Geodis CEO Marie-Christine Lombard has dismissed any rumors of the logistics company being put up for sale by its owner, French state railway SNCF. She emphasized that any option to enhance Geodis’s development would be carefully considered, including the possibility of opening up its capital for a transformative acquisition.
SNCF group chairman Jean-Pierre Farandou also stated that Geodis is a major strategic asset for the SNCF group and France, ruling out any possibility of a sale. Despite a 15% drop in turnover last year due to freight rate normalization and lower volumes, Geodis maintained its margins through a diversified business model and cost productivity initiatives, with Ebitda slightly decreasing to just over €1.1bn.
Farandou praised Geodis for its performance, highlighting the growth in freight forwarding and contract logistics. When asked about potential marginalization following the merger of CMA CGM-owned Ceva Logistics and Bolloré Logistics, which is twice the size of Geodis, Lombard remained unfazed, emphasizing Geodis’s resilience and balanced business model supported by the French state.
In a previous interview, Lombard mentioned the possibility of opening Geodis’s capital for a transformative acquisition, reiterating that no transaction beneficial to the group’s development would be ruled out.
