Xpediator PLC (AIM:XPD) said trading has started well this year in spite of the problems in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The logistics group runs a central European warehousing business, lorry driver affinity services across the region and has a pallet business in Romania, which has a border with Ukraine.
Operations in Lithuania have been worse affected, it said, while across the group it is also having to deal with rising energy prices.
Trading in March was in line with expectations despite the disruption, Xpediator said, and followed two good months at the start of 2022.
“We are conscious of the potential headwinds created in the CEE by the tragic geo-political events unfolding in Ukraine, which has affected our Lithuanian operations in particular," said Rob Riddleston, interim chairman.
“We are also mindful of inflation and resulting uncertainty around consumer spend. However, trading in 2022 has begun positively.”
Riddleston’s comments came after a record year to end-December 2021 with revenues rising by 34% to £297mln and underlying profits by 25% to £9.1mln.
Freight Forwarding and Warehousing were the stand-out performers seeing revenues rise by 37% and 28% respectively and the group said there are a lot of opportunities in the UK to develop both through acquisitions and self-help measures.
“The group has a solid financial platform and with its asset light base is more shielded than some from energy and other cost inflation. We anticipate that in spite of these challenges, demand from the group's 10,000+ customers will continue to be solid across all three divisions," added Riddleston.
The final dividend is 0.6p, making a total for the year of 1.1p (1.5p), which Xpediator said would have been higher but for the situation in Ukraine and eastern Europe, but if this only has a minor impact, it will consider a special dividend later.