K + N reports higher profit, Brazil purchase

K + N reports higher profit, Brazil purchase    Kuehne + Nagel Group said it had net profit of 312 million Swiss francs ($382 million) in the first half of the year, 11 percent more than the CHF 281 million earned in the first half of 2010.
   Revenue was CHF 9.78 billion ($12 billion) in the first half of this year compared to CHF 9.85 million in the first half of 2010.
   Reinhard Lange, chief executive officer, said the improvement came “despite a slowdown in market growth in the course of the second quarter and results negatively impacted by the strong Swiss franc.'
   Sea freight volumes increased 12 percent in the first half of the year, which the company said was double the market rate. Highest growth was achieved in exports from Europe to North America and Asia and from Asia to Latin America and the Middle East.

Lange

   Air freight tonnage increased 18 percent and expanded in the field of perishable logistics, the company said. Growth came despite sharply declining volumes in the global air freight market during the second quarter, resulting in a market growth of just about 2 percent in the first half, K + N said.
   Road and rail logistics business had a currency-adjusted 21.4 percent rise in net invoiced turnover; in contract logistics net invoiced turnover had a currency adjusted increase of 5.4 percent, it said.
   'Considering the debt crisis and currency situation in Europe as well as the volatile world economy, it is not possible to reliably forecast how the global markets will develop in the second half of the year,' said Karl Gernandt, the company’s chairman.
   He said K + N “will continue to pursue its global strategy, focusing on investments in growth markets and segments.”
   As an example he pointed to an agreement announced today to take over the shares of Grupo Eichenberg, a 75-year-old company in Porto Alegre, Brazil, that provides integrated logistics.
   K + N said the acquisition will enable it to provide integrated door-to-door logistics solutions and to speed up expansion in Brazil.
   Grupo Eichenberg, has 700 employees and 14 locations.
   K + N said in the road logistics sector, Grupo Eichenberg is one of the leading providers in the domestic market and offers daily services to and from Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. It is also a domestic air freight forwarder in Brazil.