Sales rise at K+N

Sales were up 14 per cent at Kuehne+Nagel in the first of 2018 topping CHF10 billion, while EBIT was up 11 per cent at CHF501m.

The biggest profit boost came in the airfreight business – EBIT was up 20.5 per cent to CHF 182m as a result of an 18 per cent rise in goods moved to 863,000 tons.

Net turnover in contract logistics increased by 12.2 per cent and gross profit by 11.3 per cent. Due to investments in the development of the business model as well as the launch of a warehouse management system the EBIT was in line with expectations at CHF66m – down on the previous year.

Seafreight volumes rose by 8.1 per cent. EBIT for the first half of the year was up 6.1 per cent at CHF210m with overall margins stabilising.

Chief executive Detlef Trefzger said: “We achieved strong volume growth across all business units. This growth combined with active cost management delivered a significant improvement in results confirming the consistency of the implementation of our business strategy.”