By Nina Kienle
Interroll Holding, a Switzerland-based logistics company, has announced a decrease in sales, order intake, and profitability for the year 2023. This decline can be attributed to weaker demand in the market and a negative impact from currency fluctuations.
According to the preliminary figures released on Monday, Interroll reported a 16% decrease in sales compared to the previous year, amounting to 556.3 million Swiss francs ($643.8 million). When considering local currencies, the decline stood at 12%.
The company stated that sales picked up momentum in the second half of the year, mainly due to seasonal trends and the successful completion of projects in North America.
However, order intake experienced a significant drop of 9.2%, reaching CHF519.7 million. This decline can be attributed to weaker demand in Europe as customers reduced their inventories. In terms of local currencies, the decrease was 3.9%.
While the impact of destocking lessened in the second half of 2023, Interroll acknowledged that the general economic downturn became more pronounced during this period.
Interroll also provided an estimate for its margins. It expects both earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to be below the levels reported in 2022, which were 19.5% and 15.8% respectively.
The full results for 2023 will be published on March 15th, according to the company.