A.P. Moller - Maersk grew underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) 44 pct. to USD 8.2bn and revenue grew to USD 39.7bn in 2020 compared to USD 38.9bn last year.
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While the demand surge in the second half of year created supply chain bottlenecks, including vessel and container shortages, and led to higher rates that contributed approximately USD 1.5bn to results, Ocean further improved its intrinsic performance by focusing on costs, agile capacity management and launching new digital offerings.
Logistics & Services grew to USD 7bn, compared to USD 6.3bn last year, and EBITDA improved 110 pct.
to USD 454m, supported by the acquisition of Performance Team as well as improved performance in intermodal, air freight forwarding and warehousing and distribution.
Logistics & Services grew to USD 7bn, compared to USD 6.3bn last year, and EBITDA improved 110 pct.
to USD 454m, supported by the acquisition of Performance Team as well as improved performance in intermodal, air freight forwarding and warehousing and distribution.
Gateway terminals saw a decrease in revenue of 3.9 pct. to USD 3.2bn in 2020 because of lower volumes due to impact from the pandemic. EBITDA increased by 8.3 pct. to USD 989m, reflecting an improved EBITDA margin to 31 pct. driven by higher revenue per move and cost reductions in several terminals.
In 2020, free cash flow improved to USD 4.6bn from USD 2.3bn leading to a USD 2.5bn reduction of net debt and USD 1.3bn returns to shareholders. Net result amounted to USD 2.9bn and the Board of Directors will recommend a dividend of DKK 330/share, up from DKK 150/share to the AGM on 23 March 2021.
With the current outlook, there continues to be a high degree of uncertainty related to the impact from COVID-19 on the economic growth and global demand patterns.
A.P. Moller - Maersk expects another year of earnings growth and transformation progress.
A.P. Moller - Maersk expects the current, exceptional situation to continue into 2021 with Q1 to be stronger than Q4, followed by a normalisation thereafter, and announce a guidance for the full-year 2021 of an underlying EBITDA in the range of USD 8.5-10.5bn, compared to USD 8.3bn in 2020.
This is equivalent to an underlying EBIT guidance of USD 4.3-6.3bn and a free cash flow of above USD 3.5bn.
Ocean is expected to grow in line with the global container demand at an expected 3-5 pct. in 2021, with the highest growth seen in the first half-year. ■