International pallet solutions group IFCO has followed up a successful 2010 with further growth in revenue and profitability during the first quarter of the year.
IFCO said that currency adjusted group revenues increased by 9.7 per cent year-on-year to US$205.7m, while earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) climbed 8.1 per cent to US$34.3m.
RPC Management Services delivered gains in currency adjusted revenues (16.4 per cent), gross profit (10.4 per cent) and EBITDA (2.7 per cent) in the quarter, the result of organic growth in its core European RPC business and winning new retail contracts in Austria (Spar) and France (Carrefour).
The company noted that its South American and US operations did experience growth, although, in the US, business was tempered significantly as the result of adverse weather that reduced crop levels.
Revenues in Pallet Management Services, meanwhile, grew slightly by 1.7 per cent to US$86.3m year-on-year, with pallet volumes and average unit prices up on 2010.
For the rest of the year, IFCO said that challenging economic climates remain in many of its markets, with the European RPC Management Services segment expected to meet or exceed overall market development.
Despite the fact that Pallet Management Services continues to feel the impact of the economic downturn, IFCO said it was confident that its key advantages have not changed and that it would grow revenues and profit in 2011.
'We believe that our current assessment of the markets and our business development as described should result in overall significant gains in both revenues and operational profitability in 2011 as compared to 2010.'
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