Danish freight forwarder DSV handled 574,644 tonnes of airfreight in 2016 – which represented a growth of 85 per cent on 2015 when it processed 311,193 tonnes.
The company puts this down to the $1.35 billion acquisition of US freight forwarder UTi Worldwide, as it now has a strong presence in the US, but UTi also has also contributed major activities in Europe, APAC and South Africa.
For the fourth quarter (Q4) alone of 2016, DSV’s airfreight volumes surged 86 per cent.
In 2016, net revenue for airfreight was DKK 15,800 million ($2.2 billion) – up on the DKK 9,171 million in 2015, while gross profit for airfreight was DKK 3,991 million, up on the DKK 2,234 million in 2015.
For DSV as a whole in 2016, net revenue was DKK 67,747 million compared with 50,869 million in 2015 and operating profit before special items was DKK 3,475 million, up on DKK 3,050 million in 2015.
DSV chief executive officer, Jens Bjørn Andersen says: “While maintaining momentum in our integration efforts in 2016, we kept focus on running the business, leading to very satisfactory results in all divisions.
“We expect to complete the integration of UTi and continue to take market share in 2017 creating earnings growth of 21-29 per cent.”
DSV’s outlook for 2017 is it expects profit before special items to be in the range of DKK 4,200-4,500 million.
The Group expects further integration costs of approximately DKK 500 million in relation to the integration of UTi Worldwide. The integration costs will be charged to the income statement under special items in 2017.