International logistics group Kuehne & Nagel (K&N) has announced that it is 'back on track' following a poor start to the business year amid difficult economic conditions.
The Switzerland-based company said that it had achieved volume growth 'above market average' for the first half of the year, with turnover up 2.8 per cent to just over CHF10bn (€8.4bn) and gross profit up 2.6 per cent to CHF3bn (€2.5bn).
K&N's operational result dropped by 9.6 per cent to CHF454m (€378m) year-on-year, it revealed, while net earnings including a one-off antitrust fine in the first quarter came in at CHF214m (€178m), down on the same period last year.
'In the first half of 2012, muted consumption in all parts of the world and increased market volatility influenced the global logistics business,' said Reinhard Lange, CEO of Kuehne & Nagel International. 'Softened demand affected in particular the trades from Asia to Europe and North America and slowed down volume development in seafreight and airfreight. Nevertheless, we achieved above market volume growth in both segments.
'Our industry-specific logistics solutions positively contributed to this development,' he added.
