Amsterdam, 3 November 2010. GLS Group, with effect from 1 November 2010, is taking over the remaining 49 per cent of GLS Portugal Lda.’s shares. This means the company, which began as a joint venture between GLS and Kislog, is now wholly owned by the pan-European parcel, express and logistics service provider.

“By acquiring the remaining shares, we are strengthening both GLS’ position in Portugal and our European network”, explains Rico Back, CEO of General Logistics Systems B.V., Amsterdam (GLS). “When GLS Portugal was founded, a transfer was already laid down in the contract and is now taking place following five years of successful cooperation.”

 

GLS Portugal Lda. launched its operations in November 2005 as a joint venture between Kislog and GLS. The parcel unit, which belonged to Kislog’s subsidiary and former GLS network partner, Personalis S.A., was integrated into the joint company. The current transaction dissolves the joint venture.

 

High quality standards

 

GLS Portugal has six locations to provide nationwide services. Immediately after the domestic company was founded, GLS converted all of the processes to the Group’s established pan-European industrial parcel handling. Both the information technology as well as the entire software and hardware architecture were replaced and adjusted to meet current GLS standards.

 

The Group made investments to expand capacities and modernise the locations. A few milestones: in 2008, GLS Portugal put a new distribution centre (hub and depot) into operation in Lisbon; the new facility has more capacity, a modern sorting system and is equipped with video surveillance technology. In the same year, the company introduced mobile data transmission from delivery vehicles. This makes delivery information from Portugal available almost in real-time via online shipment tracking. GLS Portugal became an EN ISO 9001:2008 certified company in mid-2009.

 

Ready for the economic recovery

 

“GLS Portugal has succeeded in achieving a solid market position with GLS Group’s high quality standards”, says Rico Back. “Security is an important criterion for selecting a parcel service provider, especially when valuable or sensitive goods are involved.” In Portugal, large telecommunications and pharmaceutical companies are among GLS’ customers. Before the global financial and economic crisis began, GLS Portugal had been recording annual growth rates of up to 30 per cent. The link to the GLS European network had a particularly positive effect on exports.

 

“Portugal is one of the countries that was hit especially hard by the crisis and now has to contend with high public debt”, says Rico Back. “Our current investments reconfirm our commitment to the country and our customers. GLS has strengthened its capacity to act in the region and is well positioned for the economic recovery, which will hopefully set in soon. We are making use of our potential to contribute.”

 

 

The GLS Group in Europe

 

General Logistics Systems B.V., Amsterdam (GLS), is a pan-European company providing reliable, high-quality parcel and express services as well as value-added logistics solutions. The company offers its services through wholly owned and partner companies in 36 European states, and is globally connected via contractual agreements. The GLS system consists of 38 central transhipment points, 665 depots and 12,500 employees. Some 16,950 vehicles transport 345 million parcels annually for 220,000 customers throughout Europe. In the financial year 2009/10, GLS achieved revenues of 1.7 billion euros. GLS stands for “European Leader in Quality“. This is something that everyone working for GLS strives to achieve every day.