Salvesen confirms German logistics sale
Christian Salvesen, the UK based logistics provider, has announced that it has sold its loss making German subsidiary for a nominal fee to its present managing director. The company, which was previously known as Wohlfarth, had been making consistent losses since Salvesen first took a stake in 1995. The sale will be completed by mid-May subject to approval by works councils and after approval of the assignment of certain customer contracts.
The company revealed that its German business unit made a loss of £5.4m (€7.9m) on sales of £45.9m (€67m) in 2002. The disposal of the company will mean that Salvesen will take an exceptional charge this year of £9.6m (€14m) and a further £10.4m (€15.2m) in 2004. One of the main problems which the company faced was its lack of scale in a market dominated by the likes of Danzas, Schenker and alliance networks such as Cargoline and IDS. However it also struggled with internal commercial, operational, IT and marketing issues.
The company states that it will continue to serve the German market through an agreement with the new independent company and also partnerships with other suppliers. However the move is a significant reverse for the development of the company’s shared user networks throughout Europe.
