With a net loss of €19 million in the first quarter of 2015, TNT Express, the European express company, must be looking forward to its pending acquisition by FedEx, which is expected to close in the first half of 2016. Total revenue for the quarter was €1.622 billion, compared to Q1 2014 when it was €1.601 billion, – a mere 1.3 percent rise.
In 2015 TNT carried an average of 8,393 tonnes for intra-Europe transport during the quarter, down 3 percent from first quarter last year; 1,162 tonnes in the Americas, Middle East and Asia, actually an 8.3 percent increase; and 12,833 tonnes domestically, a 0.7 percent decrease from 2014.
CEO Tex Gunning said he expects 2015 to be a challenging year, followed by year-on-year improvement beginning in 2016.
Regarding the FedEx deal, also TNT provided a brief update on the planned US$4.8 billion purchase, saying both parties are making “timely progress.” FedEx said it plans to submit a request for review and approval of its offer with the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets by no later than June 30.
In a joint statement, FedEx and TNT Express said they “remain confident that substantive antitrust concerns, if any, can be addressed adequately and in a timely fashion,” although they noted that “formal clearance procedures” can take up to a year to run their course.