The Budapest-listed logistics and insurance group posted quarterly revenue of EUR 205.4 million, up 7.8 per cent from a year earlier. Operating profit (EBIT) rose 23 per cent to EUR 12.4 million, and net income more than doubled to EUR 11.2 million. Excluding non-cash foreign-exchange effects, quarterly profit stood at EUR 7.3 million, up 39 per cent year-on-year.
Behind these headline gains, however, lies a very different picture: the logistics segment — which includes freight transport, forwarding, warehousing and passenger transport — saw its revenue fall by 2.6 per cent in the quarter, with a 5.3 per cent decline year-to-date.
Revenue from international road transport dropped 7.6 per cent in the quarter and 10.1 per cent in the first nine months, according to the company’s consolidated report. The decline stems primarily from a strategic downsizing at the Polish subsidiary LINK, where the fleet was cut by 50 per cent, resulting in a 12 per cent overall reduction in international transport vehicles.
The Hungary-based international operations performed somewhat better, with 9.2 per cent growth, though this came mainly from subcontracted freight forwarding rather than company-owned trucks. Domestic and in-house logistics operations were flat, weighed down by lower household consumption, weaker industrial production and the phase-out of automotive in-house logistics contracts.
The average fleet size in the third quarter was 2,704 trucks, down 3.7 per cent year-on-year, while the number of employees fell 5.4 per cent to 5,646. Warehouse capacity, by contrast, grew 3.8 per cent to 275,000 square metres — signalling a shift from transport to fixed-asset logistics.
Earnings boosted by acquisitions and non-core activities
The logistics segment’s quarterly EBIT reached EUR 5.5 million, a 53 per cent rise year-on-year. Yet the improvement did not originate in freight. Profitability was lifted by the Pannonbusz passenger-transport business acquired earlier this year, waste-transport and third-party warehouse-development activities, and the full consolidation of MDI Serbia.
Gross profit excluding depreciation increased only 2.7 per cent, confirming that the underlying transport business remains under margin pressure.
Insurance dominates the group’s earnings
By contrast, the insurance segment almost doubled its quarterly revenue to EUR 40 million, with EBIT up 6 per cent to EUR 6.9 million. On a nine-month basis, insurance EBIT reached EUR 27.5 million, a 75 per cent surge year-on-year. The growth was driven by the 2024 acquisition of Hungarian Post Insurance and Hungarian Post Life Insurance, which now contribute the majority of the group’s profitability.
Together, the two businesses account for roughly two-thirds of Waberer’s total EBIT (EUR 27.5 million of EUR 41.5 million), underscoring how far the company has moved beyond its transport roots.
Strategic diversification
Management highlighted several recent investments intended to broaden the group’s reach. In August, Waberer’s opened a 20,000 m² warehouse in Zohor, Slovakia, to serve automotive clients; it also signed a partnership with Budapest Airport to expand air-cargo logistics services, and launched a joint intermodal-terminal project in Hungary with Kazakhstan’s KTZ Express, part of the Trans-Caspian rail corridor.
Such projects could strengthen Waberer’s position in Central and Eastern Europe over the longer term, though their financial contribution has yet to materialise.
Waberer’s third-quarter results confirm a steady shift in the company’s structure. Profitability is rising, leverage has dropped to 1.3 × EBITDA, and cash flow is strong — but the core road-freight business remains in decline.
Once known as Hungary’s flagship haulier, Waberer’s today operates more as a diversified logistics and financial group, relying increasingly on insurance, warehousing and infrastructure projects to sustain its earnings as the traditional trucking business contracts.
