By Isabelle Yr Carlsson
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Global freight company DSV reported quarterly operating profit before special items slightly below expectations on Thursday as its road business underperformed due to weaker conditions in the United States and some markets in Europe.
Chief Financial Officer Michael Ebbe also said that trade tensions remained as communications around tariffs in particular contributed to volatile markets.
“Whenever it’s announced that there will be tariffs, then you can say there is a stop and go in the trade flows,” he told Reuters.
“What is good now is that we get more and more certainty about the tariffs… It gives the investors and the companies some comfort and also some certainty as to how we have to operate in the future,” he added.
The world’s largest logistics company posted a second-quarter operating profit before special items of 4.73 billion Danish crowns ($725 million), slightly below the 4.85 billion crowns expected by 19 analysts in a company-provided poll.
Shares in DSV were down 1.7% by 1000 GMT.
DSV kept its outlook for an operating profit before special items this year of between 19.5 billion and 21.5 billion crowns.
It also still expects annual synergies from its acquisition of Schenker, the logistics arm of Germany’s Deutsche Bahn, of around 9 billion crowns ($1.4 billion) by the end of 2028.
While the company said the integration of Schenker was off to a strong start, Jyske Bank analyst Haider Anjum said the market had expected an even faster process as with previous acquisitions, causing DSV shares to slide.
“The reason why you can’t do it (quick integration) this time is that the acquisition of DB Schenker is significantly larger than previous acquisitions and there is a lot more to get a handle on,” Anjum said.
($1 = 6.5263 Danish crowns)
(Reporting by Isabelle Yr Carlsson; Editing by Louise Rasmussen, Terje Solsvik and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
