South Korea's Hyundai Merchant Marine has bowed to the inevitable and renamed itself HMM.
The rebranding and change of corporate identity from 1 April was approved by shareholders at a meeting in Seoul on 27 March.
The boxship and VLCC owner has been known as Hyundai Merchant Marine for 37 years since it changed its name from Asia Merchant Marine in 1983.
It said HMM has been widely known as the acronym for the company anyway.
"HMM has reviewed the introduction of its independent brand since the company was completely separated from Hyundai Group in August 2016 as part of enhancing its brand equity," it said.
HMM chief executive Jae Hoon Bae said: "This is another step in our company’s bright future. I believe it is vital for us to rebrand ourselves in the course of a huge leap forward in 2020."
Customers not confused
He added: "Most of our customers and employees will not be confused as the name HMM has already been recognised and familiar to the global market."
The company credited five new VLCCs for helping narrow its losses in 2019.
The net deficit shrunk to KRW 592bn ($501m) as compared to a net loss of KRW 790bn in 2018.
Revenue in 2019 rose 5.6% year on year to KRW 5.5trn while operating profit climbed 45.6% to KRW 304bn.
The company attributed its improved financial performance to both rationalising its service network and maximising utilisation of the VLCCs.
