The eagerly anticipated Maersk Group results out this morning suggest shipping and especially offshore is in for a very harsh 2016. The Danish giant warned the outlook for this year is likely to be “significantly below” the 2015 results.
Maersk Oil, Maersk Drilling and Maersk Supply Service are expected to be the worst performers across the group.
The group managed a net profit of $925m for 2015, dramatically down from the $5.2bn reported in 2014.
“Maersk Group was severely impacted by a widening supply-demand gap across most of our businesses, leading to significant oil price and freight rate reductions,” the company said in a release.
The full year figures were hit hardest by the performance of Maersk Oil, which notched up a $2.1bn loss for the year.
“Given our expectation that the oil price will remain at a low level for a longer period, we have impaired the value of a number of Maersk Oil’s assets by $2.6bn after tax. We will continue to strengthen the group’s position through strong operational performance and growth investments,” commented group CEO Nils Andersen.
