PANALPINA’S EARNINGS, VOLUMES INCREASE

PANALPINA’S EARNINGS, VOLUMES INCREASE    Panalpina, the Swiss forwarding and logistics group, reported a net income of 93 million Swiss francs ($57 million) for 2000, up by 27 percent, as revenues, ocean freight and airfreight volumes all increased by more than 20 percent.
   Group revenue was SFr6.9 billion ($4.2 billion) last year, up by 26 over 1999.
   Panalpina’s seafreight division increased its shipment volume by 24 percent, to about 500,000 TEUs.
   Panalpina said that it experienced above-average growth rates in airfreight and seafreight last year. “At over 20 percent, Panalpina’s growth in the airfreight sector was once again well above par for the market,” a spokesman said.
   Gross profits climbed by 23.5 percent last year, to SFr1.2 billion ($733 million). Earnings before interest and tax were SFr131 million ($81 million), up by 26 percent.
   The streamlining of organizational structures, expansion of its network and innovative information technology solutions were key factors behind its higher results, Panalpina said.
   The company said that it has expanded its seafreight network, particularly for consolidated cargo, while making progress in its provision of “integral solutions and management of entire supply chains.”
   “The relative importance of time-definite door-to-door services rose considerably — a trend that is set to continue over the next two years,” the spokesman said. “The time-definite products developed by SwissGlobalCargo were well received by the market and were fully in line with expectations.”
   Panalpina said it won a number of major new supply chain management contracts last year, while extending existing contracts.
   Bruno Sidler, chief executive officer, attributed Panalpina’s
double-figure growth rates among other things to the fact it made “considerable headway in optimizing and
standardizing our procedures and in implementing new IT solutions.”
   The global logistics group has also implemented a cost management strategy, resulting in a lower increase in labor costs and other corporate expenditure than the growth of gross profits.
   Panalpina chairman Gerhard Fischer said that the results achieved were due to “the group’s own operational activity, namely to its organic growth, and not to positive influences from acquisitions or disposals.”
   So far, Panalpina has been one of the few major forwarding and logistics groups to have bucked the trend of takeovers. Its acquisitive competitors include Danzas, Kuehne & Nagel, Exel, UPS, FedEx and APL Logistics.