In spite of challenges in 2019, we had a satisfactory result…

“2019 has been a challenging year in many ways! We export 95% of our products and our 3rd largest market is the United States. Therefore, in 2019, we have been imposed an extra duty on the goods we ship from our factory in China to our sales department in the USA. At the same time, Brexit has been heavily in focus on the European market, and car factories in France and Germany have lowered their expectations. We supply many products to sub-suppliers in the car industry, and therefore we have experienced the decline considerably. This also concerns Brexit. We are not so dependent of the UK market, but the uncertainty created by Brexit in Europe has influenced the desire to buy”, Gitte Kirkegaard, CEO at Logitrans, says.

“Due to the challenges, we have experienced a slight decrease in our turnover of 2%, compared to 2018. However, our gross profit is 3% better than in 2018, and this shows us that we have succeeded in adjusting our costs according to the top line”, Gitte Kirkegaard continues.

Unfortunately, the final result ended below the result of last year, with a difference of DKK 1,5 million. However, this is not due to a bad operating result, but only due to extraordinary costs in 2019.

"Therefore, considering the circumstances and the market conditions of 2019, we are satisfied with the result," Gitte Kirkegaard says.

These days, you can hardly send out a press release without commenting on the market situation and the present scenarios.

The first three months of 2020 were as expected, both sales and profit have been good in Denmark as well as in the US. Our factory in China has been shut down for three weeks due to the Coronavirus, but is 100% back. Now the Coronavirus is present in Europe as well as in the United States. Therefore, I can only predict how the press release for 2020 will be. Right now the market is very quiet! Fortunately, we have customers in various industries, including the food and pharmaceutical industries, and we now focus all our marketing and sales efforts on these industries.

“On May 1st of this year, we have our 80th anniversary – Logitrans has therefore been through many crises. Fortunately, today we have a really strong company, and this gives us some good opportunities for getting through this crisis as well. I am sure we will get through this also”, Gitte Kirkegaard says.

” For our 75th anniversary, one of our employees made a Logitrans song and the chorus sounds like this:

Hi Ho, we are lifting together.
No one can do this alone.
Trust and community, knowledge and spirit.
Logitrans has many skills.

And this is exactly how it works at Logitrans. We ALL lift together and do our best, and even though many of our employees work from home these days, we feel the spirit through mails, chats and phone. So THANK YOU to all our talented and dedicated employees. Thank you for doing your best every day, thank you for your positive approach and thank you for helping to keep the ball rolling. And not least "thank you" for a good 2019”, Gitte Kirkegaard ends the interview.

Logitrans A/S develops, manufactures and sells material handling equipment and is one of the world leaders in customised ergonomic handling solutions, highlifters and stainless products for the food and the pharmaceutical industry. Logitrans has 75 employees in Denmark, 55 in China and 5 in the USA, and more than 95% of the products are sold through dealers in more than 55 countries. Especially stainless products, custom-built products and small product series are manufactured in Denmark. Larger series and less complex products are manufactured in China.