GEODIS REPORTS LOWER PROFIT, HIGHER SALES

GEODIS REPORTS LOWER PROFIT, HIGHER SALES    Geodis, the big French transport and logistics group 50-percent-owned by the French state railway SNCF, reported lower operating and net profits for 1999 despite an increase in revenues triggered by several acquisitions.
   Operating profit dropped by 13 percent, to 374 million French francs ($59 million), from FFr431 million in 1998.
   Net profit was FFr122 million ($19 million) for 1999, down 10 percent from the FFr135 million result in the previous year.
   Consolidated revenues were FFr20.6 billion ($3.2 billion), an increase of 11 percent.
   Last year, Geodis acquired the Dutch logistics company Vitesse, the Italian less-than-truckload operator Borghi Trasporti and the British logistics firm United Carriers.
   Geodis said that the fall in its profits for 1999 was largely as a result of the sharp upturn in the price of diesel fuel during the second half of the year and losses at United Carriers that were higher than anticipated.
   Commenting on trading prospects for 2000, Geodis said that, by winning further supply chain outsourcing contracts, it should be able to raise its logistics revenues to FFr5.2 billion (about $800 million).