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The operating profit of GEFCO in 2014 grew by 10.5%

BC, Riga, 22.04.2015.Print version
Global player in industrial logistics and European leader in Automotive logistics, the GEFCO Group generated a turnover of € 4.1 billion in 2014, up 1.5 % compared with the same period in 2013. The current operating profit stands at € 105 million, up 10.5 % compared with 2013, reported BC Dita Bukovska.

Luc Nadal, Chairman of the GEFCO Management Board, emphasised that: "GEFCO achieved satisfactory results in the past year, considering the current challenging climate. At a time when control over the entire supply chain is becoming a key component in manufacturers' competitiveness, GEFCO offers its customers unique expertise that allows them to add value at each stage of their logistics chain. Proof of this lies in the more than 10 % growth in the GEFCO Group's activity in 2014 through its industrial clients."

 

Rising profitability and a stronger leading position

 

 

2013

 

2014

 

Var. 2014/2013

 

GEFCO turnover (in € Million)

 

3.993

 

4.053

 

+1.5 %

 

Current Operating Profit (€ Million)

 

95.5 

 

105

 

+10.5%

 

With a current operating margin of 2.6 % (compared with 2.4 % in 2013) and the current operating profit up 10.5 %, the GEFCO Group has been able to increase its profitability and withstand economic and sectoral fluctuations.


With very little debt, the Group has produced a free cash flow of € 138 million over two years, demonstrating its sound financial position. The performance plan initiated in mid-2014 to promote greater cost flexibility and the effectiveness of its "asset-light" business model have contributed to its cost management.

 

The GEFCO Group recorded a turnover of € 4.1 billion in 2014, up 1.5 % compared with 2013. This development in activity includes a 10 % rise – i.e. 14 % at constant exchange rates – in turnover generated through its industrial customers outside of PSA Peugeot Citroën and General Motors, compared with 2013.

 

The unrelenting efforts of its sales teams have enabled GEFCO to maintain its position among the top 10 European logistics integrators, and its number one status in Europe for Finished Vehicle Logistics. 


A customer portfolio diversification strategy that is paying off

The Group uses its unique expertise in the Automotive industry, acquired in particular through cooperation with its long-standing customer PSA Peugeot Citroën, to benefit manufacturers in a variety of sectors: electronics (Hitachi, Philips, LG), consumer goods (Ikea, L’Oréal, Kering), aeronautics (Safran, Zodiac, EADS) and industrial goods ("High and Heavy"). In 2014, GEFCO expanded its portfolio of market clients by 10.6 %.

 

The success of GEFCO's diversification strategy is reflected in the major contracts signed across the world: collaboration with Panstar and World Duty Free Group in Spain, the agreement concluded in Turkey with Sirona Dental, a dental equipment manufacturer, and the new partnership in Romania with Timken, a global manufacturer and supplier of bearings and industrial parts.

 

This diversification strategy has proved particularly successful in the development of its activity in and with the "1520[1]" zone (Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the Baltic States); GEFCO signed some 350 new contracts in this zone in 2014 with international and local industrial players.



[1] 1520 zone: In reference to the width of the standard railway tracks in Russia. This zone includes Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States and Kazakhstan


Overseas development, at the heart of GEFCO's ambitions

With an intercontinental network of 80 hubs and depots throughout the world, GEFCO offers tailor-made solutions to support its customers' international development. The recent opening of its air freight platform, built beside Frankfurt International Airport, is a perfect example of their continuing investment. In addition to the platforms in Paris, Shanghai and Hong Kong, this new hub provides a solution to the major challenges facing manufacturers, particularly in the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries.

 

2014 was also marked by the signing of a contract between GEFCO Spain, GEFCO Russia and Talgo, a Spanish company specialising in the manufacture of railway equipment, for the shipment and delivery of six trains in Russia thanks to a dedicated multimodal solution.

 

To support this growth strategy, GEFCO has dedicated one third of its investments to information systems in order to offer its customers all the necessary information concerning transport operations.

 

GEFCO has also put in place a new door-to-door rail transport service between Asia and Europe, a unique growth lever that enables the vast Chinese national rail network to be used to ship goods to over a dozen countries in Asia and Europe, including Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Germany and Hungary.

 

Continuing international expansion: the keystone of the GEFCO strategy

At the head of the leading European private transport network, GEFCO is strengthening its foothold in Eastern European countries and consolidating its expansion in high-growth-potential regions every year.

 

- At the end of 2014, the Group expanded its network in North Africa by setting up operations in Algeria, one of the largest economies in Africa with an ideal geographic location for trade with Europe, the Middle-East, South America and Asia.

- Aware of the strong potential associated with the dynamic economy of the ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) countries, GEFCO plans to launch activities in Vietnam, a key player in trade flows in this zone, as well as in Thailand and Indonesia. With 620 million inhabitants, the ASEAN should see a growth of 6.4 % in 2014, and its GDP could reach $ 3 billion in 2017. The zone also represents the world's sixth largest Automotive market, with a record production of 4.3 million vehicles in 2013.

- Present in Russia since 2003, GEFCO now reaps full benefits from the synergies created from the union with RZD at the end of 2012, which provides it with long-term strategic support, in addition to new development opportunities in Russia and in CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries. To speed up its development in this priority zone, GEFCO has adapted its organisation by creating a dedicated geographic zone: the "1520 zone", and by forming a "cluster" of 50 logistics experts based in Moscow who are already operational.

- Other territories in which GEFCO is planning to establish itself include Greece, Serbia, and South Korea.

                                   







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