of $2.5 billion within the final three months of 2015 after the delivery and power group wrote down the worth of its oil property by the identical quantity.

Maersk warned traders on Wednesday that it expects its underlying internet end in 2016 to be considerably under 2015’s $3.1 billion because it struggles with plummeting oil costs and low charges for container freight. Its shares fell as a lot as 9 p.c in early buying and selling and had been down 4.4 p.c by 0855 GMT.

Chief Executive Nils Smedegaard Andersen mentioned the oil value was the most important short-term problem for the corporate.

“Given our expectation that the oil price will remain at a low level for a longer period, we have impaired the value of a number of Maersk Oil’s assets by $2.5 billion after tax,” Andersen mentioned.

The end result for 2015 fell wanting beforehand lowered steering for a revenue earlier than particular gadgets of $3.1 billion.

“The downgrade of 2015 guidance in October warned everybody of a tough fourth quarter, but it turned out a lot harder than expected,” mentioned analyst Ricky Rasmussen from Nykredit Markets.

Shares in A.P. Moller-Maersk have dropped 50 p.c since April final 12 months. (Additional reporting by Annabella Pultz Nielsne and Nikolaj Skydsgaard; Editing by Terje Solsvik and Keith Weir)

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