Profit Slips Steeply for Danish Trucker DSV

DSV, Scandinavia’s biggest trucking and logistics company, reported a steep decline in third quarter earnings but said it gained market share in its key ocean, air and land transport sectors.

The Danish firm’s pre-tax profit slumped to $29.7 million in the three months to Sept. 30 from $90.3 million in the same quarter last year on unchanged revenue of $1.7 billion.

Earnings in the first nine months crashed to $68.7 million from $255 million in the corresponding period in 2008 as revenue climbed to $5.3 billion from $5.17 billion, a performance the company said was “satisfactory.”

“DSV has gained market share in its main markets as the decline in volumes is deemed smaller than that of the market in general,” the Copenhagen-based company said.

DSV said the integration of ABX Logistics, acquired in 2008 for around $1 billion, has “more or less” been completed in most countries and will be finalized in France in early 2010 after the company reached agreement with unions.

The payroll was cut to 21,800 by Sept. 30 from around 26,000 a year ago and the total reduction will be around 20 percent, the company said.

DSV dropped a planned joint takeover of Denmark’s DFDS, Europe’s leading short-sea shipping line, in the summer after European competition regulators launched an in-depth investigation of the deal.

Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.