Private rail freight operators Lotos Kolej and Freightliner PL have shown the best financial performance among their Polish counterparts in 2023. The companies achieved the highest net profit numbers and operational profits as a share of total revenue. At the same time, state-owned PKP Cargo ceded 5,6 per cent of its rail freight market share in 2024.
Lotos Kolej achieved an operational profit of 195 million Polish zloty (45,3 million euros), which is 13 per cent of its total revenue of 1488 million zloty (345,6 million euros). This is according to two LinkedIn posts by Krzysztof Wróbel, CFO at Freightliner PL, who points out that it is necessary to “to be careful comparing the information and drawing conclusions especially at the level of net profit/loss or total cash flow”. Not all compared companies are exclusively rail operators or use the same methods of accounting.
Wróbel’s own company showed similar success to Lotos Kolej, with an operational profit of 10 per cent of total revenue. Freightliner PL’s operational profit amounted to 44 million zloty (10,2 million euros), and revenue totalled 435 million (101 million euros).
Notably, PKP Cargo saw its rail freight market share fall by 5,6 per cent in the first eight months of 2024. In 2023, it occupied a share of 33,5 per cent of the market, but in 2024, only 27,9 per cent remained. Here too, Lotos Kolej seems to be among the big winners. It managed to expand its market share from 10,7 to 11,8, only outpaced by rail company T&C. The latter succeeded in growing its share from 2,4 to 3,9 per cent, likely profiting from PKP Cargo’s decline amid its financial crisis.