The Group’s CEO, Christian Hallberg, summarizes the past six months and reflects on the future after the recent weeks’ acquisitions of three strong players in the Swedish market.
Yes Christian, now we have been living with the pandemic for over 500 days. How has it affected Tempcon and is it still doing so?
Yes, the biggest impact has been the uncertainty, what effects does the pandemic have on our business. And especially then the restrictions that have been introduced. How long do they last? What should we simply plan for? It has been difficult to know how much we would reduce and for that matter also how much we would increase now when the volumes have risen again. What I think we have become fantastically much better at during this time is the adaptability. Not to take anything for granted. To be able to change quickly. We have also increased the internal business between the companies during this period. This has helped us deal with the large volume fluctuations.
2020 was a very eventful year for Tempcon. Are there any special events you want to highlight now in the first half of 2021?
2021 began with Abbekås Åkeri becoming part of Tempcon and since then they have come very well into the family. We already see great advantages in the form of joint business as well as in several support functions such as IT, personnel and production. There we have benefited from each other in a very good way. During the spring, we started up several new customer assignments at the same time as we received a very large volume increase from existing customers. This has meant an extreme workload for several of our companies. Many employees have done a fantastic job. It is not an easy task when volumes increase by 25-30 percent while there is still only the same capacity in vehicles and personnel on the market. It is, of course, a very positive development that we look forward to, even though it has been a great challenge in many places. I am very grateful for everyone’s efforts during spring.
Abbekås came to the family at the beginning of the year just after the turn of the year. Now, just at the beginning of the summer, three more acquisitions have been made. Do you want to tell a little about them?
The recent acquisitions will generate a lot for Tempcon in the future. The first acquisition, LinCargo, is a very well-functioning transport system with complete geographical coverage in terms of temperature-controlled deliveries throughout the region of Norrland. We also see major coordination benefits with our current operations in the subsidiary Logex. Erling Andersson Åkeri is a very reputable and forward-looking company that in an excellent way complements our geographical coverage in Sweden. EA has the same origins as several of our other subsidiaries. A stable family business that shares our values. And the latest acquisition Widriksson Logistik, where we get, in my opinion, the best company in Sweden in so-called last mile deliveries. They have extensive experience and also deep knowledge in the IT area with in-house developed system solutions. Widriksson is also at the forefront of the sustainability area and has high climate goals. This also fits in very well with the ambitions we have within Tempcon.
How do you see the development going forward in the near future?
Our plan going forward is that we will continue to develop our organization both centrally and locally in the companies. We will benefit from the cutting-edge expertise that our employees have in both existing companies and in the new companies that are now coming to us. We can add a lot of knowledge and expertise to each other within the group. We will also develop our offer to our customers, partly through better geographical spread and partly through new types of services, as within the last mile area and within the IT area.
And how do you see Tempcon traveling forward in the long run?
We will become a leader in the Nordic region in temperature-controlled logistics. Not only in terms of geographical coverage but also in terms of offering different types of logistics services. We will deliver to both shops, warehouses, restaurants and also offer home deliveries and temperate warehouse services.
After a very intense spring for us in the Tempcon family, I hope everyone has time for some relaxation this summer. Have a sunny and relaxing summer!
Watch the interview, in Swedish, on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/45OEQt3NYck
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