The tight restructuring program is apparently bearing fruit: The Germany-headquartered logistics company increased its consolidated pre-tax result in 2017 significantly compared to the financial year before. And the growth course will be continued vigorously in 2018 and beyond, announces Hellmann Worldwide Logistics.
The Hellmann executives including the company’s 13,000-plus staff have every reason to be pleased, evidenced by the logistics group’s 2017 pre-tax earnings of €22.2 million, a leap of 37 percent
y-o-y. Consolidated sales grew by 8.2 percent to €2.5 billion, while total sales amounted to €3.2 billion, surpassing 2016 figures by 7 percent.
Restructuring course is paying dividends
Commenting on the figures CEO Thomas Knecht and COO Jost Hellmann attributed their group’s annual result to the stiff restructuring course implemented in July of 2016, complemented by operational
changes and financial measures. As an outcome, the company’s widespread global activities were bundled in three business units: Air/Sea, Road/Rail and Contract Logistics.
The aim of this remodeling process was to optimize the customer and delivery processes, streamline the supply chain, speed up decision-making processes, and generate a sustained increase in
earnings. This mission has been successfully implemented, as Hellmann’s 2017 figures document.
Air freight is top performer
A glance at the performance of the individual business units shows that air freight performed best in 2017, rising 11.6 percent y-o-y. In total, 557,000 tons of cargo were handled. Rail and
trucking went up 3.5 percent, accounting for 17 million land transport consignments. The Contract Logistics division also developed positively with an increase in gross profit of around 8
percent. In contrast, sea freight development was volatile during the past year.” Despite this challenging environment, the Hellmann Group has succeeded in maintaining its market position in sea
transports, emphasizes the logistics company.
Some work still needs to be done
"With a pre-tax increase of 37 percent in 2017, we have achieved a solid and sustained positive development”. It started in 2016 and continued last year,” stated CEO Knecht upon the presentation
of the annual result. The manager went on to say: “However, we have not yet reached the end of the road. Our goal is to further expand our market position globally in all product areas and to
continue to develop earnings positively in the coming years."
Jost Hellmann departs
CCO Jost Hellmann added to this that the entire logistics industry is developing rapidly due to technological innovations and changed customer requirements. “We have realigned the Hellmann Group
over the past few years and created a good foundation for actively shaping this change and emerging from it even stronger."
The still-managing partner of the company will exit Hellmann’s top management at the end of this year. With his departure, the 1871 founded and still family-run enterprise is opening another
important chapter in its corporate history lasting 147 years.
Heiner Siegmund
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