In the first half year of 2017, the Kuehne + Nagel Group gained market shares in all business units and accelerated its growth momentum during the second quarter. Net turnover increased by 8.2 per cent to CHF 8,815 million compared to the previous year’s period and gross profit grew by 3.7 per cent to CHF 3,377 million. The operational result (EBITDA) improved by 1.3 per cent to CHF 554 million and with CHF 356 million earnings for the period reached last year’s level.
With a volume increase of 7.7 per cent in seafreight, Kuehne + Nagel grew faster than the market and, in the first half of 2017, handled over 151,000 TEUs more than in the previous year’s period. In airfreight, volume growth accelerated in the second quarter. With an over 18 per cent increase in tonnage in the first half of 2017, Kuehne + Nagel grew about double the market. A strong demand for industry-specific airfreight solutions has made a significant contribution to this positive development. New business was gained particularly in the pharma, aerospace and perishables industries.
In the overland business, volume and earnings developed very positive. During the first six months of 2017, net turnover increased by 3.3 per cent and gross profit by 3.5 per cent, compared to the previous year. This was driven by higher volumes for groupage, full truckload and intermodal shipments mainly in Europe and the USA, and on the other hand, by a strong order intake for industry-specific services.
Customer focus, solutions competence and innovative products led to a substantial increase of new business and the expansion of service offering for existing customers around the globe. Compared to the previous year, an additional 540,000 m² of warehousing and logistics space were added to operations. Gross profit increased by 6.6 per cent and EBITDA by 10.5 per cent. EBIT improved by 5.7 per cent.
Dr. Detlef Trefzger, CEO of Kuehne + Nagel International AG: “The result of the first half of 2017 is a clear evidence of our growth-oriented business strategy as well as efficient cost management, which enabled us to counter the ongoing pressure on margins in seafreight and airfreight. The remarkable improvements of results in contract logistics and overland are mainly due to the successful implementation of our market strategies. During the second half of the year, we will continue to focus on volume growth, productivity increases and the scaling of industry-specific solutions.”
