Bruce Barnard, Special Correspondent | Mar 06, 2012 10:52AM EST
CEVA Logistics’ earnings grew by 9.9 percent in 2011 year-over-year to $421 million on cost cuts and improved efficiency, as revenue rose one percent to a record $9 billion.
The Netherlands-based supply chain management company completed an equity and debt-funded financing in February 2012, which eliminated more than $1.1 billion of debt.
Net contracts wins of $2.36 billion were ahead of target.
“We improved our financial performance substantially in the first half year and have maintained top line performance in a more challenging environment in the second half,” said CEO John Pattullo.
An 8-percent growth in contract logistics revenue more than offset a 2-percent decline in freight management sales on lower transport rates and softer airfreight volumes.
CEVA boosted ocean freight traffic by 17 percent in 2011 and launched a less-than-container load service.
The new business pipeline increased by 17 percent and the contract retention rate exceeded 90 percent. More than 40 percent of CEVA’s business is now in high growth areas such as Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.
CEVA lost an estimated $9.2 million due last year’s flooding in Thailand but operations are now returning to normal.
Looking ahead, “we expect the economic uncertainty of the last few months to continue,” Pattullo said.
“We believe that we have identified and prioritized the right actions to continue to strengthen our business model, even with this external background, and build our market position so that we outperform our peer group in 2012.”
Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.