Ceva maintains momentum in tough airfreight market

Ceva said its air freight volumes jumped 15.6% in the second quarter of the year, notably on the Trans-Pacific and Intra-Asia trade lanes.
The Netherland-headquartered forwarding and logistics firm said that although the market situation remains difficult, with rising carrier rates, yields were maintained at relatively high levels.
Ceva added that productivity improvements led to reductions in direct operating expenses, which mitigated the impact of higher rates.
Ocean Freight was up 3.5%, driven by volumes out of Asia and from Europe to Middle-East.
Overall, Ceva’s Freight Management arm achieved revenue growth of 8.8% in constant currency terms.
Freight management EBITDA earnings in the second quarter were $20 million, up $2 million in constant currency.
Overall, Ceva reported revenue growth of 6.4% in the quarter in constant currency terms and adjusted EBITDA earnings of $70 million, up $9 million in constant currency terms.
Chief executive, Xavier Urbain, said that the second quarter showed “a further improvement on the first quarter, delivering revenue, profitability and cash flow improvements despite market headwinds. Our underlying trading was even stronger.”
He said that Ceva’s ‘Excellence’ productivity program would have a greater impact in quarters to come, adding: “We have made much progress in terms of cost reductions and cash flow and we keep winning new business. In view of these improvements, we confirm our expectation for robust results in 2017 in EBITDA and cash flow.”
New business wins generated growth in Contract Logistics in the second quarter with revenue up 4.5% in constant currency. Contract Logistics EBITDA earnings rose $6m in the quarter to $39m.