K+N banks on improvements via eTouch up to 2022
The strategy of the forwarding & logistics giant Kuehne+Nagel (K+N) remains multifold, as CEO Detlef Trefzger and CFO Markus Blanka-Graff pointed out during the company's annual press conference in Schindellegi (Switzerland).
The 2018 turnover came in at just below the CHF 25 billion threshold, and the profit - at CHF 772 million - reached a new peak. The company's traditional key sector seafreight grew by 7.7% and moved 4.7 million teu. Airfreight "brought only joy", as Trefzger put it, with an 11% surge in volumes (1.7 million t) and a higher ebit of 13.4%.
The recent acquisition of US-based Quick international Courier, maybe the highest investment in the group's history, complements the networks and K+N’s own field.
While overland is now firmly established (turnover +13.1%, ebit +55.5%), lots of investments are currently being undertaken to take the contract logistics sector to the next (WMS) level. This resulted in 14.3% lower ebit than in 2017.
This year, K+N expects the markets to rise moderately: seafreight by 2 - 3%, airfreight by about 1%, overland and contract logistics by 2 - 3%. The company expects to raise its business in the different segments twice as fast as the market. Furthermore, K+N's aim is to improve the margin of specific air and sea freight transport services via the eTouch tool up to 2022. (cd)