Geodis opens up European front
French giant launches pan-European freight plan in London and announces new profit targets. International dimension to benefit Fortec network members and customers.
Geodis is to launch a new European groupage servicecalled Eurofirst next month, providing customers with online tracking, PoDs and quality reports. The service will initially cover ten countries, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain; a further 15 countries will be added at the end of the year. Geodis launched the Eurofirst product at its annual results presentation in London last Friday. The main groupage business in the UK goes live with Eurofirst in April and the pallet network, Fortec, is expected to plug into the system in May. This should prove a major benefit for Fortec member companies and their customers, says managing director Rod Abrahams. Geodis reported an increase in gross operating profit of 11% to c148.1m (pounds sterling)103m). Operating profit increased by 34% to c82.4m ((pounds sterling)57m). The French group, 45.1% owned by SNCF and looking for more French shareholders, aims to increase operating profit by 30% to more than c100m by 2007. “We will do this organically, we won’t be making any big acquisitions because we would rather keep our money to reduce debt,” says chairman and chief executive Pierre Blayau. “We want to proceed as a managing vendor company, as we believe that is the way forward. We want to offer global solutions, to work in partnership with our customers, and engineer their supply chains to meet their needs.” Blayau adds that the company will become more involved in reverse logistics and has signed a joint venture partnership with SITA for recycling products. Geodis UK reported a turnover of (pounds sterling)70m in 2004 but it is still not profitable. “The exchange rate was a huge handicap for us last year,” he says. UK managing director Jamie Cuthbert says its Fortec pallet network is performing well, meeting its 20% growth target over the last three years, and is moving 2,500 pallets a night. He says the network will focus on quality rather than growth.
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