OREANDA-NEWS. Nils S. Andersen opened the US electronic stock market. "An exciting event and an important signal to our investors," says the Group CEO.

Together with a group of Maersk executives from the US, his wife Kirsten, and a few other employees, Andersen met at the main room of NASDAQ on Thursday morning. After a short speech, the Group CEO pushed the orange button, officially opening the trading day.

During the entire next hour, Maersk-branded films, photos, messages and the seven-pointed star were on display on two of the main billboards at Times Square in the heart of New York City.

A sign to investors

Andersen says that the Group's participation in the ceremony is "a sign to investors in the US and elsewhere, that we take the communication with the investor community very seriously."

"They give us their money and trust so that we can deliver returns on it," says Andersen. "Because we invest in areas where it takes a long time for the investments to pay back, we have to explain all the time what we are doing. That's our obligation."

Many more steps to be taken

On the opening itself, Andersen says that "the signalling effect is nice, but it's just a small step among many, many other steps we have to take to make our great company even better known among investors."

Before moving on to a number of investor meetings, Andersen was interviewed by international news agency Reuters, the Danish TV station TV2 and participated in the pre-market news TV programme, 'Squawk Box on the Street' on CNBC, commenting on global economy, trade, the Group's strategy to build four world-class businesses and other current topics.