CEVA resists headwinds for continued Q1 growth

Swelling net revenue margins supplanted the impact of lower gross revenues for Netherlands-based CEVA Holdings during the first quarter of 2016. The group’s freight management unit, which includes air and seafreight forwarding, reported a 57.1 percent, year-over-year, jump in EBITDA, to US$10 million, on a constant currency basis.

Cargo volumes for both air and sea showed growth over last year, in spite of the surge in airfreight demand caused by the U.S. West Coast port disruptions during Q1 of 2015. Air and ocean volumes increased by 1.5 percent and 1 percent, respectively – driven, in part, by stronger demand on trade lanes from Europe to Asia and Latin America to Europe.

In its Contract Logistics unit, EBITDA rose by 11.4 percent, y-o-y, to $36 million, on a constant currency basis, thanks to gains on disposals, improved space utilization and increased productivity, which was partly offset by site restructuring and customer bad-debt provisioning, CEVA said.

CEVA’s Freight Management and Contract Logistics figures, combined, resulted in first-quarter EBITDA up 15.7 percent, to $55 million in constant currency, despite revenues that were down 5.3 percent to $1.74 billion.

“2016 continues the trend we started in 2015. Market headwinds continue to affect all industry players, yet despite this climate, CEVA Air and Ocean volumes increased,” said CEVA CEO, Xavier Urbain. “We also maintain forward momentum through our ongoing focus on productivity and procurement improvements in both Freight Management and Contract Logistics. In parallel, we continue to strengthen our market share on the Trans-pacific trade lane.”