Christian Salvesen has issued a profits warning ahead of the release of its interim results on 5 December.
“First half results are expected to be in line with expectations, however, looking ahead, the second half is now likely to be similar to the first half.”
Year on year growth of seven per cent was still expected, but the company said it had not seen the improvements suggested in its trading statement in October while it had not seen the margin improvement it expected from the strong volume growth in its French transport business.
In October, it said margins in many of its markets are under pressure. In particular, in the UK transport business, it had implemented a programme to improve operating efficiency significantly with the first benefits to be seen in the second half. It said volumes in the Iberian transport business were lower than expected and that availability of subcontractors had increased costs.
In the Mainland Europe Food & Consumer business, the productivity gains needed to offset pricing pressure were proving more difficult than expected to achieve.
