Considerably more air and sea freight for Kuehne + Nagel
| Kuehne + Nagel Group returned to growth in first quarter 2010 “Back to growth” – this is the title under which the Kuehne + Nagel Group presented their interim report about the business development in the first quarter 2010 at the beginning of this week. Thanks to the high rise in container handling (up 17 per cent) and in air freight tonnage (up 31 per cent) the forwarded volumes have strongly risen. Overland transport showed volume increases with a continuous price pressure and a hard predatory competition. The economic recovery was hesitantly felt in contract logistics. Against this background Kuehne + Nagel achieved a turnover of around CHF 4.6 billion between January and March 2010; 7.3 per cent more than in the same period of the previous year. The operational result amounted to CHF 228 million, which is almost the 2009 level. Net earnings improved by 2.3 per cent to CHF 131 million. The highest growth was recorded in the export business to China and on all export routes from Asia. The only disadvantage was the profit margins that were under pressure, due to continued rate increases. As a result, the EBITDA margin declined from 5.3 to 4.9 per cent in 2009. In the airfreight business the enterprise benefited from increased investments in sales, reinforced innovative airfreight products and from capacity-induced shifts from sea- to airfreight across all regions. The EBITDA margin was at 5.6 per cent (previous year: 7.9 per cent). Quelle: LogEastics |