Panalpina had a 24 per cent growth in airfreight during the first quarter of 2010. Gross profit dropped 13 per cent year-on-year to CHF 327.4 million and net profit fell 98 per cent to CHF 37 million. “We are glad to see the gradual recovery of the global markets continuing and our freight volumes picking up,†said CEO Monika Ribar.
“We are well on track with the implementation of our procurement and sales initiatives, managed to keep our costs at low levels and significantly increased productivity. Our volumes have been starting to outpace the market again and I am confident that we will also see our profitability improving further in the coming months,†she said.
But Ribar added that while intra- Asian and Latin American markets were “exceptionally strong†in both air and ocean freight during the first three months of 2010, the “remainder of 2010 is hard to predict.†We expect Asia to be the major growth driver in the coming months as consumption in Europe will most likely take more time to recover. Our focus will thus remain on gross profit generation, cost and cash control,†she added.