Ciao QQ,
ne sai qualcosa di quest'azienda?
Grazie
LONDON (Standard & Poor's) April 11, 2011--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services
said today that it had assigned its 'B+' long-term corporate credit rating to
France-based container ship operator CMA CGM S.A. The outlook is stable.
In addition, we assigned our 'B-' issue rating to CMA CGM's proposed $800
million-equivalent senior unsecured bond. We understand that the proceeds of
these notes will be used to refinance $502 million of existing notes maturing
in 2012 and 2013, with the remaining cash being used for general corporate
purposes.
The recovery rating on the proposed notes is '6', reflecting our
expectation of negligible (0%-10%) recovery in the event of a payment default.
The issue and recovery ratings on the proposed bond are based on preliminary
information and are subject to the successful closing of the notes issue, and
our satisfactory review of the final documentation.
"The ratings are constrained by our view of the company's high operating risk
in the cyclical, capital intensive, and competitive container shipping
industry," Said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Andrew Stillman. "Its
"aggressive" financial risk profile and elevated adjusted debt levels of about
$12 billion as of Dec. 31, 2010, are also constraints."
However, we consider these risks to be partly mitigated by CMA CGM's leading
global market position, good diversification of its route network, and
ownership of a high-quality fleet, with a lower average age than that of many
of its peers.
We assess CMA CGM's business risk profile as "fair". In terms of fleet
capacity, CMA CGM is the third-largest container ship operator worldwide, with
a market share of more than 8%. The company operates a network of about 155
shipping routes, covering all major passages and in particular, the more
profitable Asian routes. CMA CGM also has good local presence through agencies
situated in each market, with more than 60 in China, from where we anticipate
much of the growth in container shipping will come over the next few years.
The stable outlook reflects our view that, despite our expectations of softer
freight rates in 2011, CMA CGM will continue to generate adequate operating
cash flows to maintain a credit profile commensurate with the rating. This
should be supported by expected modest growth in trade volumes and the
company's ability to maintain EBITDA margins of about 10% following
record-high profitability in 2010.
Given the inherent volatility of the sector in which CMA CGM operates and
associated swings in earnings and cash flow, we consider a consistently
"adequate" liquidity profile and sufficient headroom under financial covenants
through the industry cycle to be critical rating factors. We consider a ratio
of adjusted funds from operations (FFO) to debt of above 15% to be in line
with a 'B+' rating on CMA CGM, and we expect the company to maintain this
level over the near term.
"In our view, we could raise the ratings if the company demonstrates what we
consider to be a consistently prudent financial policy and reduces its
currently high debt levels, if this was also accompanied by a sustained track
record of stable profitability and free cash flow generation, as well as
improvement in credit metrics, including a ratio of adjusted FFO to debt in
excess of 20%," said Mr. Stillman.
We could lower the ratings because of a material fall in trade volumes, fleet
utilization rates, or freight tariffs, which would likely weaken the company's
cash flow performance, credit metrics, and liquidity.
