Hisane Masaki, Special Correspondent | Apr 30, 2012 8:58AM EDT
Major Japanese international freight forwarder Yusen Logistics Co., Ltd. said that its net profit declined 30.2 percent in fiscal 2011, which ended on March 31, from the previous fiscal year to $31.19 million on a consolidated basis.
The company’s group operating revenue jumped a whopping 92.2 percent in fiscal 2011 from fiscal 2010 to $3.81 billion. The company’s group operating profit rose 26.8 percent to $77.43 million.
The Tokyo-based company is the logistics arm of Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line), Japan’s largest shipping firm by sales. Yusen Air & Sea Service Co., Ltd. (YAS), the core logistics unit of NYK Line, absorbed NYK Logistics (Japan) Co., Ltd., another logistics subsidiary of NYK Line, and changed its name to Yusen Logistics Co., Ltd. on Oct.1, 2010.
Looking back on the last fiscal year, Yusen Logistics said in an earnings release that the business environment surrounding the company was quite unstable due to various negative factors.
The company specifically cited sluggish consumer spending in the United States, the prolonged debt crisis in Europe and slowdown in the Asian economies, as well as serious natural disasters in Japan and Thailand.
Yusen Logistics said that it was particularly affected by the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan in March 2011, which led to disruptions to supply chains not only in Asia but worldwide, dealing a blow to demand for cargo transportation.
“Although the volume of cargo we handled increased in some regions temporarily due to demand related to recovery from the twin natural disasters in Japan and heavy floods in Thailand, the international logistics market was generally stagnant,” the company said.
Yusen Logistics said that its group operating revenue surged in fiscal 2011 thanks to the integration of logistics operations with NYK Line, although the pace of growth was slower than initially expected.
The company suffered a decline in net profit despite the sharp revenue growth in fiscal 2011, due to extraordinary losses, which swelled nearly 6-fold to $16.64 million from $2.90 million in fiscal 2010.
The company booked a $15.65 million provision in fiscal 2011 as a potential future loss resulting from an antirust case in the United States involving freight forwarding services for international air cargo shipments.
Yusen Logistics also announced its group revenue and profit forecasts for fiscal 2012: $4.57 billion in operating revenue, up 19.7 percent from fiscal 2011; $117.28 million in operating profit, up 51.5 percent from fiscal 2011; $61.73 million in net profit, up 97.9 percent from fiscal 2011.
Contact Hisane Masaki at yiu45535@nifty.com.
