Maersk Broker believes it can match 2019's profit this year despite the havoc wreaked by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Danish shipbroking shop has reported net earnings of DKK 43.44m ($6.53m) for last year, down from DKK 55m in 2018.
Revenue grew to DKK 394m from DKK 357m, but the firm was hit by a higher tax charge as expected, it said in its annual accounts.
For 2020, Maersk Broker is expecting a similar result, though it makes the proviso that this estimate is made in the light of "considerable uncertainty due to possible consequences of Covid-19."
The 106-year-old shipbroker also said its goal is to have a 50/50 gender balance in its management teams, which was a major focus last year.
The total proportion of women employed in the group overall is about 30%, while the goal is to achieve a 40% to 50% share.
Gender balance by 2023?
Work continues on reaching the gender distribution target by the end of 2023, Maersk Broker added.
The privately-owned brokerage has expanded its dry cargo platform after growing the offshore platform in 2017, the company told TradeWinds last year.
It took full control of Wonsild Dry in December 2018, having first bought a strategic stake in the business back in 2015.
In January 2019, Maersk Broker Bulk Chartering became a shareholder in NAODAN Chartering, a specialist in the West Coast of the USA, West Coast Canada and Alaska, which boosted the company’s presence in the Pacific.
This January, long-serving former Maersk Broker president and chief executive Jorn Steen Nielsen died at the age of 66.
The man credited with building the former AP Moller-Maersk shop into a market force passed away on New Year's Day after suffering from cancer for a number of years.
He left the shipbroker in 2014 after more than 40 years with the broker and the AP Moller-Maersk group, being succeeded by current CEO Anders Hald.
