Maersk 2009 guidance may be better than after H1-CEO

COPENHAGEN Nov 12 (Reuters) - Danish shipping and oil conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk's MAERRSKb.CO full-year 2009 forecast given with the group's third-quarter results may be slightly better than the guidance given three months earlier, its chief executive said.

"The guidance for the full year is definitely not below, maybe even slightly better than at the half year," Maersk Chief Executive Nils Smedegaard Andersen told a conference call on Thursday.

"It is definitely not worse than what we said after the first half," he said.

Some analysts have expected Maersk to upgrade its full-year 2009 forecast from a loss of about $1 billion forecast by the company after the first six months.

For more on Maersk's third-quarter results, see [ID:nLB221630] (Editing by Hans Peters)