ZIM Q3 results down amid shareholder pressure

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services (NYSE: ZIM) posted a net profit of $123 million on revenue of $1.78 billion for the third quarter. Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was $593 million, representing a year-on-year decline of 61%.

Carried volume in the third quarter was 926,000 TEUs, representing a year-on-year decline of 5%. The average freight rate per TEU in the third quarter was $1,602, down 35% in comparison with the corresponding quarter.

The company has narrowed its annual revenue guidance range from $1.8-2.2 billion to $2.0-2.2 billion.

ZIM CEO Eli Glickman told “Globes” today that ZIM’s results were considerably better than those of competitors that have released their quarterly financials. “These are certainly results to be proud of,” he said.

ZIM was adversely affected at the beginning of the fourth quarter by a port fee on ships built in China calling at US ports. The fee was suspended following the summit between the leaders of the two countries, but was in force for two weeks in October.

For two years, shipping companies including ZIM have avoided passing through the Suez Canal and the Bab al-Mandab strait, the southern entrance to the Red Sea, sailing around the Cape of Good Hope instead, which considerably lengthens the voyage, for fear of attacks by the Houthi rebels in Yemen. There has recently been an improvement in that respect, and Glickman believes that more and more shipping lines, including ZIM, will go back to traversing the Red Sea, subject to approval by the owners of leased vessels and the insurance companies.

In accordance with its dividend policy, ZIM has declared a dividend of $37 million ($0.31 per share). “Since the flotation in January 2021, in less than five years, we have distributed $5.7 billion, more than 25 times the amount raised in the flotation,” Glickman stresses.

A group of shareholders in Israel seeks to appoint three directors on its behalf at next month’s shareholders meeting. The shareholders stated in a letter to the company that they believed that changing the composition of the board would “assist in maintaining and serving the good of all the shareholders in the company, including through actions to improve it and bring value to the shareholders and to narrow the continuing, extraordinary gap between the company’s asset value, shareholders’ equity, and cash balance on the one hand, and the market value of its shares on the other.”

Later in the week, it was reported that two veteran ZIM directors, Yair Caspi and Yoav Sebba, were stepping down, and ZIM announced that they would be replaced by Yair Avidan and Yoram Turbowitcz, but it seems that the saga is not over. The company is shortly due to publish a revised announcement of the shareholders meeting.

What do you have to say to worried shareholders?

ZIM chairperson Yair Seroussi: “As a board, we are taking all the necessary steps, as we have up to now, to ensure that the shareholders will feel that they are receiving a great deal of value from the company. We are certainly thinking about and weighing up what more we can do concerning the value of the company.”

What about the claims of a gap between ZIM’s market cap and its asset value

“All the shipping companies are traded at a discount, it’s part of the industry. Even a large company like Maersk is traded at 50% of its shareholders’ equity, and if we add the net debt ratio and the fact that we’re from Israel, we’re fairly similar to our competitors. Still, we are certainly aware of the issue of the company’s value and its profitability, and we want the investors to make money. Up to now, they haven’t done badly with us at all.”

Following the release of its financials, ZIM’s share price is fairly flat on the New York Stock Exchange, a $16.74, giving the company a market cap of $2.026 billion.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on November 20, 2025.

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