LBC more than doubles six-month income

MANILA, Philippines - Listed courier operator LBC Express Holdings Inc. (LBCH) reported a total comprehensive income of P662 million in the first semester, more than double the P264.4 million posted in the same period last year.

In a briefing yesterday, LBC Express Inc. chief compliance, risk and investor relations officer Enrique Rey Jr. said the company hopes to increase this further to over P1 billion this year on continued demand from both corporate and retail segments.

 “Logistics segment -- both on corporate and retail have grown healthily to 20 to 25 percent. On the corporate side, we serve the leading e-companies in the country. We serve telcos and other big brands and consumer products,” Rey said.

As of the end of June this year, LBC had some 1,300 branches.

 In its report submitted to the Philippine Stock Exchange, LBCH reported that higher revenues from its logistics business from both retail and corporate sales boosted the company’s service revenues by 10.5 percent to P4.13 billion.

Revenues from the logistics business grew at a faster rate of 16.1 percent to P3.53 billion due to growth in the volume and rate of air cargo services rendered, LBCH said.

LBCH managed to cut cost of services by 6.3 percent to P2.71 billion.

In terms of branch expansion, LBCH added 24 new outlets in the Philippines and one branch in the Middle East, translating to higher volume from its cargo forwarding services.

The listed company benefitted from favorable freight rates of major carriers, increased utilization of flights and maximizing efficient use of sea carriers.

For the second quarter alone, earnings of LBCH rose 5.8 percent to P196.46 million. Service revenues went up 8.9 percent to P2.07 billion.