The UK continues to be a “very robust” performer according to Ceva Logistics, which is looking forward to a spike in business next year from the London Olympics.
Speaking to MT as Ceva reported global third quarter results for the nine months ending 30 September, Leigh Pomlett, president for Northern Europe at the firm, says: “The UK has been very robust: It has done well. We are operating more efficiently than we have ever done and we have grown the business.
“The markets are volatile and difficult but there are definitely opportunities if you are agile,” he insists.
While Ceva does not break down its performance by country, the firm saw group third-quarter revenue come in at €1.8bn (£1.56bn), up 1.2% year-on-year. For the first nine months of the year revenue is up 2.1% to €5.1bn (£4.4bn).
Pomlett explains that some manufacturing and automotive customers in the UK – Ceva resigned deals with Mazda, Suzuki and Honda of the UK Manufacturing this year – will suffer supply chain issues as a result of flooding in South-East Asia.
He says the global performance reflected trends in the UK generally: “We remain reasonably strong given the soft volumes with retail and consumer [business]. Christmas is nothing to get excited about but October volumes have held up reasonably well.”
Looking to next year Ceva is preparing for a volume spike in the UK as a result of the Olympic Games in London: “It is a very intense period of activity and will last three months. We do the London marathon logistics and we have learnt a lot from doing that. We look forward to anything that will drive volumes into our business.”