We strive for strategic, sustainable growth – always aware of the responsibility that we bear as a major employer at many locations.

As a logistics provider, we offer a wide range of services at interfaces between producers, retailers and consumers. This includes production supply and goods distribution as well as the transport of vehicles by road, rail and inland waterway. The demands on our portfolio and individual services are changing at an ever faster pace. This development is being driven by ongoing globalization coupled with shorter product life cycles, urbanization and digitalization. The industry as a whole continues to benefit from rising demand, which is closely linked to the ever-growing e-commerce business. We face challenges in particular from the unrelenting pressure on margins and the greater competition to attract skilled labor in the wake of demographic developments. Additional factors include the continued growth in the importance of online retailing, rising customer expectations in terms of speed, flexibility and the quality of supply, as well as growing environmental awareness among the general population. The reporting year was characterized by multiple crises accompanied by an economically challenging environment. The war in Ukraine, high energy costs and inflation, the shortage of skilled workers and climate change, as well as the ongoing effects of the pandemic, were the key aspects.

Financial management

As part of our mission and vision as well as the sharpening of our strategic guidelines, we designed the management system to be as clear and transparent as possible. The key performance indicators are revenue, earnings before taxes (EBT) and the EBT margin derived from both of these, as well as earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT). In the future, RoCE will also be included in monthly reporting. Furthermore, since 2021, the remuneration system for the Board of Management has included non-financial target indicators: CO₂ emissions, the trainee ratio and the 1,000-employee rate used as a basis for measuring the number of work-related accidents. From 2023, these will be applied incrementally for all non-tariff employees. For more information, see the Fundamental Information about the Group – Group control section of the Financial Report.

Despite the aforementioned adverse general conditions, we nevertheless closed the 2022 financial year considerably better than anticipated. Following an initial positive outlook – in part reflecting the waning impact of the coronavirus pandemic – the much hoped-for economic expansion failed to materialize. The foremost reason for this was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with its massive repercussions for energy supplies and the entire global economy, which were reflected in the summer in particular in extremely high energy prices. Many other goods also became more expensive, with inflation rising to record highs. Against this background, the tightening of monetary policy had a further dampening effect. After a correspondingly weak first half-year, the rise in global output temporarily strengthened in the third quarter, above all in connection with the Chinese market. The situation on the energy markets finally eased toward the end of the year, while further fiscal measures provided relief for private households and companies. Nevertheless, at year’s end global economic momentum was still significantly diminished.

Key performance indicators

Group revenue increased quite significantly year on year by EUR 68.5 million to EUR 1,118.9 million, a plus of around 6.5 percent. EBT saw a similar increase of 6.7 percent to EUR 55.7 million, as did EBIT, increasing by 5.0 percent from EUR 61.5 million to EUR 64.6 million. The EBT margin was 5.0 percent, as in the previous year. The financial management of BLG LOGISTICS is detailed in depth in our Financial Report 2022. Although the general business climate continued to stabilize over the final few months of 2022 following a significant downturn in the beginning and middle of the year, we are expecting the economic uncertainties to grow in 2023. However, given our broad-based strategic positioning and our performance capabilities, we believe we are well positioned even in a volatile market environment and will continue to work intensively to improve BLG LOGISTICS’ economic position. As part of this, we will actively drive forward topics such as digitalization and sustainability.