A good third quarter performance has put Kuehne + Nagel on course for strongly improved results for the full-year, according to chief executive Reinhard Lange who pointed out that the operating profit (EBITDA) of £177 million (CHF 271m) for the quarter was a record.
In contract logistics, the group said the recovering domestic economies of the leading industrial nations led to a stabilisation of the market.
“Kuehne + Nagel’s net turnover remained at the previous year’s level. EBITDA decreased in the first nine months by 13.2 per cent partly due to currency adjustments (6.6 per cent) and start-up costs for new businesses as well as restructuring activities in the United States and Canada.
“Contract logistics activities in the emerging economies of Asia and Eastern Europe improved. Investments in Asia have started to pay off and led to positive results for the first time.
In seafreight, saw 17 per cent increase in container volumes but said growth in the global seafreight market softened in the third quarter. Airfreight tonnage was up y 29 per cent in the first nine months, although growth in the international airfreight market had slowed in the middle of the year. Sales in European road and rail transport were up 9.5 per cent.
Overall, for the first nine months of 2010 sales were up 8.6 per cent (currency-adjusted by 22.6 per cent) to £9.9bn (CHF 15.2bn) while EBITDA increased by 7.5 per cent (adjusted by 12.0 per cent) to £487m (CHF 746m).
[asset_ref id=”1021″] Reinhard Lange
Lange said: “Due to the very good results of the past nine months – and particularly in the third quarter of 2010 – we are confident we will achieve a strongly improved result for the full-year. We will concentrate our efforts on the consistent implementation of our growth strategy, thus further strengthening Kuehne + Nagel’s position in the global logistics market.”