Paris, France: European refrigerated road transport and logistics company Stef reports an increase sales despite falling food consumption in Europe and a difficult economic environment.
The group reported third quarter turnover (July-September) of €620.9m, up 3.6% on a like-for-like basis. Growth was driven by logistics business. Stef says frozen storage work declines but the logistics business grew by 9.1% in the quarter thanks to new contracts mostly for fresh foods and more dynamic restaurant and catering markets.
Last week, Stef acquired KL Services that provides logistics to 500 restaurants in France and operates a temperature-controlled warehouse in Paris.
Turnover from the group’s European operations was up 8.5% for the quarter. Highlights included major new contracts with manufacturers and external growth in Portugal while in Italy, Stef continued to see development in its transport activities in the seafood market and in international traffic flows. Staf reported buoyant business in the Benelux countries.
Turnover for the first nine months of the year reached €1.83bn, up 5.9% like-for-like on the same period last year.
