C. H. Robinson has reported its 2021 full year financial results, the company experiencing a strong year, with total revenues increasing by 42.5% to $23.1bn. Operating income was up 37.8% to $1.08bn, with profit margin rising slightly from 4.15% in 2020 to 4.68% for 2021.
Changes made to strategic planning and investments have helped it deliver record finances for 2021. The main driver of strategic planning has been an increase in prices and volumes across all services. Operating expenses have risen in the company, with personnel expenses increasing 24.2% to $1.5bn, this being attributed to a higher headcount and pandemic-related cost reductions.
Transport sector had total revenue of $22.05bn across the whole of 2021, reflecting the mentioned changes to strategic planning and increases in prices and volumes across all services. Gross profit was at $3.05bn, an increase of 24.1%. The profit margin reduced from its 2020 margin, changing from 15.29% to 13.84% in 2021.
Segment data for 2021 was very promising, truckload seeing over a billion dollars’ worth of gross profit at $1.28bn. LTL rose by 12.6% to $523.37m. The area with the largest year-on-year (y-o-y) growth was ocean freight, rising by 50.8% from $350.09m to $711.22m in 2021. The rest of the segments also grew, with gross profit figures reflecting the strong year; air ($225.29m), customs ($100.54m), sourcing ($100.09m) and finally other logistics services rising 7.5% to $210.96m.
Q4 data has seen record figures delivered by C.H. Robinson, with gross profits up 33.7% to $850.7m, driven by higher adjusted gross profit per transaction and higher volume. In forwarding, the segment increased 108.1% to $2.1bn, with air and sea services the main driver, reflecting the strong demand and strained capacity on the sector. Ocean freight gross profits have increased 86.5%, driven by a 78% increase in adjusted gross profit per shipment and a 5% increase in volumes. Air gross profits increased 91.9% driven by 37.5% increase in volume of metric tons shipped and an increase in 39.5% increase in gross profit per metric ton. Transaction volume increased, allowing customs gross profits to increase 5.7%. Operating expenses have risen 33.9%, primarily because of an increase in staffing over the last quarter.
Full-year sourcing revenue was lower than the 2020 level, recording $1.05bn. Gross profit was above the 2020 figure of $99.3m, standing at $100.09m. The profit margin did rise for sourcing, moving from 9.37% to 9.48% in 2021.
Source: C. H. Robinson
