CEVA growth driven by strong Asia demand

Global - CEVA group, a Netherlands-based logistics provider said second-quarter revenue went up on strong Asia and Europe volumes in its contract logistics business, but had to grapple with weak currency rates in its key UK and US markets.

The company said it booked 1.7 billion euro (US$2.5 billion) for the quarter, with increasing growth momentum in its contract logistics and freight management operations. At 2007 exchange rates, revenue increased 9.4% over the same quarter on of the previous year on a proforma basis.

Second quarter operating profit failed to keep pace with sales growth however, improving by just 3.2% to 96 million euros, and a margin of 5.6% down from 6%.

The company said revenue from its contract logistics business grew strongly in Asia Pacific, Italy, Turkey and within the northern European geographies of the UK and Central and Eastern Europe as a result of higher volumes and contract wins.

However, revenue from north America was adversely affected by the downturn in economic conditions and contract terminations in the previous year.

"Although trading conditions are challenging, we believe CEVA's current momentum will allow sustained progress," said CEVA CEO John Pattullo.

"In recent months we have realigned our organisational structure into four geographical regions in order to create a more customer focused and responsive structure. We have also developed a very clear set of strategies and plans to shape the future direction of CEVA. Our customers are reacting positively to these changes and we have experienced a number of significant wins during the quarter."