Shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk said today it was too early to predict the financial impact of last month’s Petya cyber-attack, which also disrupted operations at Reckitt Benckiser Group plc (LON:RB. and WPP plc (LON:WPP).
Maersk, the Danish owner of the world’s biggest container shipping line, suffered cargo delays after the ransomware virus hit its computers.
The attack affected its data-reliant processes including creating arrival notices and obtaining customs clearance. This led to congestion at some of its ports, including in the US, India, Spain and the Netherlands.
It marked one of the biggest-ever disruptions in the shipping sector as Maersk handles one out of seven containers shipped worldwide.
"Our first priority has not been to look at the financial impact," Robbert van Trooijen, Maersk's Asia Pacific chief executive told reporters on a call.
"It is too early to predict what the impact will be on the quarter-two, or potentially the quarter-three result."
Van Trooijen added that normal operations had resumed at its ports.
Maersk Montana keeps #transatlantic #trade moving during last week's cyber attack, leaving #Houston for Europe.
(Photo: rail_pilot) pic.twitter.com/BlHYAoIK4x
— Maersk (@Maersk) 6 July 2017
His remarks come a day after Reckitt Benckiser cut its full year revenue forecast and predicted a decline in second quarter sales as the cyber-attack had disrupted the consumer goods company’s ability to manufacture and distribute products.
READ: Reckitt Benckiser shares plunge as it sees £100mln hit to full year revenue after cyber-attack
The FTSE 100-listed manufacturer of Nurofen, Veet, Dettol and Stepsils said some of its factories were still not in operation.
Revenue in the second quarter is expected to drop 2% on a like-for-like basis, compared to a 4% increase the same period a year ago when it reported net revenue of £2.2bn.
For the full year, the group cut its revenue guidance to like-for-like net revenue growth of 2% from a previous estimate of 3%, following a 3% rise in 2016 to £9.8bn. This would equate to about £100mln in lost revenue.
WPP is yet to release any details about the estimated cost of the cyber-attack but yesterday published a statement on Twitter suggesting its operations had fully resumed.
— WPP (@WPP) 6 July 2017
The advertising group last Thursday said operations at some of its companies were still being disrupted .
The ransomware attack, which hit a number of businesses across the globe on 27 June, blocked access to computers and demanded US$300 in Bitcoin to release them.