ZIM announces strong Q1 2025 financial results, confirms full-year outlook

ZIM Shipping reported strong Q1 2025 financial results with revenue of $2.01 billion and net profit of $296 million, while confirming its full-year forecast amid volatile market conditions.

ZIM-vessel

Container ship of ZIM Shipping Line

The world's leading container shipping line ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. (NYSE: ZIM) on May 19 announced its consolidated financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025, showing strong growth and reaffirming its full-year forecast.

Impressive Q1 2025 business results

ZIM reported revenue of $2.01 billion in Q1 2025, up 28% year-on-year. Net income was $296 million, or $2.45 diluted earnings per share, a significant improvement from $92 million in Q1 2024.

Other highlights include:

• Volume increased 12% year-over-year to 944,000 TEUs.
• Average freight rate per TEU increased 22% year-over-year to $1,776.
• Adjusted EBITDA was $779 million, up 82% year-over-year.
• Adjusted EBIT was $463 million, compared to $167 million in Q1 2024.
• Operating income (EBIT) was $464 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBIT margins were 39% and 23%, respectively.

The company also announced a dividend of $0.74 per share, or a total of $89 million, representing approximately 30% of Q1 net income. The dividend will be paid on June 9, 2025 to shareholders of record on June 2, 2025.

Optimistic management and flexible strategy

“ZIM began the year with positive momentum, delivering 12% carried volume growth and strong earnings in the rst quarter,” said Eli Glickman, ZIM President & CEO. He noted that the utilization of the transformed fleet and improved cost structure contributed to the results.

Referring to the operating environment, Mr. Glickman acknowledged that “the operating environment is highly uncertain, driven by a range of factors impacting global trade and economic expectations.” However, he affirmed that ZIM is focused on controlling what it can and reacting quickly to market changes with decisive action. The company has taken steps to adjust its network to accommodate changes in the flow of goods from China and other Southeast Asian markets into the United States.

“Despite the heightened level of uncertainty, we have rearmed our 2025 outlook of Adjusted EBITDA between $1.6 billion and $2.2 billion and Adjusted EBIT between $350 million and $950 million,” Mr. Glickman concluded. “We are condent that we have built a resilient business and will continue to benetfit from the strategic investment in our eet with larger, more modern, cost-eective capacity, approximately 40% of which is LNG-fueled.”

Strong financial position

As of March 31, 2025, ZIM’s total cash position (including cash and cash equivalents, investments in bank deposits and other investment instruments) increased by USD 230 million to USD 3.37 billion compared to December 31, 2024. Net debt decreased to USD 2.49 billion, and net leverage improved to 0.6x. Net cash flow from operations reached USD 855 million in Q1 2025.

ZIM's Q1 2025 business results showed a promising start to the year, with impressive growth figures in revenue, profit and shipping volume. Despite the uncertainties in the global market, ZIM's management expressed confidence in its ability to flexibly adjust and its long-term investment strategy in a modern, cost-effective fleet. The re-affirmation of the full-year 2025 forecast further strengthens the belief in the recovery and sustainable growth of this shipping line in the coming time.

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