Maersk Group has posted its highest profit ever of $5.2bn buoyed by liner shipping, APM Terminals and the sale of its majority stake in Dansk Supermarket Group.
The $5.2bn profit in 2014 was delivered in almost steady revenues of $47.57bn.
Maersk Group CEO, Nils Andersen said they were “very, very pleased to present the highest result in the company’s history”.
The underlying result was $4.53bn up from $3.04bn in 2013. “The underlying result was very good and in line with our expectations,” Andersen said.
The group booked a gain of $2.8bn from the sale of its majority stake in Dansk Supermarket. It also announced it would be selling its 20% stake in Danske Bank which is valued at $5.45bn.
He said the Maersk was “Continuing our efforts to focus the conglomerate on shipping and oil related business.”
Star performers in the group were Maersk Line with a $2.3bn profit and APM Terminals with a $900m profit.
However, APM Shipping Services racked up a $230m loss hit by a $357m impairment related to the acquisition of Adsteam in Australia.
“Svitzer’s Australian operations are negatively impacted by industry overcapacity, a high industry cost structure and a general slowdown of bulk activities,” the group said.
Despite the pressure of the falling oil price, Maersk Drilling reported a profit of $478m but Maersk Oil delivered a loss of $861m.
Andersen said they were scaling back on exploration in the Gulf of Mexico and would not be undertaking exploration in Brazil.
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