Kintetsu World Express (KWE) has reported its financial results from the six-month period ending September 30, 2020. The global economy faced difficult situations due to the global pandemic but has started to show signs of recovery in some areas as the economic activities gradually resumed.
KWE reported net sales fell 2.9% to ¥*263.7bn compared to the same six months of 2019. Operating income, however, rose 48.5% to ¥13.0bn from ¥8.6bn in 2019.
The global market witnessed a sharp drop in demand for international transport due to restrictions on global economic activities resulting in a decrease in the volume of the overall market. Under such circumstances, the KWE Group’s freight operations saw air freight exports fell 14.6% year-on-year to 233,000 tonnes, and air freight imports decreased 14.4% to 527,000 shipments. Sea freight exports dropped 11.5% to 291,000 TEUs, and imports fell 7.1% to 130,000 shipments. Logistics were stagnant overall due to a decrease in the handling volume in APLL and overseas segments. While the handling volume decreased overall, net sales showed a different trend due to a significant decrease in transportation space in air freight caused by a reduction of passenger flights and the resulting rise in freight cost and sales price.
In Japan, net sales fell by 5.8% to ¥64.8bn and operating income increased 71.4% to ¥3.1bn due to an improvement in operating gross profit margin.
The Americas region saw net sale decrease 8.1% to ¥26.6bn, and operating income increased 10.7% to ¥1.7bn.
In Europe, Middle East & Africa net sales for the segment dropped 4.8% to ¥17.5bn, and operating income fell 5.2% to ¥461m mainly due to sluggish performance in a South African subsidiary.
The East Asia & Oceania segment saw net sales increase 24.5% to ¥57.0bn, and operating income increased 148.1% to ¥5.6bn.
Net sales in Southeast Asia increased 30.8% to ¥35.8bn, and operating income increased 256.1% to ¥3.0bn.
As for logistics services for automotive, the land transport decreased in North America and India as a consequence of shutdowns of factories due to lockdowns. For retail-related services, the handling volume decreased mainly in major customers due to shutdowns of stores around the world, and the volume in consumer and other industrial fields was below a year earlier. As a result, net sales for the segment decreased 23.5% to ¥67.8bn, and operating income fell 60.9% to ¥1.8bn.
Source: KWE
*$ = ¥102/€ = ¥124