Page 47 - Linkline Autumn 2016

• 57% of respondents said that conditions were ‘somewhat more favourable’ than 12 months ago, while a
further 9% described conditions as ‘much more favour able’ than last year.
• 89% of respondents expected turnover in their organisa tion to increase over the next year, while 62%
expected an improvement in profitability over the next 12 months.
• Only 8% of respondents predicted a decline in profitabilty in their organisations over the next 12 months.
• 74% of logistics operators said they were likely to incur significant capital expenditure over the next 12 months.
• 55% of respondents said they expected to increase head count in their organisations in the next year
with the largest proportion (38%) expecting to increase headcount by between 2% and 5% year-on-year.
• More than 70% of respondents believed that e-commerce has the potential to grow by up to 10% in the
next 12 months. Almost half of respondents say that they would accommodate growth in e-commerce by improvi ng technologies in their organisations
• 56% of respondents expected an increase in demand for logistics property over the next 12 months. 24% of respon dents commented on the cost of facilities and the size of facilities available in the market.
• When asked what their business priorities for the next 12 months are, winning new contracts ranked highest with 23% of respondents in the logistics sector. A further 21% of logistics respondents said that maintaining their exist ing customer base was their key priority while other factors that ranked highly included cost control, improving contract margins and expanding into new geographical markets. For respondents in the shipping industry, cost control was the issue that was of primary concern to respondents.
• 23% of respondents said that customer price pressures and reducing costs were the biggest challenges facing the supply chain of their business in 2016. 12% respec tively identified economic conditions and market volatility as being of concern. Other concerns included employee wage pressures and foreign exchange rates.
• When asked to identify key opportunities for their business over the next 12 months, a variety of responses identified consolidation of service providers, market growth international and increasing employee skills and training as the most important opportunities for their businesses.
The CharTered InsTITuTe of LogIsTICs & TransporT 47
PROPERTY MARKET