PANALPINA REPORTS RECORD FIRST-HALF RESULTS

PANALPINA REPORTS RECORD FIRST-HALF RESULTS    The Panalpina Group, the big Swiss forwarding and logistics company, said its first-half net income rose 35.1 percent to about $38.9 million Swiss francs (about $23 million).
   Net revenue, or revenue minus transportation costs, rose 22.4 percent to CHF 2.43 billion ($1.41 billion). Gross revenue increased 26.1 percent to CHF 560.2 million ($327 million).
   The company said all regions and divisions showed improved results, led by above-average increases in the United States and North America. Panalpina said it also benefited from a rebound in the oil sector, and expects to see continued improvement through the rest of the year.
   Bruno Sidler, Panalpina's chief executive officer, said the company was “also extremely pleased” with the first-half results of SwissGlobalCargo, the joint venture between Panalpina and SAirLogistics. The venture saw a “pleasing level of business” both in traditional air-freight services and the introduction of its new time-definite products on a number of routes.
   Panalpina expects its figures to continue to improve through the rest of the year,” said Werner Regli, chief financial officer.
   Separately, Panalpina said it will add a second weekly freighter flight between Macao and Luxembourg in September, due to “very buoyant” demand.
   'SwissGlobalCargo will operate the flight under the Asian Wings brand name. SwissGlobal started B747 service to Macao in May using an MK Airlines plane. The additional frequency will come on as the peak air-freight shipping season begins.
   SwissGlobal has also added flights to Brazil using MK Airlines this year, citing growing demand. The new all-cargo flights come on top of Panalpina's extensive block space agreements with Cargolux to and from South America.
   Bern, Switzerland-based Panalpina has operations in 65 countries.