Waberer’s increased its Q1 revenue by 15.3% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2018. The Hungarian company’s revenues totalled €178.9m, which was driven by International Transport Segment growth of 17% and Regional Contract Logistics growth of 8%. International Transport Segment growth was attributed to higher prices and acquisition effects. Regional Contract Logistics growth was due to enhanced warehouse capacity and higher prices.
The company reported recurring EBITDA of €18.2m, down 0.2% year-over-year. This was partly due to a 4% decrease in the International Transport Segment attributed to weaker off-season volumes due to the implementation of its repricing strategy. It was offset by an 18% increase in EBITDA in the Regional Contract Logistics Segment which occurred due to better growth in higher-margin warehouse-related activities. Its recurring net income was €0.2m, down from €4.4m in the previous year.
Ferenc Lajkó, CEO of Waberer’s commented: “The first three months of 2018 showed a robust revenue performance from the Group. However, partly because of our conscious repricing strategy, and partly because of what is typically the low season at the beginning of the year, we registered a temporary pressure on volumes in the International Transportation Segment. Our ongoing initiatives will help alleviate these pressures. Amongst other projects, we are working to increase kilometre performance by enhancing the capacity and efficiency of our sales force to increase general coverage of the FTL demand and to strengthen our activities in targeted problematic lanes that had a negative effect on mileage in the first quarter. Therefore, although the repricing of our services had an effect on our first quarter profitability, it is expected to have positive margin effect for the rest of the year.”
Source: Waberer’s
