Kuehne + Nagel said that the performance of its contract logistics division “continues to be impressive” after a “game-changing” contract with the Ministry of Defence saw turnover rise 33% year-on-year.
According to its most-recent filing at Companies House, turnover at K+N’s contract logistics division rose from £389m to £516.7m for the year-ending 31 December 2016. The strategic report within the filings states: “The UK market is an extremely competitive one and margins are always very tight, especially in the current economic climate, so the excellent performance of the contracts logistics division continues to be impressive.”
It won the thirteen-year MoD contract in 2015 as the storage and distribution member of consortium Team Leidos and implementation continued into 2016. K+N said that, in time, the contract would “provide a significant increase in the divisions’ turnover and profit”.
Last year it also won a major contract to manage GlaxoSmithKline’s UK road distribution of consumer and healthcare goods. It is now responsible for the inbound supply route and the final-mile delivery of all subsequent outbound shipments for GSK.
Also part of Kuehne + Nagel is its International Freight Forwarding division, which made a contribution of £809.6m in the year (2015: £819m) to overall turnover of £1.32bn for the year, up from £1.2bn in 2015. Pre-tax profit at the business rose to £36.1m from £35.9m in 2015.
Sister business Kuehne + Nagel Drink Logistics saw turnover drop slightly, from £212.2m in 2015 to £207.1m in 2015. It narrowed its pre-tax losses from £11.9m to £4.7m. the group said that with an increase in its turnover and a reduction in its losses it had “met or exceeded… key performance indicators throughout the year”.
