Hellmann Worldwide Logistics has concluded the 2022 financial year very successfully, continuing the company's strong performance of recent years in the face of persistently challenging market conditions.
Hellmann was able to increase its total sales by 24 % to $5.5 billion as well as shipment volumes, which grew significantly year-on-year.
At the EBIT line, Hellmann was able to achieve an increase of 31 % vs. the prior year, delivering an EBIT result of $232 million. Thanks to the improved cash flow from operating activities of $296 million, liquidity improved by a total of $137 million despite a significant increase in investments.
Beyond its positive financial performance, Hellmann also successfully continued its strategic development last year.
An important topic of the last year was the continued development of the company culture, particularly as regards the sustainable positioning the global family-owned Hellmann Group.
With the guiding principle of "For the better. Together.",a vision was defined that unites the global Hellmann FAMILY and shapes the daily behavior of all employees.
In a rapidly changing world, Hellmann is living up to its goal of assuming responsibility for its employees and customers and to contribute to overcoming the current social and ecological challenges.
Even during continued market disruptions from the COVID pandemic and the war against Ukraine, the Group stuck to its digitalization strategy and invested significantly in digitalization of business processes and forward-looking technologies.
Hellmann also made several acquisitions in support of further growth, such as the takeover of the joint venture in Peru and the acquisition of OptimNet, an overnight express provider operating in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The international growth course and the expansion of the Hellmann network also continued to show success.
Having already expanded its business activities to Indonesia, the Philippines, Egypt, Oman and France since 2020, Hellmann also opened its own country organization in Switzerland last year to expand its product portfolio and its footprint into the Swiss market.
Jens Wollesen, Chief Operating Officer, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics said: "2022 was once again a challenging year in many respects: While the first half of the year continued to be characterized by capacity bottlenecks, particularly in the air- and seafreight sectors, demand for transport services declined significantly from the summer of 2022 onwards due to changes in consumer behavior worldwide.
"This in turn led to overcapacity on global trade lanes in almost all product areas during the second half of the year and consequently, lower freight rates.
"Despite these challenges, thanks to our strong global and regional teams and our solid network, we succeeded in offering our customers tailored logistics solutions throughout the year and were able to achieve another record result in 2022."
"The goal is to continue to expand our global competitive position across all product areas in the coming years. As such, we are planning further strategic acquisitions as well as sustainable investments in the modernization of our systems and processes," added Martin Eberle, Chief Financial Officer, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics.
“Our vision for all of our actions in the years to come is “For the better. Together.” In this context, sustainability is of central importance. Together with and for our customers, employees, and partners, we are committed to further developing our sustainable logistics solutions,” emphasizes Reiner Heiken, Chief Executive Officer, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics.