SNCF Geodis

2012

February - Sylvie Charles, director of Fret SNCF, commented on the company's 2011 performance and the challenges it faced going in to 2012:

SNCF Geodis chief Pierre Blayau said recently that he continued to eye a break-even position [for Fret SNCF] by 2013-2014. Is the company on track to achieve this?

Yes. Last year, we reduced operating losses to €337m compared with €427m in 2010 and we aim to reduce the deficit further in 2012.

One of your major tasks has been to restructure Fret SNCF’s single-wagon activity, which before the global economic crisis accounted for 70% of the company’s global annual losses, the equivalent of about €300m. What progress has been made?

There was a pressing need to address the “non-sustainability” of our single-wagon network and at the end of 2010 we replaced it, launching a “multi-load, multi-clients” (MLMC) service.

We now have more direct routes and fewer interconnections, and customers benefit from greater transparency. We have stopped serving those points on the network that were complicated operationally and rarely used.

Weren’t some quarters of the shipper community predicting the death of Fret SNCF’s single-wagon services as a result of these changes?
 
Yes, but the truth is, the number of wagons loaded in 2011 was 220,000, the same number as the previous year.

We now have single-wagon services that are better adapted to the requirements of the market and whose reliability our customers have come to appreciate, as we are achieving a scheduled delivery deadline rate of just under 80%. In 2012 we are aiming to increase this to 90%.

Has the financial performance of this area of the business improved too?

Yes. Last year, our losses from single-wagons were reduced to less than €100m and break-even is in our sights for 2013.

To what degree has the economic crisis hampered your efforts to put Fret SNCF on to the road to recovery?
 
There was a sizeable decline in the volume of traffic from end-2008 onwards. In the years leading up to the crisis we were transporting around 40 bn tonne/km annually. Last year, our traffic totalled 23bn tonne/km which was up slightly on 2010.

We are a far leaner operation now, having shed 25% of our workforce between end-2009 and end-2011 and reduced our locomotive fleet by 23%. Over the same period, our turnover has decreased by 13%, so we have become more productive. Downsizing could continue as we seek greater productivty gains.

The economic downturn aside, what other factors are weighing on Fret SNCF?
 
Along with other operators, we have also been hit badly by serious difficulties in obtaining train slots on the French rail network, largely due to a vast programme of modernisation work being carried out and which is set to last until 2015.

The choice was made to carry out most of this work at night, when the majority of freight trains operate, so as to limit the impact on passenger services. The train slots “crisis” dogged us throughout 2011 and unfortunately is continuing in 2012.

Have you been encouraged by rail network manager RFF’s recent decision to set up a taskforce dedicated to freight traffic and to introduce a programme of freight train slots into next year’s timetabling?
 
These are moves in the right direction but RFF and the French authorities took a long time to recognise the degree of disruption rail freight operators’ services were being subjected to as a result of the modernisation work. A major black spot is the Tours-Bordeaux line in western France and which extends to the Spanish border – a major corridor for rail freight – and where we don’t see any relief in the foreseeable future.
 
What segment of the rail freight market is suffering most from this disruption?

Probably combined road-rail transport as it’s the most time-sensitive, in the sense that trucks synchronise with the arrival of trains. Rail “motorway” services are suffering too. For example, Lorry Rail has built up multi-daily frequencies on its service between Peripignan and Luxembourg to the backdrop of the slots crisis – hardly the best climate in which to expand.

What is your view of the emergence of private rail freight operators in France since liberalisation in 2006, which now account for almost 25% of the market?
 
First and foremost, it demonstrates that France is not the protectionist country it is often perceived to be. It’s been considerably harder for foreign operators to get a foothold in Germany, for example.

Has 2012 brought any signs of an upturn in rail freight?

The slowdown which kicked in last autumn is still with us and shippers are telling us there is little or no market visbility. It will continue to be a rocky ride, but I remain optimistic that Fret SNCF is on the right track and will be able to take full advantage when things do pick up.

2011

September - Fret SNCF lost its long standing contract with Gefco, the logistics arm of carmaker PSA Peugeot-Citroen. Other private rail freight operators in France looked set to take over the business, highlighting the gradually reducing dominance of Fret SNCF in France's rail freight market.

Gefco stated that it was not renewing the contract “as a result of Fret SNCF’s new multi-load, multi-customer service not meeting expectations”.

Nevertheless, Fret SNCF subsidiary Captrain would continue to carry automotive components for Gefco between its plant at Vesoul, in Eastern France, and Kalaga a fast-developing car manufacturing centre in Western Russia, said Gefco.

From the new year, Gefco said it would be sharing the former Fret SNCF business between three private French rail freight operators: Euro Cargo Rail, a Deutsche Bahn subsidiary, Europorte (Eurotunnel) and Colas Rail.

The loss of one of its top-five key accounts constituted a body blow to the operator, which has seen its traffic diminish as a result of the opening-up of competition in the sector in France and compounded by the economic downturn.
 
It was almost certain to compromise the company’s recovery plans which made provision for attaining a financial break-even position in 2013. The company had made heavy losses, year on year, over the past decade.

According to figures from rail network manager Reseau Férré de France (RFF), the market share of French private rail freight operators increased to 23% in the first six months of 2011, compared with 18% a year earlier.

September - The Geodis Group strengthened its position on the healthcare market and consolidated its offering with the acquisition of the pharmaceutical pre-wholesaler Pharmalog.

Pharmalog was a pharmaceuticals logistics and distribution company based in Val de Reuil in Normandy, France. It had 50,000 sq m of storage space and a workforce of 150. Pharmalog had revenue of €18m.

The new entity would carry out a full range of value-added operations: sales administration, customer debt recovery, repackaging, management of free medical samples, etc. It had nine specialised platforms in France (warehouses, clean rooms, controlled temperature premises, etc.) a workforce of almost 500 employees.

In the long term, this organisation would be deployed Europe-wide, based on operations already carried out for the health sector by Geodis Logistics in Benelux, Ireland and Italy. At the same time, Pharmalog customers would gain access to all the dedicated services in logistics, distribution and international transport delivered by the Geodis Group to healthcare professionals.

The CEO of Geodis, said: "This new vertical offering places Geodis among the top three players in healthcare logistics in France, as well as opening broad new prospects in Europe. This organisation will bring real benefits for customers since it is a close fit with the services developed by the cross-cutting entity Geodis Global Solutions and the other divisions of the Geodis Group: Groupage & Express, Contract Logistics, Freight Management and Road."

June - Geodis Wilson, the freight forwarding arm of SNCF Geodis, acquired US based One Source Logistics, a non-asset based freight broker that specialises in providing domestic transportation services focused on truckloads and less-than-truckloads.

“Taking over One Source Logistics is a first step in the company’s growth strategy in the U.S.,” said Philippe Gilbert, Geodis Wilson’s executive vice president. “With the extended link to domestic services in North America we are able to satisfy the needs of a wide range of our air freight and ocean freight clients.”

Geodis Wilson CEO Jean-Louis Demeulenaere said the company planned to at least double its freight forwarding business in the coming five years through external and organic growth.

Demeulenaere said the company’s focus on the American market had already proved a success with revenue of $1bn across the entire region.

2010

December - Geodis is implementing a new global Transport Management System for its Freight Management division, Geodis Wilson. The new platform will be developed together with CargoWise, a global leader in logistics software. On December 8, 2010, both companies signed a contract to develop and implement the new system within the next three years. 

The new TMS is based on ediEnterprise, CargoWise's award winning platform. It will gradually bring operational, financial and customer relationship management processes under one unified umbrella, resulting in faster and increasingly transparent information flows to the customers as well as increasing operational efficiency. The underlying single-file-concept links all relevant information together in one consistent database. It will be launched as of next year, starting in Europe and Asia-Pacific, and the full implementation will be part of a three year development process. In total, Geodis Group will be investing €20m into this project. 

March - SNCF Geodis acquired Bertola Servizi Logistici, becoming one of the top three Italian logistics players, it claimed.

Through the acquisition, Geodis doubled its storage area in Italy, where it already had 18 sites, and increased its presence in Veneto, the country’s second-most important logistics region.

With overall revenue of €400 million and a workforce of more than 2,000, Geodis became one of the leading multi-business-line service providers in Italy with a full service offering: groupage, full-truckload transport, contract logistics, freight forwarding, and 4PL.

Bertola specialises in sectors of strategic interest to Geodis, including FMCG, textiles, and automotive.

"With Bertola we welcome a team of skilled professionals at the management and workforce levels. They have built an excellent reputation in Italy through their high-quality services," says Jean-Louis Demeulenaere, CEO of Geodis. "This acquisition is in line with the Group’s strategy with a full-service offering in Italy."

Key figures for Bertola (at the time of the acquisition):

• 2008 revenue: €60.9m
• Italy’s tenth-largest provider of contract logistics
• 92 employees
• 286,000 sq m of logistics premises in Castel San Giovanni, Rovigo, Pavia, and Novara
• Customers include: Giochi Preziosi, Banca Intesa Sanpaolo, Varta, Johnson Controls, Lavazza, Lindt, Xerox, Bosch, Fracarro, and Manfrotto.

March - Following the acquisition of Giraud's Steel division and Central and Eastern Europe division in July 2009, the acquisition of its two remaining divisions, Northern Europe and Southern Europe (full and partial truckload road transport), will now allow Geodis BM to expand its European coverage, particularly in Spain.

Giraud is the third-largest road freight carrier in Spain, and a major player in France. It is also present in Italy and the UK. The acquisition is therefore an opportunity for Geodis to expand the geographic coverage of Geodis BM in Europe and also to increase revenue through a portfolio of loyal key accounts (automotive, retail and distribution, industry, etc.). The transaction will be concluded very quickly, after employees have been duly informed and after approval by the competition authorities, who are expected to rule on the acquisition by the end of the first half of 2010.

"For Geodis BM, this acquisition is an opportunity to build a true European network and to play a full role in the Group's global end-to-end offering. With this new network, the revenue of Geodis BM will exceed €1bn, based on the expertise of its 5,000 employees," concluded Jean-Louis Demeulenaere, CEO of Geodis.

March - Geodis announced that it had acquired Ciblex, France's fourth-ranked groupage operator and a specialist in small parcel express delivery. Geodis said that it was pursuing several objectives through the acquisition.

It wished to:

• reinforce its position in the parcel service, a market that had developed considerably over the last few years mainly with the growth of e-commerce in which Ciblex was a leading operator.
• develop its technical expertise specific to parcel processing, relying on an independent network of more than 700 service providers.
• improve its value-added services offer that met the needs of the Group's customers mainly in the sectors of e-commerce, healthcare, optical, high tech and spare parts.
• complete the Geodis transport network in Benelux.

The director of the Groupage/Express division, said: "I would like to welcome the Ciblex teams, who share the same values, quality of service and respect of commitments, which are vital for our customers."

The global acquisition which took place on January 3, 2008, was intended to strengthened Geodis' position in key markets, including Germany, South Africa, the Persian Gulf and Latin America, where Rohde & Liesenfeld (R&L) handled the largest part of its freight forwarding activities. R&L contribute to an already strong Industrial Projects offer and increase the service portfolio in vital areas such as Oil and Gas.

2008

December - Geodis' leading entity of SNCF Transport and logistics division, the fourth largest European transport and logistics supplier, acquired IBM"s internal global logistics operations in an all-cash deal for an undisclosed amount and signed a multi year outsourcing contract.

Through this contract, Geodis will be the sole lead logistics provider for IBM, managing approximately €1bn per year of IBM's logistics costs supporting asset recovery services, service parts logistics and flow management of all hardware and software products worldwide.

The logistics provider industry is becoming more global, more concentrated, and segmented around customer types and universally better at execution. To cope, this industry has been evolving to offer greater scope and more complex solutions. In this context, since 2007, Geodis has implemented a strategy of moving from a European multi services company to a worldwide logistics provider reinforcing its network in the Americas and in rapidly expanding countries such as China, India, and Russia. The acquisition of IBM"s global logistics services and its world-class global network and treasure trove of skills, expertise and best practices will provide Geodis and its customers' with an immediate access to a worldwide supply chain platform able to design, manage and execute customer solutions.

"This agreement is strategic to reinforce Geodis" position among the world leading logistics providers capable of delivering end to end solutions to its global clients. With this partnership, we will strengthen the skills and expertise required to service, both IBM's and our existing and future client's, core logistics needs in more than 120 countries. IBM's global logistics operations will significantly upgrade our services portfolio,” said Geodis' deputy CEO.

"IBM has long emphasized to its own clients that in a globally integrated enterprise, companies create more value by focusing on critical areas that provide differentiation, while they seek partnerships for non-core activities. This agreement with Geodis underscores this strategy,” said the vice president, global logistics, IBM Integrated Supply Chain. "All of the work that has been done by IBM to develop and integrate its supply chain across all of its businesses, provides us with an excellent opportunity to partner with a world class logistics company and leverage our joint resources on behalf of our many global clients. We are excited about this relationship as it will benefit not only our clients but our employees. Geodis has a passion for this business and they will provide both our clients and our employees with ongoing investment, innovation and growth ”

The transaction was expected to close in first quarter 2009, and it is subject to the expiration or the early termination of the waiting period under the HSR Act and the issuance by the European Commission of a decision declaring the transaction compatible with the EC Common Market as well as to applicable regulatory clearance, local agreements and appropriate and required employee information and consultation processes.Through that contract, stated Geodis, it would be the sole lead logistics provider for IBM, managing approximately €1bn per year of IBM's logistics costs supporting asset recovery services, service parts logistics and flow management of all hardware and software products worldwide.

"This agreement is strategic to reinforce Geodis' position among the world's leading logistics providers capable of delivering end to end solutions to its global clients," claimed Jean-Louis Demeulenaere, Geodis Deputy CEO.

"With this partnership, we will strengthen the skills and expertise required to service both IBM's and our existing and future clients' core logistics needs in more than 120 countries. IBM's global logistics operations will significantly upgrade our services portfolio."

Geodis said it was increasing its investments outside Europe and the new acquisition complemented the company's existing teams. "By leveraging IBM's employees in more than 50 countries across the US, Canada, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific, Geodis' service offering will be enhanced with multinational supply chain experts and an established worldwide platform to enable rapid growth and expansion," it claimed.

Geodis said the IBM transaction, which was expected to close in the first quarter of 2009, was subject to the expiration or the early termination of the waiting period under the HSR Act and the issuance by the EC (European Commission) of a decision declaring the transaction compatible with the EC Common Market as well as to applicable regulatory clearance, local agreements and appropriate and required employee information and consultation processes.

SNCF claims that its Transport and Logistics Division is currently the fourth-largest transport and logistics operator in Europe, with annual revenue of €8.5bn.

June - International Freight Management company Geodis Wilson strengthened its growing business in the United Kingdom. The acquisition of Oughtred & Harrison Shipping will boost the ocean export segment of Geodis Wilson and extend the global network coverage in China and Benelux.

O&H Shipping is an air and sea freight forwarder with almost 100 employees, mainly based in Northern England, but also in Belgium and China. Serving more than 1,900 customers, O&H delivers about £ 35 Million to the Geodis Group's net sales.

The combined businesses at current trading will generate over £90m in Net sales with 290 employees based in 14 locations across the UK.

Jean-Louis Demeulenaere, Chairman of Geodis Wilson, explained: “This acquisition shows the Geodis Group’s will to continue investing in freight forwarding, which is an essential part of Geodis’ sustainable growth strategy.”

January - As of January 3, 2008, the Geodis Group has formally acquired Rohde & Liesenfeld, a German-based international air and sea freight forwarding group, after obtaining all regulatory approvals.

The acquisition is intended to strengthen Geodis' position in many of today's key markets, including Germany, South Africa, the Arabian Gulf and Latin America, where Rohde & Liesenfeld (R&L) handles the largest part of its freight forwarding activities. R&L will contribute to an already strong Industrial Projects offer and increase the service portfolio in vital areas such as Oil and Gas.

Due to intensified competition and pricing pressure, the company's aims for 2010 are to focus on commercial development and innovation:

• the aim in the traditional business sectors, particularly France Parcel Delivery and Express and Logistics, is to obtain market shares through a sales organisation satisfying the needs of shippers and contributing to the development of cross-selling for major customer accounts
• with regard to the SCO activity, the aim is to perfect the integration of industrial facilities, particularly with respect to information systems in order to win new global customers
• rail freight fleet management will aim to consolidate the activities of Ermewa, which will provide the division with the fleet management expertise its teams, thus helping to improve the efficiency and profitability of these activities. 

Since its founding in 2008, SNCF Geodis' transport and logistics primary aim has been to support customers global supply chains, through end-to-end management.

Its has highlighted three key priorities for 2010:

1. Achieve full recognition as a global logistics operator in all its sectors of activity - The new Supply Chain Optimisation (SCO) offering will be the basis of this. It will support key customers on international markets, and strengthen its offerings in freight forwarding, logistics, transport and, in particular, in the global management and optimisation of the supply chain. A recent service introduced by the SCO division is as solutions integrator and as the last stage in logistics sub-contracting, the division will implement management solutions and use external partners wherever necessary.
2. Transform the business of freight transport by rail - its approach is focused on recovery and reallocation of resources. Towards this, it is working with shipping customers to draft new multi-customer transport plans involving the shipment of larger volumes. The branch is also investing in model transfer (from road to rail).
3. Be positioned in Europe as a competitive rail operator and as a road operator using multimodal solutions - Geodis is developing combined overland, sea, air and rail transport. Its plan is to promote solutions that enable modal transfer over long distances and from ports and airports, and also to limit CO² emissions, including:

• rail motorways (Luxembourg/Perpignan, Alpine rail motorway between Aiton and Orbassano, Atlantic rail motorway, London, Turin, etc.)
• combined transport with the help of Novatrans and Naviland Cargo
• high-speed European rail freight (definition of a European network with international air and express hubs)
• development of port activities (investment in multimodal port and overland platforms, contributing to the development of local rail operators in ports, putting in place local partnerships and specialist handling firms).

In addition, Geodis BM is focusing development in the following strategic markets: all industrial segments, chemicals and gas, mass retail, consumer goods, automotive and press. And, in the last year Geodis BM has developed onboard IT systems for all its customers, with a view to continuously improving its service and operation.

2008

April - Directors of French international forwarder/logistics group Geodis have unanimously recommended that shareholders accept an offer for the company made by France's state railway company, SNCF.

In a statement, Geodis reported that its board of directors had met yesterday (April 28) to render a reasoned opinion regarding the tender offer initiated by SNCF Participations. It said the board had been provided with several reports. One, prepared by, financial advisors Lazard and BNP Paribas, concluded that the offer price was "in line with the results of the various methods used in order to determine the value of Geodis". A second, prepared by independent expert Ricol Lasteyrie & Associés, considered that the price offered was "fair for Geodis' minority shareholders".

Geodis said its board of directors believed the offer initiated by SNCF "would not adversely affect the interests of Geodis and those of its employees, and that such offer may provide the latter with better security and development perspectives than those which could arise from the status quo".

Regarding the situation of shareholders, Geodis said its board of directors had expressed an intention to tender their own shares to the offer, except the shares that must be held by each director, pursuant to the bylaws of the company, and "unanimously recommends that the shareholders of Geodis tender their shares to the public offer".

Geodis added that the contemplated timeframe of the offer (without taking into account any potential reopening of the offer) was:

• May 20, 2008: Decision of the AMF on the conformity of the offer.
• May 22, 2008: Opening of the offer.
• June 25, 2008: Closing of the offer.
• July 17, 2008: Settlement delivery.

April - France's state railway company, SNCF, looked set to become a major global logistics player following the announcement that it was to make an offer for the outstanding shares which it did not already own in French international forwarder/logistics group Geodis.

SNCF had for many years been Geodis' main shareholder and currently held 42.37% of its share capital and 45.79% of its voting rights. €135 per share was to be offered to the shareholders in cash, valuing the company at nearly €1.1bn. The offer represented a 79% premium based on the average price of Geodis' shares during March 2008.

As Geodis' management stated, the offer was part of a plan by SNCF to create an international multimodal operator in the field of logistics and transportation. Pierre Blayau, CEO of Geodis, would be in charge of implementing that plan.

SNCF's new chairman, Guillaume Pepy, also mentioned that his company was planning on buying another rail operator in the near future. The acquisition of Geodis by SNCF will bring about the company's renationalisation, undoubtedly bringing protests from the private sector.

However, French politicians see this as a necessary step to help SNCF rival its main European competitor, Deutsche Bahn, which had been highly acquisitive in recent years, for example buying up international forwarders/logistics providers Stinnes/Schenker and Bax Global.

A listed company the majority shareholder is the SNCF group with 42.37% of the shares, the free float totals 40.53%.

2007

In 2006, Salvepar's interest in the Group was further reduced from 8.59% to 5.85%. Taking these transactions into account, the free float stood at 35.44% at December 31, 2006.

2006

SNCF (French Railways) 43.73%, AGF Vie 9.36%, Groupe Salvepar 8.59%, Geodis Mutual Fund 5.85%. 

2011

Source: Geodis

2011

Revenue for the Geodis Group totalled €6,907m, a rise of 5.2%.

2010

2010 revenue totalled €6,563.8m, a 31.1% increase on the previous year:

• changes in scope in 2009 and 2010 generated €812.6m in new revenue;
• exchange-rate differences between 2009 and 2010 contributed €166.2m to 2010 revenue;
• at constant exchange rates and scope of consolidation, revenue rose 11.6% (+€578.2m) on 2009.

Source: Geodis

2011

Source: Geodis

2011

Source: Geodis

2011

Source: Geodis

2011

Source: Geodis

2011

Source:

2011

Revenues amounted to €32,645m, an increase of 7.2%. Operating profit reached €1,255m, a rise of 136.3%.

All business segments grew organically with SNCF's passenger segments performing particularly well. Organic growth accounted for 5.8 percentage points of the 7.2% rise in revenues, or €1,748m. Out of this figure, €1,364m was earned by operational activity, whereas contracts signed in 2010 accrued €384m.

Its revenue growth was also augmented by a number of other factors. Acquisitions made in 2010 that were only fully consolidated into the financial figures in 2011, the creation of a new engineering unit that combined Systra and Inexia, and exchange rate changes all adjusted SNCF's financial performance to the amount of €430m (€417m group structure changes and €13m foreign exchange) or 1.4 percentage points out of the 7.2% increase.

Freight transport and logistics activities recorded slower growth in the second half of the year, whereas growth rates in SNCF's passenger businesses picked up even more to offset the decline.

2010

Guillaume Pepy, Chairman of SNCF, commented "Revenue in the year rebounded to partly make up for the slump in 2009, despite two extended strikes that cost the business €240m in EBITDA."

In 2010, the company recorded revenues of €30,466m, an increase of 22.4% compared to 2009. The group's EBITDA increased by 28.1% from €1,688m to €2,163m.

Source: SNCF

2009

Total

Revenue decreased by €649m compared to 2008 (-8.1%). On a constant Group structure basis, revenue declined by 16.7%, -19.5% for STVA, considering the automotive market and -21.5% for Fret SNCF.

The €649 million decrease was primarily due to:

• a decline in activity by €1,291m in all division segments:
  • €812m for Geodis, including €216m for the Parcel Delivery and Express division and €436m for the Freight Forwarding division;
  • €343m for Fret SNCF: a 26.5 GTK (Giga Tonnes per Kilometre) decline (26.5 GTK in 2009 vs. 35.9 GTK in 2008);
• positive Group structure impacts to the amount of €688m
• a negative foreign exchange impact of €46m, primarily for the Geodis Freight Forwarding division.

The €318m decline in gross profit was attributable to:

• the €120m decrease in Geodis' profit, the decline in business being partially offset by cost savings;
• the €204m decline in Fret SNCF's profit, including €30m arising from the provision for the gradual cessation of activity and €37m from the non-recurring impact of the electricity price adjustment recognised in 2008 in respect of 2007;
• a negative Group structure impact of €8m, mainly within the Geodis Supply Chain Optimisation (SCO) division, whose roll-out required integration and transformation costs.

2007

Total

At the end of January, Geodis gave an early indication as to the state of the European freight industry in 2007 and prospects for 2008.

Headline revenue for the full year 2007 was up 26.4%, including its acquisition of Wilson from TNT, and 5.4% on a like-for-like basis. Management commented that the group's performance was lifted by a very strong third quarter and sustained growth in the fourth quarter. All business divisions contributed to the increase.

Geodis' groupage revenue (37% of the total) rose 5.3% compared with the previous year. Its French home market revenue experienced a 7.2% rise at €1,426m. Volumes continued to grow in the second half, while price rises, mainly from passing on higher diesel costs, also contributed to the increase.

The group's Euromatic division and groupage businesses in other European countries contributed €360.1m to consolidated revenue, down 5.2% compared with 2006. The decline was mainly due to the discontinuation of loss-making operations in Germany and a December strike by Italian road hauliers.

The freight forwarding division, including Wilson from February 2007, reported a doubling of revenue, helped by like-for-like growth of 10.3%. Asia saw revenue grow 32% like-for-like to €441m, whilst in southern Europe the division generated revenue of €663.9m, an increase of 8.7% like-for-like. Management stated that it considered the operational integration of Wilson now complete.

Contract logistics revenue for 2007 rose 4.4% on a reported basis and 4.1% like-for-like. The rapid expansion of automotive logistics business and the start-up of new contracts in the second half helped to lift revenue for the year to €832.7m.

Full truckload revenue, corresponding mainly to Geodis BM's road haulage operations, totalled €584.7m, unchanged from the previous year.

The results are a good sign for other European logistics operators in Geodis' peer group such as DSV, Schenker and DHL. They show that there is as yet very little sign of a consumer-driven slowdown. Geodis' comments about a solid fourth quarter offer encouragement that fears of a European recession on the back of US economic weakness are possibly being over-played.

Revenue by Geographic Region % to Total

Performances were very uneven across the division in terms of both growth and profitability.

Whereas Groupage in Europe saw revenue decline in 2007, Groupage in France continued to enjoy sustained revenue growth of 7.3%, mainly due to:

• further growth in volumes, particularly in the first half of the year
• the full-year impact of new contracts, especially the FedEx contract
• price adjustments in France following the sharp increase in diesel prices and the cost impact of adapting the Express transport plan to new speed limits applicable to the types of vehicle used.

Owing to these effects, Groupage in France generated revenue of €1,426m, up €96.9m from the previous year. Profit from ordinary activities in France, corresponding to the Calberson network and France Express, stood at €61.0m, representing an operating margin of 4.3%. The 2007 figure was stable with respect to the €60.9m reported in 2006. Operating margin was down compared to 2006 due to new contracts start-up costs and the cost impact of adjusting the transport plan to new speed limits.

In a continuation of the previous year's trend, Groupage in Europe reported a profit from ordinary activities loss of €20.6m for revenue of €286.1m compared with a loss of €17.8m for revenue of €288.9m in 2006.

In Spain, the loss amounted to €9.7m for revenue of €78.6m. Local managers were replaced during the first half of the year and a restructuring plan was implemented in the second half. Most of the major operational difficulties concerned the Barcelona branch.

In Italy, revenue was down by 3.4% due to the impact of the Italian transport workers' nationwide strike in December. Despite the strike, a less pronounced loss of €4.6m was reported in 2007, versus €6.0m in 2006.

In Germany, the Groupage business was terminated on 31 December 2007 after generating a €2.6m loss in 2006 and a €2.9m loss in 2007 for revenue of €8.2m.

While the Euromatic specialised distribution network saw a bigger €5.7m loss in 2007 (€3.4m in 2006), the business seemed to be on the way to recovery, with a smaller loss reported in the second half than in the first.

In Ireland, revenue climbed 1.4% to €48.6m from €47.9m in 2006. Profit from ordinary activities stood at €3.6m in 2007 versus €2.8m in 2006.

Freight Forwarding

The Freight Forwarding division, including Wilson from February 2007, reported revenue of €1,690.1m in 2007 versus €807.0m in 2006, up 109.4%, including like-for-like growth of 10.3%.

The Air Freight and Sea Freight Forwarding businesses made relatively equal contributions to Geodis Wilson's revenue, representing 37% and 43% of the total, respectively. Industrial Projects accounted for slightly more than €200m of billings, representing roughly 12% of the division's total revenue.

In the area of industrial projects, volumes handled for Exxon decreased, as the long-term contract launched with that customer five years ago reached a maturity phase.

Profit from ordinary activities came to €46.8m (€17.5m in 2006), representing 2.8% of the division's revenue. This sharp increase was attributable to the following developments:

• the consolidation of Wilson over the eleven months from 5 February 2007 gave a material boost to Group operating profit.
• the initial impact of synergies arising on the new networks creation added roughly €3m to operating profit.
• The 10% like-for-like increase in revenue and the elimination of loss-making facilities in Asia raised the operating profit level of Geodis' Asian subsidiaries.

However, industrial projects, including the Exxon contract in particular, made a lesser contribution than in 2006.

Road Transport

The Full Truckload (Road) division generated revenue of €584.7m, up 1.2% from €578.0m in 2006.

The division includes the road transport activities of Geodis Bourgey Montreuil in France and of the latter's subsidiaries in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Eastern Europe.

Revenue was virtually unchanged in like-for-like terms, up 0.2% from 2006, as it was impacted by the termination of a retailing contract at the end of first-quarter 2007.  Growth accelerated however in the second half of the year with the launch of new contracts, in particular with Nestlé Waters.

Profit from ordinary activities rose to €9m in 2007 from €5m in 2006.

2006

Total

In March 2007 Geodis published its annual results showing a big recovery in both profits and revenue growth. Revenue increased 5.3% over the year to €3.8bn, but operating profits increased 24.6% to €106.4m whilst net income increased by a third to €48.4m.

Cost cutting played a substantial part in the increased profitability of the company, with the previously loss-making business in Italy breaking even. In positive terms, Geodis' growth businesses were its transport activities - LTL, Express and Freight Forwarding.

The tough French road transport market was delivering growth, whilst Geodis Express activities were being helped by its new relationship with FedEx. Geodis was also experiencing growth outside Europe, particularly through its Freight Forwarding business, although the exposure to East Asia should not be exaggerated as it accounts for only €200m of revenue.

Contract logistics appeared to be doing less well with falls in revenue over the year and the company stating that both the core high tech and automotive sectors were doing poorly.

In announcing this year's results, Geodis' management restated a target of 40% growth in revenue by 2007 and a profit margin target of 4%. The revenue target will be helped by its purchase of TNT's Freight Forwarding operations in the last quarter of 2006, not included in these results.

With the acquisition Geodis became one of the world's top ten Freight Forwarders with combined revenues of €1.6bn. However what this will do for return on capital is unclear as Geodis paid a generous €460m to buy TNT's Freight Forwarding operations . 

The company does suffer from a lack of differentiation and lacks global presence compared to its bigger German rivals. Normally this might lead Geodis to be vulnerable to takeover - possibly from a group as openly acquisitive as Deutsche Bahn or even from a Private Equity group which could inject capital in order to expand through acquisition but this was unlikely to happen.

Geodis was still part owned by SNCF, the French state owned railway company and although SNCF may well be willing to sell its 44% stake in part or in its entirety, any buyer would have to be approved at the political level. The government has in the past opposed the sale of French businesses to acquisitive foreign rivals, majorly reducing the number of companies which could be interested.

SNCF's freight transport and logistics division (SNCF Geodis) is divided into three business units:

Global Offerings

• Geodis - a global logistics provider that has five core divisions, Geodis Calberson (groupage and express), Geodis Logistics (contract logistics), Geodis BM (road transport), Geodis Wilson (freight forwarding) and Geodis Global Supply Chain Optimisation (4PL).  
• STVA - automotive logistics provider that transports finished vehicles across Western Europe.

Rail Freight Transport

• Fret SNCF - is responsible for all of SNCF's rail freight transport. Fret SNCF's subsidiaries expand its services by offering road, rail and sea intermodal solutions.

Fleet Management

The following companies are responsible for the management of SNCF's fleet of freight trains, which includes leasing operations:

• Akiem
• Ermewa.

SNCF Geodis Structure

Source: SNCF

Geodis is based in Europe and has a worldwide scope with a network covering 120 countries (own name operations in 60 countries) and approximately 30,000 employees.

The Geodis group is divided into five core business division:

• Geodis Calberson - Groupage and Express
• Geodis Logistics - Contractual Logistics 
• Geodis BM - Road division
• Geodis Wilson - Freight Management Division
• Geodis Global Supply Chain Optimisation.

Geodis Network

Source: Geodis

Geodis Wilson is the freight forwarding division of Geodis. It has an integrated network spanning 250 offices in 50 countries and 6,400 employees. Its offering includes air and sea freight forwarding, management of major industrial projects and customs solutions. The company is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

It manages and oversees a range of freight forwarding operations for air, sea and sea-air freight, combined with track and trace tools and value-added services.

Its integrated solutions are tailored to the specific needs of shippers in the following sectors: pharmaceutical, consumer and retail goods, high-tech, aviation, automotive and oil & gas.

Its value-added services include: bonded transit platform, controlled temperature transit platforms approved for health products, KPI management, consulting etc.

Geodis Wilson also provides turnkey solutions for international projects and industrial projects (installation of offshore pipelines, relocation of industrial plants, out-of-gauge transport and more). It also provides consultancy services and full management of global flows for companies of all sizes.

Geodis Wilson Network
Employees	6,400
Sea Shipments	420,000 TEU
Air Shipments	210,000 tonnes
Key Verticals	Automotive, Aerospace, High Tech, Industrial, Marine Logistics, Pharmaceutical, Retail
Source: Geodis Wilson

Geodis Calberson has a network of 154 sites covering 25 countries in Europe, and employs approximately 11,000 staff. It offers a range of services including: groupage, express, parcels, part and full loads and specialist distribution. These services rely on four distinct networks:

1. Geodis Calberson - groupage
2. France Express - domestic express transport
3. Geodis Euromatic - specialist distribution Parcel network - with the acquisition of Ciblex, this service meets the needs of e-commerce, as well as the sectors of health products, optics, advanced technology and spare parts.

The Groupage division offers three different services: domestic groupage, letters and parcels (in cooperation with La Poste) and international groupage (consolidate shipments of 3 tonnes or less). The Groupage division includes all the Geodis Group's French subsidiaries operating in the Groupage and Express transport businesses, the Groupage & Distribution businesses in Italy, Spain, the UK and Germany as well as the Euromatic specialised distribution network operating in France and Belgium.

Geodis Logistics is the division of Geodis that provides contract logistics.

It provides both inbound and outbound logistics.

Geodis BM is the road freight transport division of Geodis.

Distributing throughout Europe, it offers a complete range of road transport options including part and complete batch, upstream and downstream, intersite shuttle services, road and road combined transport, temperature controlled transport, chemical conditioned transport, finished vehicle transport, bulk gas transport, bulk chemical transport, milk-run service, liquid food bulk and concrete mixers.

With SNCF Geodis' acquisition of Giraud in 2010, it was integrated into Geodis BM's network. The addition of Giraud gave Geodis BM a presence in Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. It also extended Geodis BM's existing networks in France, Italy and Germany.

This offering is based on the integration of global solutions at each stage of the supply chain and for each geographical region, by a partner selected to provide a service with the best guarantees of excellence and competitive performance.

It is based on a network of 1,500 employees in 50 countries worldwide, management of more than 500 sub-contractors and €1.5bn in transport and logistics purchases.

Fret SNCF (SNCF Freight)

Fret SNCF is responsible for all of SNCF's rail freight transport. Fret SNCF's subsidiaries expand its services by offering road, rail and sea intermodal solutions.

Novatrans and Lorry-Rail provide road and rail intermodal services while Naviland Cargo provides maritime combined railway services. Captrain is responsible for all of Fret SNCF's rail freight transport outside of France in the rest of Europe.

Fret SNCF operates a two-tiered rail structure: trunk routes and local zone units. The purpose of 'trunk routes' is to industrialise production flow over long distances.

Four trunk routes have progressively been developed:

• an Antwerp/Basel route, linking Belgium, Switzerland and Italy
• a North-East/Savoy route between Benelux countries and Italy, and between Italy and Great Britain
• a South-East route linking Benelux, Germany and Spain
• an Atlantic route linking Great Britain to Spain, and the Benelux countries to Spain.

SNCF Freight operates two hubs in France which concentrate the traffic flow, grouping trains coming from different yards, and sending them to destination yards, the PNIF (Paris Hub) and the PNEU (European Hub).

The 'local zone' units are responsible for grouping and despatching wagons in neighbouring zones. Units include; Rhone-Alps, Western France, the Mediterranean, Burgundy, North-Picardie, Centre Atlantic and the Paris region.

Fret SNCF European Network
Major Subsidiaries	Novatrans, VFLI, Lorry-Rail, Naviland Cargo, Captrain
Tonnage Transported	23bn tonnes/km per year
Wagons Transported	220,000 per year
Wagon Fleet Size	27,000
Warehouses	15
Warehouse Area	140,000 sq m
Source: SNCF

• Transportvoiture in Belgium
• Werner Egerland and Helf in Germany
• Ambrostetti Autologistics and its subsidiary Sitfa in Italy
• Transfesa (mutual shareholding) and Setram in Spain
• Mostva in Poland.

2011

November - Geodis Wilson announced that it would open a distribution centre in Thailand which would be operational from the beginning of 2012.

The 96,900 sq ft facility is located in Sri Racha, 75 km from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport, and 15 km from Laem Chabang Port.

September - Geodis announced that, as of October 6, it would begin making deliveries for Carrefour in Lille using a hybrid refrigerated trailer truck. A new initiative in Geodis' Distripolis urban logistics system, this first-of-its-kind service would mean deliveries to the six Carrefour stores in the Lille city centre would be both cleaner and quieter.

In May 2010, Geodis teamed up with Renault Trucks to test a unique hybrid vehicle equipped with a cryogenic refrigeration unit. The vehicle was proposed to several customers for testing, and the retailer Carrefour was first to request the new vehicle. A perfect fit with Carrefour's sustainable development strategy, this 26-tonne hybrid truck that complied with the Euro 5 standard would begin delivering goods to Carrefour stores in Lille starting in October.

The thermal engine–electric motor combo in hybrid trucks lowered diesel consumption by an average of 20%. This represented an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of 10 tonnes. The use of liquid nitrogen, a non-toxic substance that emitted no CO2, as the refrigeration fluid made this vehicle even more environmentally friendly. This vehicle also had separate transport compartments, so both fresh produce and dry goods could be delivered. In addition, the cooling unit lowered the temperature twice as fast, making the truck particularly useful for the transport of vegetables.

July - Geodis Wilson announced it was opening an 8,500 sq m distribution centre in Jebel Ali South within the free zone of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The new distribution centre marked a strategic step in the company's global growth plan: extending its freight forwarding services to a full-service contract logistics model in the Middle East region.

"The demand for contract logistics is very high," said the Managing Director Geodis Wilson UAE. "Most companies trading via or in the Middle East need a hub solution for their business, and Dubai is undoubtedly the regional choice, with very good onward connections. Geodis Wilson runs its own freight network to cope with this demand, including trucking services between the various countries and a 24-hour on-line customs service."

Geodis Wilson invested about €1m into the Jebel Ali distribution centre, now providing a full range of supply chain solutions, including warehousing services, inventory, labelling, bar-coding, packing pouches, blisters, vendor management as well as domestic and cross border distribution.

New business included the handling of IBM hardware and spare parts for dispatch to other points in the Gulf region; including Abu Dhabi. For another global customer stationery and personal care products would be hubbed through the new centre, arriving from France in containers for storage and then distributed to 16 countries in the region including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Pakistan, Jordan and Syria.

July - Geodis Wilson announced the launch of a new vertical business unit dedicated to serving the logistics needs of luxury hotels and resorts and their suppliers worldwide. Geodis Wilson would provide dedicated integrated logistics solutions to this fast-growing market.

"Geodis Wilson expects to become a single-source shipping solution for many of the top-tier companies in this market," said Geodis Wilson's global director Luxury Hotel & Resort Logistics. "These highly recognisable brands and their entire supplier base want a dedicated logistics partner. We created this new business unit to ensure they receive the white-glove services they expect and require."

Geodis Wilson's Luxury Hotel & Resort Logistics service would be operated by dedicated teams and project managers, regional competency centres and a global hotel logistics control tower, providing a variety of global and domestic freight services, including: freight consolidations, insurance, customs brokerage, warehouse services, FF&E installation, OS&C delivery, customised freight control management and dedicated consultation.

June - Geodis Calberson expanded its services in the UK with the opening of a new logistics facility in Birmingham to handle inbound and outbound European cargo for its premium Eurotop and Eurofirst services.

The opening of the Birmingham international facility coincided with the launch of the company's new daily run to and from Italy that offered customers 72 hour door-to-door services for Eurotop and Eurofirst.

The new facility would handle all the company's import and export freight movements that were previously managed by Watford Gap.

The company said that Watford Gap would continue to handle the Fortec Distribution Network, the palletised side of Geodis Calberson's operations in the UK.

"This move allows both the UK pallet business and our European services to continue to flourish. These are exciting times for Geodis Calberson," said Geodis Calberson MD Jamie Cuthbert.

2010

December - SNCF Geodis was implementing a new global Transport Management System for its Freight Management division, Geodis Wilson. The new platform would be developed together with CargoWise, a global leader in logistics software. In December, both companies signed a contract to develop and implement the new system within the next three years. 

The new TMS was based on ediEnterprise, CargoWise's award winning platform. It would gradually bring operational, financial and customer relationship management processes under one unified umbrella, resulting in faster and increasingly transparent information flows to the customers as well as increasing operational efficiency. The underlying single-file-concept linked all relevant information together in one consistent database. It would be launched as of next year, starting in Europe and Asia-Pacific, and the full implementation would be part of a three year development process. In total, Geodis Group would be investing €20m into this project.                         

"We were not only looking for the best, currently available system in the market. More precisely, we were focusing on the future capabilities of different products and service providers, their flexibility and the potential speed of innovation. In other words, we were looking for a partnership that enables us to position Geodis technically ahead of the market, both in the near future and also in the long run", said the Chief Information Officer at Geodis Wilson. 

CargoWise CEO said: "Our product matches Geodis's vision of the 'single file' which at CargoWise we call OEDO or Only Enter Data Once. We recognise that this partnership will continue to drive our innovation, dramatically broaden the global footprint of our product and business and give substantial benefits to all parties involved."

August - Geodis Wilson expanded its Atlanta operations into a new, larger facility encompassing 84,000 sq ft (7,800 sq m).  The Atlanta operation provided air freight, ocean freight, customs brokerage, domestic forwarding, warehousing & distribution and other freight management solutions.  Geodis Wilson Atlanta was also a primary US air freight gateway to Europe, with regular consolidations.  "The newly expanded Atlanta facility will be a model for future growth and expansion in the US market for Geodis Wilson," commented the Chief Operating Officer Eastern USA. 

"The well established trend in manufacturing growth throughout the Southeast has been apparent for quite some time with increases in export and import activity," said the newly appointed Southeast US Regional Manager and acting Branch Manager for Atlanta.  "With our newly expanded warehouse and gateway, and with our enhanced security and compliance programmes, we are in a prime position to service the market's continually growing freight transportation needs in the critical industries throughout the area including automotive, industrial manufacturing, fast moving consumer goods, aviation and furniture." 

Geodis Wilson had also invested in the necessary infrastructure in Atlanta to become one of several new Certified Cargo Screening Facilities (CCSFs) in the United States. This investment provided Geodis Wilson with the equipment, facility, security enhancements and trained staff in order to provide shippers with a fast, efficient, secure, and predictable cost option for screening freight in compliance with the TSA's (Transportation Security Administration) new 100% cargo screening mandate for all passenger aircraft. 

Geodis Wilson Atlanta served as the airfreight gateway for the entire region, including Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and parts of Florida and Virginia.

March - Geodis Wilson has opened a new airfreight office in Dubai.  In the first of three service developments this year in the United Arab Emirates, global forwarder and logistics services provider Geodis Wilson has opened a new airfreight office in Dubai to support increasing demand for this service mode as well as its advancing sea-air product.  Based in Dubai's busy Cargo Village, the new office will employ 22 people.

The new facility will handle freight from up to ten inbound flights daily - mainly from Europe and the Far East - as well as sea-air cargo originating as ocean freight from the Geodis Wilson network in the Far East, which is switched from the nearby Jebel Ali port to air cargo on Dubai flights bound for European destinations. The new office will also be involved in customs clearance, general forwarding, supply chain management, warehousing and customs clearance activities.

Geodis Wilson, which is ranked among Dubai's top ten forwarders, employs a total of 70 people in the Emirate and has its regional headquarters at nearby Jebel Ali, where ocean freight activities are also carried out.

Early indications suggest that Geodis Wilson"s year-on-year activity in Dubai is currently growing at more than 10 per cent across all modes. There is particular strength in the sea-air business, which allows shippers to save on the cost of a total airfreight movement from the Far East to Europe, while offering substantial transit time savings over an end-to-end ocean freight movement. Sea-air demand is particularly strong from the textile and hi-tech sectors.

The second significant milestone for Geodis Wilson in the UAE will be the opening of an Abu Dhabi office during the second quarter. Within this region, the company also has offices in Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Later this year, a third landmark event will be the opening of a new regional headquarters in Jebel.

2009

The secure platform, dedicated to national and European express, was located south-east of Lyon, next to the A46 motorway. The site covered an area of 12,000 sqm with 168 gates and could process and sort 2,400 parcels per hour.

The platform would provide daily lines to many destinations throughout Europe as well as enabling next-day delivery before midday to 36,000 cities in France, with 90 daily departures.

"Through this investment, Geodis Calberson and France Express confirm their commitment to strengthening their leadership in Express for the manufacturing sector," said the Vice-President, Groupage Division.

October - Global freight management company Geodis Wilson has launched the US headquarters of its specialist Industrial Projects Division in Houston to be closer to the decision-making centers of a growing client base that needs global transportation to site of major generators, turbines, large volumes of pipes, mining and construction equipment and desalination plants, along with associated support and control.

Geodis Wilson already meets the demands of oil and gas, engineering, drilling and engineering procurement contractors (EPCs) based in the Houston area, providing a one-stop shop for transport management by truck, barge, air and ocean, as well as offering order expediting, customs brokerage, storage and inventory functions, materials management and distribution.  It serves as a national center of excellence for the US and will service projects through other areas, including the eastern seaboard and Pacific coast.

Essential in serving this sector is provision of an industrial packing capability, which Geodis Wilson’s Industrial Projects Division meets through its own 65,000 sq ft (6,000 sq m) packing and temporary and long-term storage warehouse close to Houston Airport, complete with two acres of outside area for marshalling heavy plant and project equipment. Supplementing this facility, a mobile packing team will service projects at the docks where necessary.

In tandem with the technical and commercial capabilities required, the division also provides the wider expertise and support now demanded, ensuring control of infrastructure at both ends of the operation.

Geodis Wilson sees further potential development in the industrial projects activity, which has been strengthened by the acquisitions of TNT Freight Management and Rohde & Liesenfeld, attracting raft of new clients worldwide. Revenues have doubled over the past three years and further expansion is anticipated over the next five years.

2012

April - SNCF Geodis acquired MF Cargo, a transport business serving FMCG and retail clients in Hungary. MF Cargo was complementary to Geodis Hungary, the company previously served as a transport subcontractor for Geodis.

Geodis announced that the acquisition would provide it with a "true national distribution network in Hungary" and improve its capabilities for transporting international flows among the countries adjoining the European Union. The company hoped that the acquisition would enable it to become the local leader in FMCG and retail logistics.

MF Cargo had estimated revenue of €21m in 2011. The company had a fleet of 154 tractors and 169 semi-trailers and employed 212 people.

The CEO of Geodis, concluded: "I am very pleased with this acquisition. It advances our strategic priorities and enables us to broaden our capabilities with specific expertise and assets that will attract key clients in Hungary and more generally in Eastern and central Europe."

2011

September - Geodis Ciblex, part of Geodis' Groupage and Express division Geodis Calberson, acquired GLS France's overnight delivery business, InNight.

InNight specialises in overnight deliveries for the optics and spare parts sectors.

It provides delivery of documents, mail bags, parcels or small containers to secure drop-off points before 9am.

Geodis Ciblex and GLS France were to work together to transfer the operation over to Geodis, which was expected to take effect November 26.

Geodis said adding the new unit would help broaden its offering in the French overnight delivery market.

Jean-Louis Demeulenaere, CEO of the Geodis group, said: “This transaction significantly boosts the existing expertise of Geodis Ciblex in overnight deliveries across France, especially through its H Night offering and will enable us to accelerate our development in the optics and spare parts sectors.”

September - The Geodis Group strengthened its position on the healthcare market and consolidated its offering with the acquisition of the pharmaceutical pre-wholesaler Pharmalog.

Pharmalog was a pharmaceuticals logistics and distribution company based in Val de Reuil in Normandy, France. It had 50,000 sq m of storage space and a workforce of 150. Pharmalog had revenue of €18m.

The new entity would carry out a full range of value-added operations: sales administration, customer debt recovery, repackaging, management of free medical samples, etc. It had nine specialised platforms in France (warehouses, clean rooms, controlled temperature premises, etc.) a workforce of almost 500 employees.

In the long term, this organisation would be deployed Europe-wide, based on operations already carried out for the health sector by Geodis Logistics in Benelux, Ireland and Italy. At the same time, Pharmalog customers would gain access to all the dedicated services in logistics, distribution and international transport delivered by the Geodis Group to healthcare professionals.

The CEO of Geodis, said: "This new vertical offering places Geodis among the top three players in healthcare logistics in France, as well as opening broad new prospects in Europe. This organisation will bring real benefits for customers since it is a close fit with the services developed by the cross-cutting entity Geodis Global Solutions and the other divisions of the Geodis Group: Groupage & Express, Contract Logistics, Freight Management and Road."

June - Geodis Wilson, the freight forwarding arm of SNCF Geodis, acquired US based One Source Logistics, a non-asset based freight broker that specialises in providing domestic transportation services focused on truckloads and less-than-truckloads.

“Taking over One Source Logistics is a first step in the company’s growth strategy in the U.S.,” said Philippe Gilbert, Geodis Wilson’s executive vice president. “With the extended link to domestic services in North America we are able to satisfy the needs of a wide range of our air freight and ocean freight clients.”

Geodis Wilson CEO Jean-Louis Demeulenaere said the company planned to at least double its freight forwarding business in the coming five years through external and organic growth.

Demeulenaere said the company’s focus on the American market had already proved a success with revenue of $1bn across the entire region.

2010

November - SNCF Geodis, the transport and logistics division of the SNCF Group, has acquired the shares of Caisse des Depots et Consignations and Vinci Concessions in Lorry-Rail, increasing its holding in the company from 12.5% to over 50%.

Founded in 2007, Lorry-Rail transports unaccompanied semi-trailers and swap bodies via rail motorway between Perpignan and Luxembourg. The 1,050 km line connects the Bettembourg and Le Boulou platforms.

July - The European Commission (EC) approved, in accordance with the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition by Geodis of sole control of Giraud, an international road freight group.

In a statement issued last week, the EC said it had concluded that the transaction "would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it".

The EC explained that Geodis was a global logistics chain and goods transport operator active mainly in France. It was a subsidiary of SNCF-P, a holding company which managed SNCF's shareholdings, particularly with regard to rail freight transport, combined transport, freight wagon hire, resource management and port handling. Giraud was an international road freight group active in commissioning freight forwarding, logistics and road freight services in Europe.

"By the notified transaction, Geodis aims to acquire sole control of the four areas of the Giraud group's activity (Central and Eastern Europe, steel industry, northern Europe and France, and southern Europe). There are no significant overlaps between the parties' activities," stated the EC.

"The proposed transaction will result in a vertical relationship between, on the one hand, SNCF's rail freight transport services and, on the other, Giraud's land‑based freight forwarding activities (including freight forwarding by rail and road).

"The Commission has examined the effects of the proposed transaction and confirmed that there would be no incentive for SNCF to restrict access to its rail transport services following the merger because Giraud specialises in commissioning road transport, and because there are strong competitors in the freight forwarding sector who are important clients of SNCF."

Giraud became a part of Geodis BM, Geodis' road freight division.

July - SNCF Geodis wholly acquired Ermewa, a major European player in wagon rental, operation and maintenance for the transport of hazardous and non-hazardous liquid, gas and solid products.

At the time of the completion of the acquisition, Ermewa owned a fleet of 60,000 wagons, 23,000 containers and 16,000 small containers.

Ermewa became part of the Asset Management entity of SNCF Geodis.

April - Geodis' acquisition of French parcels company Ciblex, announced on 17 March, was closed on 22 April, with Ciblex becoming an integral part of the Groupage Division of the Geodis group. Ciblex will provide the Group's new "0-30 kg parcels" network.

The parcel service would broaden the Group's range of small parcel solutions, especially in e-commerce, health, optics, high-tech products and spare parts, sectors in which Ciblex plays a leading role. With a 700-strong workforce and more than 700 subcontractors, Ciblex was a specialised autonomous network able to manage late collections, up to 8 pm in Ile-de-France, for next-day deliveries before 8 am, 9 am, 10 am or midday, depending on the service required. The agreement will also round out the Geodis transport offering in Belgium.

March - Following the acquisition of Giraud's Steel division and Central and Eastern Europe division in July 2009, Geodis had entered into exclusive negotiations to buy its two remaining divisions, Northern Europe and Southern Europe (full and partial truckload road transport). The company said this would allow it to expand its European coverage, particularly in Spain. Giraud was the third-largest road freight carrier in Spain, and a major player in France.

Geodis commented that the transaction would be concluded very quickly, after employees had been informed and after approval by the competition authorities, who were expected to rule on the acquisition by the end of the first half of 2010.

"Giraud's corporate culture is close to ours," said the director of the Geodis Road division. "It has a centralized organization, strong culture of operational excellence and management tools that are similar to ours. These factors, along with our successful experience with the Steel division and Central and Eastern Europe division, augur well for a successful integration."

"For Geodis BM, this acquisition is an opportunity to build a true European network and to play a full role in the Group's global end-to-end offering. With this new network, the revenue of Geodis BM will exceed one billion euros, based on the expertise of its 5,000 employees," concluded the CEO of Geodis.

In addition in early March Geodis SA announced the acquisition of BSL Bertola Servizi Logistici S.p.A. Based in Pavia, Italy, BSL provides warehousing and logistics services to the consumer goods, textiles and automotive industries. Bertola provides contract logistics services from its base in Veneto, Italy. Terms were not disclosed.

March - Geodis acquired Ciblex, France's fourth-ranked groupage operator and a specialist in small parcel express delivery. Geodis said that it was pursuing several objectives through the acquisition.

It wished to:

• reinforce its position in the parcel service, a market that had developed considerably over the last few years mainly with the growth of e-commerce in which Ciblex was a leading operator.
• develop its technical expertise specific to parcel processing, relying on an independent network of more than 700 service providers.
• improve its value-added services offer that met the needs of the Group's customers mainly in the sectors of e-commerce, healthcare, optical, high tech and spare parts.
• complete the Geodis transport network in Benelux.

The director of the Groupage/Express division, said: "I would like to welcome the Ciblex teams, who share the same values, quality of service and respect of commitments, which are vital for our customers."

The deputy CEO of Geodis, concluded: "I am very pleased with this acquisition, which is part of our strategic priorities and enables us to enrich our global European service offering with specific expertise that will attract our international customers."

March - SNCF Geodis acquired Bertola Servizi Logistici, becoming one of the top three Italian logistics players, it claimed.

Through the acquisition, Geodis doubled its storage area in Italy, where it already had 18 sites, and increased its presence in Veneto, the country’s second-most important logistics region.

With overall revenue of €400 million and a workforce of more than 2,000, Geodis became one of the leading multi-business-line service providers in Italy with a full service offering: groupage, full-truckload transport, contract logistics, freight forwarding, and 4PL.

Bertola specialises in sectors of strategic interest to Geodis, including FMCG, textiles, and automotive.

"With Bertola we welcome a team of skilled professionals at the management and workforce levels. They have built an excellent reputation in Italy through their high-quality services," says Jean-Louis Demeulenaere, CEO of Geodis. "This acquisition is in line with the Group’s strategy with a full-service offering in Italy."

Key figures for Bertola (at the time of the acquisition):

• 2008 revenue: €60.9m
• Italy’s tenth-largest provider of contract logistics
• 92 employees
• 286,000 sq m of logistics premises in Castel San Giovanni, Rovigo, Pavia, and Novara
• Customers include: Giochi Preziosi, Banca Intesa Sanpaolo, Varta, Johnson Controls, Lavazza, Lindt, Xerox, Bosch, Fracarro, and Manfrotto.

July - Geodis Calberson has signed a framework agreement to purchase the business of Cool Jet, a major player in the domestic groupage and chartering market in France. The actual transfer of activities will take place on October 1, subject to the approval of competition authorities and Labour groups. Thanks to Cool Jet's portfolio of 5,000 active customers, Geodis Calberson is acquiring the additional volumes needed to ramp up its domestic groupage network to full capacity.

Included in the acqusition are two buildings located in theParisregion (Gennevilliers) and the North region (Lesquin).

In conjunction with this acquisition, Geodis took full control of Prisme, an Economic Interest Group in which Cool Jet had a 50% stake.

"This acquisition contributes to a dynamic of growth that we want to maintain in each of the Geodis divisions. In particular it strengthens our leadership position inFranceand will accelerate the development of our European groupage activities," said Geodis. 

March - Geodis confirmed its intention to acquire part of the activities of another French transport/logistics provider, Giraud International*, namely the metallurgy unit and the Central and Eastern Europe area division.

"The two entities provide essential synergies with Fret SNCF and Bourgey Montreuil," said Geodis in an official company statement. "Once the acquisition is definitive and the competition authorities have given their approval, the metallurgy unit will be integrated in the full Truck Load division of the Geodis group and the Central and Eastern Europe division in the Logistics division of the Geodis group."

Geodis said the businesses concerned were worth over €100m in revenues and corresponded with the SNCF group's strategy of multimodal development. "Sernam has not been discussed," it added.

* Giraud International is a limited liability company headquartered in France. According to the company's corporate website, its majority shareholder is Butler Capital Partners, which is also the shareholder of Sernam.

2008

December - SNCF had significantly ramped up its apparent push to try and become as important a player on the global logistics stage as German counterpart and rival Deutsche Bahn.

The group's Transport and Logistics Division business SNCF Geodis, which it bought earlier this year after previously being its main shareholder for many years announced it had acquired IBM's internal global logistics operations in an all-cash deal for an undisclosed amount and signed a multi-year outsourcing contract.

Through that contract, stated Geodis, it would be the sole lead logistics provider for IBM, managing approximately €1bn per year of IBM's logistics costs supporting asset recovery services, service parts logistics and flow management of all hardware and software products worldwide.

"This agreement is strategic to reinforce Geodis' position among the world's leading logistics providers capable of delivering end to end solutions to its global clients," claimed Geodis Deputy CEO.

"With this partnership, we will strengthen the skills and expertise required to service both IBM's and our existing and future clients' core logistics needs in more than 120 countries. IBM's global logistics operations will significantly upgrade our services portfolio."

Geodis said it was increasing its investments outside Europe and the new acquisition complemented the company's existing teams. "By leveraging IBM's employees in more than 50 countries across the US, Canada, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific, Geodis' service offering will be enhanced with multinational supply chain experts and an established worldwide platform to enable rapid growth and expansion," it claimed.

Geodis said the IBM transaction, which was expected to close in the first quarter of 2009, was subject to the expiration or the early termination of the waiting period under the HSR Act and the issuance by the EC (European Commission) of a decision declaring the transaction compatible with the EC Common Market as well as to applicable regulatory clearance, local agreements and appropriate and required employee information and consultation processes.

SNCF claims that its Transport and Logistics Division is currently the fourth-largest transport and logistics operator in Europe, with annual revenue of €8.5bn.

June - Geodis Wilson, the forwarding division of French European logistics group Geodis, strengthened its growing business in the UK with the acquisition of Oughtred & Harrison Shipping. Geodis Wilson said that the move would boost its ocean export business and extend its global network coverage in China and Benelux.

O&H Shipping was an air and sea freight forwarder with almost 100 employees, mainly based in northern England, but also in Belgium and China. Serving more than 1,900 customers, O&H would deliver about £35m (€44m) to the Geodis group's net sales.

"The O&H acquisition is an important step in our long term growth ambition and strengthens our presence in the market," commented Geodis Wilson. "The eventual merger of our two companies brings us closer to achieving our objective of being a top five freight management company in the UK. Both from a geographical and from a functional point of view, there are no essential overlaps, which will lead into a straight integration process that will be completed within the next 12 months."

2007

October - Geodis expanded its freight forwarding capabilities through the purchase of its German partner Rohde & Liesenfeld (finalised in January 2008).  Rohde & Liesenfeld had both a sea freight and air freight business with sales of €270m. Its largest business was in Germany, but it had significant exposure to South America, South Africa and Australia.

Geodis bought a stake in Rohde & Liesenfeld worth €13m in 2002 and paid a further €77m to purchase the rest of the company.

With the purchase of Wilson from TNT, Geodis indicated its intention not only to increase its exposure to freight forwarding but also to expand business outside of France through acquisition. Clearly the acquisition of Rohde & Liesenfeld is part of that strategy. It would also contribute to Geodis' CEO, Pierre Blayau's target of increasing revenue to over €5.5bn by 2008.

This new purchase pushed the 'Freight Management' proportion of Geodis business to over 40%. However its freight management business was still smaller than that of Ceva/EGL or Expeditors, let alone the sector leaders such as DHL or Kuehne + Nagel. However, it re-emphasised that Geodis' ambitions lay in competing with the big diversified Logistics Service Providers.

The German freight forwarder does have a slightly different profile to Geodis. It was heavily engaged in project cargo business for the oil, gas and mining sectors, which were areas that had provided lucrative opportunities to other freight forwarders, notably Panalpina.