Philip W. Herwig, Managing Partner at Röhlig Logistics, explains: "2022 is the most successful year in our company's history and we have once again exceeded our strong result from 2021. We increased our EBIT from EUR 61 million to EUR 84 million and all of our core business areas, sea freight, air freight and contract logistics, contributed to the very good result. Our business model of being close to our customers with analog and digital solutions and implementing individual solutions quickly and flexibly has proven its worth in a time of multiple crises. We see the basis of our success in long-term partnerships with our customers and the continuous expansion of our global network."

In the past 2022 financial year, Röhlig continued to implement its Blue Star strategy program, which is intended to drive the company's long-term success in 2023 as well. The aim is to ensure the company's independence and attractiveness to customers, employees and suppliers, primarily through organic growth. Röhlig is placing a particular focus on the further development of its digital expertise and the associated expansion of its digital services in close cooperation with the two successful spin-offs <cargonerds> and logineer.

Positive development in the core markets and beyond

In the 2022 reporting year, the gross profit generated increased from EUR 213 million to EUR 276 million. The positive development of the core markets of Australia, Germany, South Africa and the USA made a particular contribution to this. However, regions such as Southern Europe and LATAM, as well as the branch office in the United Arab Emirates, which only opened in 2021, also contributed to the positive business result. Röhlig has expanded its network by opening branches in Brazil and Switzerland and strengthened it with additional offices in Belgium, China, India, Mexico, Thailand and the USA.

Continued strong growth in core business

Compared to 2021, Röhlig's gross profit in sea freight increased by 58%. Gross profit in air freight increased by 31 percent. Hylton Gray, Chief Executive Officer Sea Freight, Air Freight, Contract Logistics & Sales at Röhlig Logistics, explains: "2022 was also a very challenging year. But we are very satisfied with our results. In sea freight, we were able to offer our customers additional space in the first half of the year despite the freight capacity bottlenecks and expand our business. When the situation changed drastically in the second half of the year, we adapted quickly and flexibly to the changed market situation so that we could continue to offer our customers tailor-made solutions. Despite the deterioration in the global market environment compared to the previous year, we even achieved above-average growth in air freight from our core markets."

In contract logistics, Röhlig has improved its gross profit by 11 percent. Hylton Gray explains: "Our joint venture Röhlig Penske Logistics, with locations in Germany and the Netherlands, tripled our warehouse space in Europe in 2022, enabling us to expand our customer base to include multinational blue-chip customers. The basis for this is the successful merger of two teams in Europe, on which we placed a particular focus in the past financial year." Due to the high demand for storage space, Röhlig has further expanded its capacities in South East Asia and Oceania.

Outlook

"Even in a currently weakening market environment, we will continue to focus on growth in our core business, the expansion of our digital expertise and our global network in 2023," says Philip W. Herwig.