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"Elsewhere,
there are some geographical areas where
we need to strengthen our presence, notably
India and certain countries in Africa."
While
the recent purchase of IJS Global highlighted
Gefco's ambitions in freight forwarding,
automotive logistics - comprising services
to both manufacturers and parts suppliers
- remains by far its largest and still its
core business, accounting for around 75
per cent of global turnover.
Gefco
now has an important card to play in transferring
its know-how as a global logistics services
provider (LSP) to the automotive industry
into other industrial sectors.
"One
example is the garment manufacture industry
where, like automotive, just-in-time production
systems have become the norm and the task
in hand consists of organising, co-ordinating
and consolidating a number of different
commodity flows from different origins to
a single point for production or assembly,
followed by distribution."
Aerospace,
power plant construction, and oil and gas
are among other industrial sectors targeted
by Gefco.
Russia,
where the collapse of the automotive industry
has dealt a heavy blow to Gefco's two biggest
customers, PSA Peugeot Citroen and General
Motors, is a prime example of where the
company has made a successful diversification
move.
"There's
the stark contrast in Russia currently between
the automotive industry doing very badly
and other sectors which are growing. Automotive
used to account for up to 90 per cent of
our business in Russia, but this has changed.
"We
now have far greater diversity in our Russian
portfolio and are well-positioned to seize
the new opportunities that are opening up,"
he said.
Gefco
has captured markets in Russia for capital
goods - such as production equipment for
the electrical, electronic and aeronautical
industry, as well as finished goods such
as locomotives.
One
project concerns organising the supply chain
for a new prototype for a Russian aerospace
specialist that has suppliers in the US
and Europe.
Mr
Nadal would not be drawn on Gefco's annual
turnover in Russia, but did reveal that
its non-automotive business in the country
had increased by 70 per cent so far this
year on 2014.
He
expects Russia "to remain a difficult
and complex market, lacking in maturity
in the logistics domain. But he sees growth
opportunities in the fact that many major
Russian firms continue to handle their logistics
solutions in-house. "There's a lot
of debate in Russia on this issue at the
moment," he said.
On
a global level, meanwhile, there is clear
evidence that Gefco's non-automotive activities
are generating strong revenue growth. "2014
was not a good year for our business with
PSA and GM but our non-automotive customers,
taken together, achieved growth of more
than nine per cent, and for the first eight
months of 2015, this trend has continued,
with turnover up around 10 per cent.
"There
are also signs that PSA is doing better
while GM has made a net recovery in Europe
and even though these positive developments
have yet to show up in the figures, the
outlook would appear to be much more positive
in automotive," Mr Nadal said.
This
has re-kindled hopes that Gefco can get
back on track and reach a global turnover
of EUR8 billion by 2020 compared to EUR4.1
billion in 2014.
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