The crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic “pulled the brakes” on a large part of the world, between restrictive measures and the closure of entire sectors of the economy, but some sectors benefited greatly from this situation.
From Amazon to Lego, through Air France, Chevron or Sony, a quick overview of the 2020 financial results for some of the world economy’s biggest names.
Amazon, e-commerce champion
Restrictions on movement and the closure of physical stores have forced consumers to turn more to the Internet.
Global e-commerce giant, the American Amazon, which has also benefited from growing demand for ‘cloud’ services, saw its turnover take off by almost 40% in 2020, to close to $ 387 billion.
In the same vein, although many entered their kitchens and engaged in cooking, the distribution of food also increased markedly.
Anglo-Dutch group Just Eat Takeaway jumped 54% to 2.4 billion euros, while British competitor Deliveroo saw the value of trading on its platform increase by 64% to 4.1 billion pounds. .
Household products in any case withstood: in France, sales of small household appliances increased (+ 11.2%) due to restrictions, mainly on food processors (+ 27.5%).
Lego, video games, serials: entertainment under restraint
As people no longer had the opportunity to go to the cinema, theater or museum, the masters of home “entertainment” naturally had a strong wind.
Lego, the Danish company that makes the well-known plastic bricks, recorded a record year in terms of its profits (+ 19% to 1.3 billion euros) while its sales recorded a jump of 13%.
In terms of virtual reality, video games also boomed in 2020, with Sony and Microsoft launching new consoles just before Christmas. The Japanese company also saw its sales grow 40% year on year over the last three months of the year.
The American Activision (“Call of Duty”) exceeded the estimates in the last quarter and the French Ubisoft expects record performance for the annual year 2020/2021 (which ends at the end of March).
The passion for serials was anything but diminished. While the Netflix pioneer surpassed 200 million users worldwide, thanks to various hits such as “The Queen’s gamble”, the Disney + competitor, which launched in late 2019, has already reached 95 million subscribers in early 2021 .
Air transport is stuck on the ground
2020 was an “annus horribilis” for airline companies due to the very strict restrictive measures that affected tourism: Air France suffered an “unprecedented” shock that resulted in a loss of 7.1 billion euros, slightly more than its German rival Lufthansa (6.7 billion) or British group IAG, the parent company of British Airways (6.9 billion).
Even low-cost companies, such as EasyJet, did not escape these effects, as they saw their revenues plunge 88% in the first quarter of its year (from October to the end of December).
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), companies lost $ 510 billion in turnover in 2020 and their financial losses reached $ 118 billion. The horizon is not yet clear: losses are expected to reach 38 billion this year.
Oil companies are in a quagmire but expect recovery
The plunge in global activity has largely halted demand for oil and the black gold giants ended 2020 with brutal losses.
The five largest private companies in the world – BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and Total – announced a total net loss of $ 77 billion for 2020, of which more than 20 billion for BP alone.
The industry can in any case hope to benefit from the recovery amid accelerating vaccination programs in 2021, which has already allowed oil prices to return to levels a year ago.
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