Logistics firm time:matters saw its revenues decline last year, but said it is well positioned to cater for coronavirus related demand.
The lufthansa-owned time critical logistics company saw its revenues drop to €114.8m in 2019 from €121.5m in 2018.
It pointed out this represents its second-best revenue result to date and came despite a challenging market environment associated with the slowdown in the global economy.
Commenting on the results, chief executive Alexander Kohnen said: “We took the right decision in 2019 to continue investing in expanding the global network, in spite of difficult global business conditions, and our customers have rewarded us for this.
“[The year] 2020 brings further challenges with the COVID-19 outbreak. As an emergency logistics provider, we are well positioned despite the currently very dynamic changes, as we have already set up comprehensive measures at an early stage on that we are constantly reviewing and adapting according to the situation.
“The last few weeks in particular have shown that we can still offer our customers the right transport solutions, tailored to their needs, in spite of the dynamics of the current situation and the limited air freight capacities – something they extremely appreciate.
“This is made possible by our expertise as well as our very broad partner structure of more than 500 global partners and airlines. Depending on how the pandemic progresses, we plan to further expand our business this year in Europe, Asia and the USA.”
The duration and dynamics of the current pandemic will determine the extent to which the company presses ahead with this year’s implementation of the company-wide digitalization strategy, which includes both customer-centric development of the products and services on offer as well as automated booking capabilities for the service portfolio.
During the year, the company said that it focused on building its international activities and invested in the expansion of the network, the digitalisation of core business and solutions for sustainable air transport.
The company’s global Sameday Air network grew to include a total of 11 stations in a number of countries, including China, Japan, Singapore and Thailand.
Subsidiary time:matters International Freight Forwarding Ltd. based in Shanghai was founded specifically for the Chinese market.
Another 16 stations in Africa were also added to the Global Express Airfreight network.
The services portfolio was also expanded in 2019 to include the global express transport of dangerous goods.
The main growth sectors for time:matters in 2019 were in particular the medtech, life science, aviation and aerospace, and high-tech & semicon segments as well as the airmates onboard courier platform.
