KUEHNE & NAGEL SEES 27% RISE IN HALF-YEAR PROFIT

KUEHNE & NAGEL SEES 27% RISE IN HALF-YEAR PROFIT    Kuehne & Nagel reported a 27-percent increase in group net profit for the first six months of the year, to 58 million Swiss francs ($34 million), as compared to SFr45 million for the same period last year.
   Operating profit was up by 35 percent, to SFr94 million ($55 million), and group turnover (revenues) rose by 26 percent, to SFr3.8 billion ($2.3 billion).
   Kuehne & Nagel’s ocean freight division had a first-half operating profit of SFr46 million ($27 million), up 24 percent, on revenues of SFr1.6 billion ($973 million), up 27 percent. The airfreight division posted an operating profit of SFr28 million ($17 million), up 42 percent, on revenues of SFr868 million ($512 million), up 27 percent.
   The group’s operating margin as a percentage of revenues increased from 2.3 percent to 2.5 percent, helped by higher margins on airfreight and European overland traffic activities.
   Kuehne & Nagel said that nearly all regions and divisions of the group contributed to its improved results for the first half of the year.
   The Swiss-based forwarding group said that its investments in fixed assets in the first six months amounted to SFr50 million ($30 million), 45 percent more than in the same period in 1999.
   Kuehne & Nagel expects its profit for the full year to exceed SFr110 million ($65 million).