Bertschi Group posts gains in 2019

The Bertschi Group grew in the 2019 financial year, but “due to the challenging market environment”, the global chemical logistics company’s rate of growth slowed considerably, it said in an update. 

Thanks to the expansion of its worldwide activities, sales at the Swiss family-owned business rose to £775.5 million, with the earnings position remaining largely stable. It said its efforts were focused on the digital transformation and targeted expansion of services and it plans to continue these efforts “vigorously” in 2020.  

It added that the second half of the year was “shaped by economic headwinds”, as after a strong start the global economy (and in particular the automotive industry, which is so important to the chemicals industry), lost momentum over the course of 2019. 

Bertschi said it was not immune to this trend and was faced with weak transport demand particularly in its European business units, towards the end of the year.

In the reporting year, Bertschi saw group revenues rise by 1.3 per cent to CHF 985 million. The workforce grew by 3 per cent to 3,100. Adjusted for negative currency effects, revenue gains of 3.6 per cent in local currency terms were posted. 

In addition to the economic downswing, the strength of the Swiss Franc had a negative impact. But in spite of the difficult economic environment, timely and resolute cost management enabled Bertschi to maintain earnings just about consistent with the previous year’s figures. 

Bertschi was successful in its implementation of complex supply chain solutions in 2019. It also made a “significant investment” in its future – in addition to expansion of its container fleet by 7 per cent to 36,800 units, substantial facility expansion in Duisburg and Schwarzheide (Germany) boosted local capacity for modal shift from road to rail (intermodal rail terminal) and for product storage concepts, respectively. 

A focus of the company’s digital transformation efforts in 2019 was the roll-out of the Bertschi TruckTracer app, and last year also saw the completion of the expansion of the headquarters in Dürrenäsch (Switzerland) and commencement of operations in those new facilities. 

For more information visit www.bertschi.com

28th January 2020