An apparatus and a method for transferring articles from a pick-up area to a delivery area, wherein there is provided a guide element having a guide surface which moves along a closed path at a base speed, and wherein there are provided a plurality of transfer elements, each of which is provided with a gripping surface for holding an article and is movable with respect to the guide surface with a relative speed, so that, with respect to a stationary reference system, each of the transfer elements moves along the closed path with a compound speed given by an algebraic sum of the base speed and the respective relative speed.