Panalpina volumes slip

PANALPINA’s first half airfreight volumes dipped two per cent against the same period last year.

The company’s focus on unit profitability led to an increase of gross profit per ton of nine per cent (+20 per cent currency adjusted) despite the adverse impact from the strong Swiss franc. In the second quarter airfreight volumes were down by nine per cent.

“A year ago we set out to restore profitability in 2011. Half way into the year we can say that we are well on track. I am pleased with the high organic gross profit growth in our reporting regions North and Latin America, as well as Asia Pacific. In the first half of 2011, the underlying EBITDA increased by 25 per cent, in local currencies even by 42 per cent,” chief excecutive officer Monika Ribar said.

Panalpina has lowered its market growth expectations for 2011 to 1-2 per cent for airfreight. “In a slowing market it will be difficult to match or even outperform market growth in 2011 but we have set the basis for sustainable, profitable growth going forward. We are absolutely confident that we can achieve the financial targets that we have recently set for 2014,” Ribar concluded.