Panalpina’s earnings up 20% in 2005

Panalpina’s earnings up 20% in 2005    Swiss-owned forwarding and logistics group Panalpina today reported net income of CHF 120.3 million ($93.2 million) in 2005, up 20.3 percent from CHF 99.9 million in 2004, thanks to double-digit revenue increases in its three core segments.
   Net revenues in 2005 rose 13.8 percent to CHF 6.96 billion ($5.4 billion), from CHF 6.12 billion.
   Panalpina’s air freight turnover grew by 10.7 percent to CHF 3.41 billion ($2.64 billion), with a 5.5 percent volume increase. Ocean freight revenue rose 14.3 percent to CHF 2.40 billion ($1.86 billion) after a 12 percent jump in volumes. For supply chain management, revenue for 2005 was up 22.7 percent to CHF 1.14 billion ($883 million)
   Panalpina said the results “clearly defended its global ranking as number three in air freight and number four in ocean freight.”
   “A major contribution stems from the oil and gas sector, where Panalpina strengthened its role as global leader in supply chain solutions for this industry. A relatively weak start into the year was more than out-balanced by a much stronger second half year and a moderate recovery of air freight volumes,” Panalpina said.
   On a regional basis, net forwarding revenue in Asia/Pacific showed the strongest growth with a 20 percent increase over 2004 to CHF 821 million ($636 million), followed by North America, which improved by 16.7 percent to CHF 1.53 billion ($1.19 billion). Revenue for the Europe/Africa/ Middle East/CIS market improved 12.3 percent to CHF 3.94 billion ($3.05 billion) while Central and South America grew 8.8 percent to CHF 662 million ($513 million).
   “The industry outlook for 2006 is very favorable as the global economy keeps booming and the ongoing trend to outsource production to Asia is still extremely solid,” Panalpina said.
   “With our strategy of primarily organic growth, we will further expand our network and strengthen our market position in selected verticals. One of our strategic focus industries remains oil and gas, in which we will continue to invest substantially as it is a long-term growth market,” said Panalpina chairman Gerhard Fischer.
   Fischer is also serving as the company’s interim chief executive officer, following the resignation of Bruno Sidler in January when an unnamed manager at Panalpina Airfreight Management Ltd. was found to have manipulated the booking records over a period of 14 months leading to a loss of about CHF 33 million ($25.6 million). At the time, Panalpina estimated that the incident will have a negative impact on its operating results for 2005 by about CHF 22 million ($17 million) and CHF 11 million ($8.5 million) from the 2004 results.