Freight forwarder and logistics services provider Damco reported a 6 per cent increase in Q1 net revenues to US$773 million, compared to US$728 million during the same time period in 2012. EBIT of US$9 million was reported for the first quarter, compared to US$13 million in 2012. Net operating profit after tax of US$6 million was reported, compared with US$7 million during the same period of 2012.
Airfreight volumes grew by 15 per cent over 2012 which was well ahead of the market, enhanced by the acquisition in last quarter of 2012 of Pacific Network Global Logistics (PacNet). Recording an increase of one per cent, ocean freight volumes were up only slightly compared to the same period last year. Supply Chain Management volume growth accelerated further in Q1 2013 with 10 per cent growth versus the same period last year, mainly driven by the impact of new customers and a strong pre-Chinese New Year uptake in volumes.
“Overall, our performance in Q1 has been satisfactory, with solid growth in most products and underlying trading only slightly below 2012. In Q1 we made significant investments to adjust our business model – in light of the changing market – to make it more scalable and to enable further growth and profit improvement in the years to come. We will continue to make investments in the upcoming quarters, even if that will impact our reported results. This quarter we also completed the headquarters’ relocation, have made very good progress in rolling out our new Unity global IT platform and have successfully integrated the PacNet acquisition’’, commented Rolf Habben-Jansen, CEO of Damco, who added “In 2013 we will be taking some important steps forward in simplifying our business and further raising the efficiency of our operations. We are also planning to invest in growing our geographical footprint as we would like to be there where our customers need us to be in the future, which will mean expanding our network from around 350 to 600 offices over the next three years.”
Damco is part of the A.P. Moller – Maersk Group. In 2012, the company had net revenues of US3.3 billion, managed more than 2.7 million TEUs of ocean freight and supply chain management volumes and air freighted more than 210,000 tonnes.