JOC Staff | Feb 10, 2013 3:37PM EST
Major Japanese international freight forwarder Kintetsu World Express Inc. said that its net profit tumbled 10.9 percent in the first nine months of fiscal 2012, which started on April 1, 2012, from a year earlier, to $73.64 million on a consolidated basis.
The Tokyo-based company’s group operating revenue declined 6.4 percent in the April-December period from a year earlier to $2.04 billion. Its group operating profit dropped 4.4 percent to $106.89 million.
KWE attributed the lackluster performance largely to a slump in air freight operations amid a slowdown in the global economy. The company also said that its sea freight volume rose in the nine-month period from a year earlier, but not as much as it had expected.
“On account of weak international air freight forwarding, there were no signs of expected growth in logistics,” the company said in an earnings release.
Operating revenue in the Americas, which include the United States, Canada and Latin America, totaled $258.60 million in the April-December period, down 7.7 percent year-on-year. Operating profit in the Americas was $14.66 million, down 11.5 percent.
Nippon Express Co., Yusen Logistics Co. and KWE are Japan’s three largest international freight forwarders.
KWE revised downward its group revenue and profit forecasts for the whole of fiscal 2012, which were first announced on Nov. 7. The company’s new full-year projections are as follows: $2.72 billion in group operating revenue, down 5.4 percent from fiscal 2011; $143.488 million in group operating profit, down 4.5 percent from fiscal 2011; $95.65 million in group net profit, down 7.8 percent from fiscal 2011.
