Sinotrans tops $2 billion in group revenue

Sinotrans tops $2 billion in group revenue    Sinotrans, China’s largest forwarding group, continued its rapid expansion last year, with group revenue rising 28 percent year-on-year to RMB17.4 billion ($2.1 billion) from RMB13.6 billion in 2002.
   The group’s freight forwarding, express, marine transportation, and storage and terminal services all contributed to the increase in revenues.
   Group operating income climbed 25 percent in 2003 to RMB1.1 billion ($135 million) from RMB893 million in 2002, and net income rose 23 percent to RMB705 million ($85 million) from RMB572 million.
   Freight forwarding activities, the largest business unit of Sinotrans, reported revenues of RMB12.1 million ($1.5 billion) up 25 percent, and operating income of RMB318 million ($38 million), unchanged from 2002.
   Container volume handled by the company’s sea freight forwarding services increased 16 percent to 3 million TEUs in 2003, while the air freight volume increased 15.5 percent to 183,700 tons.
   “Growth of freight forwarding revenue in 2003 was primarily attributed to enhanced sales and marketing efforts, with a faster pace of growth in size,” Sinotrans said. It also cited “continual upswings in international sea freight rates” as a factor in revenue growth.
   The express services arm of the Chinese group saw its revenue soar 52 percent last year to RMB1.7 billion ($206 million), while its operating income climbed 43 percent to RMB450 million ($54 million). The number of documents and packages handled by the group increased 28.3 percent to 12.2 million pieces last year.
   Sinotrans said its shipping agency arm handled 6.05 million TEUs last year up 30 percent, and that it looked after 52,442 vessel calls in 2003 22 percent more than in the previous year.
   Commenting on prospects for this year, Sinotrans said it believes the Chinese economy “will sustain its healthy and robust growth in 2004 with increasing demands from the logistics and transportation market.”
   It also cited uncertainties such as the “realignments of the export tax refund policy” and rate fluctuations in the sea freight market.
   Sinotrans is a joint-stock limited company listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.