Reuters Events | Supply Chain & Logistics Business Intelligence

Damco, one of the world’s leading freight forwarding and logistics service providers today reports a 19% increase in net revenue compared to 2011. Net revenue in 2012 increased to 3,272 million USD, from 2,752 in 2011. Gross profit saw a rise of 7% to...

“I am satisfied about our solid results for 2012”, comments Rolf Habben-Jansen, CEO of Damco.

“We continue to grow and develop our business, in spite of continued difficult market conditions. I am particularly pleased that we have taken full advantage of our acquisition of NTS, and that all of our products continue to grow organically faster than the market. In addition to that we have made a number of strategic changes and invested a lot in the future – which masks the underlying trading of our business which is better than the pure numbers show, and that also gives us a lot of confidence going into 2013. This stems from a lot of hard work from everybody across our network”, he adds.

Volumes are also up

Damco shipped 6% more ocean volumes compared to 2011.

Airfreight tonnage almost doubled, recording a growth over last year of 91%. The rapid growth in airfreight was partly due to the full year effect of the acquisition of NTS (a China-based freight forwarder) in August 2011, but also excluding that effect Damco’s growth in Airfreight was well into double digit percentages.

Supply Chain Management volumes returned to growth and ended 5% higher than last year.

A lot of change for Damco in 2012

The worsening market conditions as well as implementation costs related to new business, the restructuring in Europe and the cost associated with the HQ relocation caused downward pressure on Damco’s unit margin profitability, which had a negative impact on Damco’s performance in 2012. EBIT for 2012 was USD 93m (USD 97m).

Early in 2012 Damco announced a restructuring of its European operations, which were split in East and West Europe regions.

In September, Damco announced the relocation of the global headquarters from Copenhagen, Denmark, to The Hague, The Netherlands. The move is scheduled to be completed in Q1 2013.

In October, Damco acquired the freight forwarder Pacific Network Global Logistics, which significantly strengthened its position in Oceania.

2012 key financial figures and volume