ABX LOGISTICS has acquired the company Saima Avandero (Italy)

Brussels, 27 September 1999 – ABX LOGISTICS, the division of the Belgian national railway company which specialises in transport and logistics, has acquired a majority stake in Saima Avandero in Italy and is going to acquire most of the Dubois shares in France, companies with which they have recently signed commercial co-operation and operational agreements.

ABX LOGISTICS has also signed a letter of intent with Eurofrete in Portugal, related to the acquisition of a majority stake in this company.

These three acquisitions come within the line of strategy put into practice three years ago by ABX LOGISTICS, in order to reinforce its competitive position against the evolution of the international transport and logistics market.

Following these deals, ABX LOGISTICS will achieve a turnover of 2.46 billion euro (99.3 billion BEF), will have 450 offices in 29 countries and will have 16,000 employees.

A European market seeing rapid transformation.

The very complex transport and logistics market has been characterised for a long time by extreme divisions and numerous small local operators. For a few years, it has seen great changes and as in other service occupations (banks, insurance companies, retail…), important movements of concentration by mergers or takeovers have been witnessed. This rapid transformation is linked to several phenomena, which affect the world economy:
– Globalisation, which brings about a strong growth in commercial activities and increases the number of countries concerned;
– European integration and the arrival of the Euro, which make competition increasingly tough;
– The arrival of American providers onto the European market, who would also like to profit from opportunities arising from the single market;
– The extended wish of companies to hand over activities, which are not part of their core business (outsourcing), to external suppliers, for example logistics and transport;
– New requests of clients in the context of a tight-flow delivery policy and the application of the concept “just-in-time”;
– Large companies want to deal with a single negotiator who will take care of logistic management in a group of countries. They also demand more effective services, in particular on the “tracking” issue, which requires significant technical and IT investments.

These joint factors mean that the worldwide transport and logistics market, although still very segmented, is more and more structured into large groups.

A consistent development strategy.

Facing this evolution, ABX LOGISTICS devotes itself to ensuring its growth by internationalisation and diversification. As part of this objective, it lays out a strategy aiming to create a large European and world-integrated network with leading partners on their market. It also reinforces its position on the international transport market, thanks to an effective presence in the countries that make up the heart of Europe and the key countries in Pacific Asia and America. The main objective is to ensure that an optimum and permanent quality service is guaranteed to its customers.

Furthermore, ABX LOGISTICS offers appropriate solutions linked to the integration of all forms of transport and logistics, which allow them to develop the concept of “one-stop-shopping”, i.e. giving an adequate response to all the transport needs of a business world-wide, whether it's a question of a small parcel or a container. It provides a single negotiator to its customers for all its products.

The composition of a solid network.

ABX LOGISTICS brings everything into play in order to secure its international network and each time the opportunity arises, it favours the acquisition of stakes in businesses which figure amongst the sector leaders on their national market.

In fact, experience shows that contractual alliances with other logistic businesses are very vulnerable and can easily break down with mergers, takeovers or more simply changes in partner policies. Although not lacking in merit, contractual alliances alone do not constitute a sufficiently stable base for a long-term strategy.

For ABX LOGISTICS, taking an interest in its partners` capital is a way of “rooting” them to the network. It is thus in a position to create an integrated group which can develop synergy’s, widen the range of services and assure a quality service in all countries whilst preserving local assets.

Principal agents.

Gruppo Saima Avandero (GSA) is the leader on the Italian transport and logistics market. It has 2,000 people and achieved a turnover of 511 million euro (20.6 billion BEF). Based in Milan (Italy), it is active throughout more than 90 offices in Europe, the United States, Japan, China, Africa and South America. It has gained recognised competence in the area of logistics services (third party logistics), an area where its activities are in great expansion.
GSA is already an official provider for major companies such as Ferrari, Maserati, Ducati Motor, Lamborghini, Pirelli, Goodyear and Alitalia.

Eurofrete, one of the main transport and logistics companies of Portugal, achieved a turnover of 9.97 million euro (2 billion PTE) in 1998. It specialises in road transport in Germany, Switzerland, Spain, France, England and Scandinavia, whilst the Portuguese company, TPT, with which ABX LOGISTICS has also signed a collaboration agreement, covers the Benelux countries, Ireland and Italy. Furthermore, Eurofrete has greatly expanded in the area of air and shipping services.

Dubois is amongst the most important transport and logistics companies in France. With a turnover of 426.85 million euro (17.2 billion BEF) excluding customs duties, 95 agencies, 3,500 employees and 600,000 m² of warehouses, Dubois is mainly active in national and European transport, air, shipping and logistics. Besides its 90 sites in France, it is active in China, Japan, Poland, Russia and the United States.

ABX LOGISTICS ranks amongst the top ten companies on the international logistics market. In 1998, before these acquisitions, it achieved a turnover of 1.63 billion euro (65 billion BEF) with 11,000 employees in some 300 offices worldwide. ABX LOGISTICS is already number 5 in Europe.

Network assets and future views.

Integration into a dynamic international network will allow the group's companies to develop synergy and to increase exchanges, whilst improving the quality of the offered services. The position of each one will be in that way reinforced.

ABX LOGISTICS will continue to apply the philosophy “Think global, act local” which is at the base of its improvement. This means great independence for the group's companies (there are those who act on the field and who know the specificities of their country), accompanied with efficient control systems to ensure group cohesion. During the next weeks, structures will be defined and teams will be reinforced in order to manage international development.

The group ambition is to make ABX LOGISTICS a brand name and a label of quality, recognised worldwide.

“Contrary to a lot of other Belgian companies which sell themselves abroad, ABX LOGISTICS is the perfect example of a large group which remains Belgian and which a consistent development strategy has propelled into the Top 10 world transport and logistics companies. We are very proud of it”, concludes the management of ABX LOGISTICS.

For further information :

ABX LOGISTICS Press Coordination Centre
Cathy Schoels
Tél : + 32 2 775 80 80
email : [email protected] Origami PR Consultant
Lucia Sanchez
Tél : + 32 2 539 07 04
email : [email protected]