The Maersk group has posted its highest result ever, with profit of 34.14 billion kroner in 2014. But 2015 is expected to yield less impressive results due to falling oil prices.

Good performance across group
Group CEO Nils S Andersen said that he was satisfied with the 2014 results. “Despite challenging market conditions we saw good progress in underlying performance across the Group,” he said.

“Maersk Line maintained its lead on the rest of the industry and APM Terminals delivered significant improvements. Maersk Drilling executed on fleet renewal programme according to plan, while Maersk Oil increased entitlement production in line with expectations."

Maersk Oil’s underlying profit decreased by 50 percent in the fourth quarter to 150 million US dollars. The company attributed this to the 30 percent lower oil price but assessed that this was partly offset by an increase in entitlement production and lower exploration costs.

News of the results caused the price of the Maersk Group’s B shares to rise by almost 7 percent today.

The company also announced that it will sell its 20 percent ownership stake in Danske Bank to AP Møller Holding, a subsidiary of the AP Møller Foundation, and declare an extraordinary cash dividend to the group’s shareholders equal to the value of the interest in the bank.