2020 has 
been another year of solid progress for A.P. Moller - Maersk, both in terms of financial performance and in transforming the company. Despite low volumes during most of 2020, profitability grew throughout the first nine months and ended the year with record Q4 results in Logistics and Terminals, while Ocean delivered an exceptional quarter driven by the increased volumes and current, temporary supply chain disruptions.
“2020 will forever be remembered for the COVID-19 pandemic that negatively impacted our lives, jobs, businesses and the global economy. I am proud that we have accelerated our transformation and delivered earnings growth during every quarter of 2020, despite very different market conditions, beginning with negative COVID-19 impact in the first half to a rebound in Q4,” says Søren Skou, CEO of A.P. Moller - Maersk.
The company 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. 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.
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.
Søren Skou concludes: “Financially, we left 2020 with a very strong balance sheet and little debt, which will allow us to continue to invest in our transformation and grow profitably. We are well equipped to deal with the ongoing market volatility and also to benefit from a world that hopefully starts to re-open.”
Accelerating the strategy
As we look forward to accelerating our strategy in 2021, we will illustrate our path forward and the synergies between Ocean and both Logistics & Services and Terminals at a capital markets day on 11 May 2021.
Click here to view the APMM Annual Report 2020.
Click here to view the APMM Q4 2020 Interim Report.
