Maersk today confirmed an 83% drop in profit.
The group’s profit was $925million – an 83% drop from last year’s $5.2billion.
Group chief executive Nils Andersen: “We are satisfied with the good operational performance across our businesses in 2015.
“Despite the very challenging market conditions in our industries, all business units delivered positive underlying profits and the Maersk Group achieved an underlying result of $3.1bn. 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.”
The firm kickstarted a cost cutting programme in October last year.
The results included a writedown in the value of Maersk’s oil assets by $2.6billion.
Maersk said Wednesday that 2016’s underlying profit will be “significantly below” last year’s $3.1 billion.
The Maersk Line unit’s profit will also be “significantly below” 2015’s level, which was $1.3 billion. Maersk Oil will report a loss this year, it said. The unit currently breaks even when oil prices are in a range of $45 to $55 a barrel, the company said.
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