By Anastasiia Kozlova
(Reuters) – Swiss logistics group Kuehne und Nagel on Tuesday said full-year operating profit could be lower than analysts’ expectations due to global economic uncertainty, sending shares down 3.2% in morning trade.
The freight forwarder also scrapped its 2019-2026 guidance for annual operating profit growth between 17 – 19%, saying it had been ‘too optimistic’ in its post-Covid market assumptions. It did not provide new mid-term operating profit targets.
Kuehne und Nagel’s stock, which hit the bottom of the Swiss mid-cap index after the announcement, had fallen 13% over the last year.
At the same time, rivals DSV and DHL have gained market favour from acquisitions and improved profitability.
“We see no such positive catalysts for K+N and much of the profitability will hinge on self-help measures amid a weakening market outlook,” Parash Jain, Global Head of Transport & Logistics research at HSBC, said.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, shipping and logisitics firms have had to navigate several supply chain crises from backed-up sea ports in the United States and China to worker strikes and, more recently, Houthi attacks on vessels in the Suez Canal.
Major shipping companies have for months been forced to go around Africa to evade attacks by Houthi militants, with the Suez Canal crisis showing no sign of resolution.
“The recent escalation in conflict in the Middle East will push out any potential resumption of sailing via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal to beyond this year’s peak season,” Jain said.
Kuehne und Nagel, which operates in more than 100 countries, said it expects recurring earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to be between 1.50 and 1.75 billion Swiss francs ($1.70-$1.98 billion) for this year.
Analysts had been expecting a median operating profit of 1.69 billion francs for 2025, a company-provided poll showed.
In 2024, EBIT came in at 1.67 billion francs.
JPMorgan analyst Alexia Dogani said the new forecast range was positive step for transparency, but added that Kuehne und Nagel’s update lacked self-help initiatives, especially given the challenging freight environment.
($1 = 0.8827 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Anastasiia Kozlova, additional reporting by Amir Orusov, Editing by Friederike Heine and Richa Naidu)
