A tale of two (Swiss) forwarders

Switzerland-based forwarding and logistics giants Kuehne+Nagel and Panalpina posted their third quarter results this week, and while the companies may be geographically close, their results are not close at all.

Detailed third-quarter and year-to-date results for both K+N and Panalpina are shown in the charts at right, but here are a few comparisons from the third quarter:

• Gross Profit (what some forwarders call net revenue): K+N up 7.1%, Panalpina down 1.1%

• Net income: K+N up 4.0%, Panalpina down 24.8%

• EBIT: K+N up 4.5%, Panalpina down 8.5%

• Overall operating margin: K+N 13.2%, Panalpina 8.6%

• Net margin: K+N 10.5%, Panalpina 5.3%

• Airfreight volume: K+N up 20.7%, Panalpina up 9.3%

• Airfreight EBIT: K+N up 4.1%, Panalpina up 12.6%

All things considered, it was not a stellar quarter for either company. Granted, these are difficult times for forwarders everywhere, but K+N seems to be coping with those difficulties reasonably well, while Panalpina  continues to struggle.