Kuehne + Nagel claimed to have retained its position as “number-one globally” for sea and air forwarding, as it announced a “successful” 2024.
However, analysis today shows that, in fact the results were something of a “bad day at the office” – with an “underwhelming performance”.
The Swiss company enjoyed net turnover of CHF24.8bn ($27.8bn), up 4% year on year. But ebit was down 13% to CHF1.6bn, while earnings fell 16% to CHF1.2bn.
It said: “These 2024 results once again significantly exceeded the comparable figures from before the pandemic.”
Its annual report said: “Supply chains have been negatively impacted throughout the year, and ended in fear of global trade tariffs with a surge in demand for capacity from sea and air freight carriers.
“Chinese ecommerce companies were the major source of volume increases, offsetting the weakness in industries such as automotive. Against this fast pace of change and unstable and underlying economic conditions, the group confirmed its position as number-one globally for sea logistics, with 4m teu managed in container traffic, and in air logistics, with 2m tons of volume.”
Its sea freight arm saw volumes fall 0.6%, but turnover rose 6.8%, to CHF2,445 ($2,747) per teu. Net turnover went up 8%, to CHF9.3bn, but ebit fell 16%, to CHF851m, and gross profit fell 11%. K+N said it had strengthened the division with its November deal for the acquisition of 51% of US company IMC Logistics, which handles some 2.2m teu annually.
In air logistics, net turnover was up 5%, to CHF7.3bn. Gross profit stayed broadly flat, but ebit fell 14%, to CHF478m. Tonnage grew 6%, and “Kuehne+Nagel Air Logistics once again proved its resilience in challenging markets, thanks to its broad positioning, especially in the perishables, pharma, semiconductors, and aerospace sectors”, it said.
Its road business faced challenges, it said, explaining: “Road logistics mitigated headwinds in key markets through yield and supplier cost management in the second half of the year.” Net turnover was CHF3.5bn, down 2%, while ebit fell 26%, to CHF98m.
“The volume totalled nearly 24 million orders, but the weak economic development in Europe affected the general cargo business,” it added.
However, K+N pointed to the acquisition of customs broker Farrow in Canada and road logistics provider City Zone Express in South-east Asia to showcase its expansion plans in road.
Contract logistics was the one sector to see ebit growth, up 16%, to a record CHF227m, on the back of turnover up 1%, at CHF4.7bn.
K+N said it had opened a “highly automated fulfilment centre for Adidas in Mantova, Italy” last year, serving up to 500,000 daily shipments, “from single ecommerce parcels to bulk orders for large retailers”.
CEO Stefan Paul said K+N had become more efficient, while also growing.
“The streamlining of Kuehne+Nagel’s organisational and sales structure in April already yielded visible successes in the second half of the year. In addition, we enabled new growth opportunities through acquisitions in North America and Asia. In short, we have created a more efficient organisation, with a broader offering, to achieve our future ambitions.”
Chairman Joerg Wolle added: “We achieved the positive results despite extensive strains on the global economy and despite geopolitical events. In these challenging times, Kuehne+Nagel once again proved to be a reliable strategic partner, supporting its customers with sophisticated logistics solutions.”
