Wilhelmsen CEO Fends off Margin Pressure

Logistics group Wilh. Wilhelmsen Holding and its listed shipping arm, Wilh. Wilhelmsen ASA, presented an update to their strategy on Thursday.

Chief Executive Thomas Wilhelmsen of the holding company made the following statements:

ON MARGINS
"We are very much correlated to world trade. We are a bet on the world economy.

"We do see margin pressure and commoditisation in some parts of our portfolio. I don't think that is anything new in any business but we must be vigilant and dedicated to continuously adapt to the changes.

"We're seeing a margin pressure that needs a little bit more proactivity from our side than earlier.

"It's a tough market out there, many of our customers have faced a tough time, it's a continuing fight in this business."

ON COMPANY'S DIVERSITY
"If we look at the contribution from the last five years, more of half of the contribution is coming from non-shipping related business.

"We don't buy ships to sell them in five years, that's not our model, we may do that from time to time, but that is more in order to adjust capacity."

Reporting by Ole Petter Skonnord