{"id":407686,"date":"2026-04-17T19:09:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=70658"},"modified":"2026-04-17T19:09:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:09:33","slug":"2025-results-obb-rail-cargo-group-not-spared-by-industrial-downturn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=407686","title":{"rendered":"2025 results: \u00d6BB Rail Cargo Group not spared by industrial downturn"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Austrian national rail operator \u00d6BB has released its financial report for 2025. For the freight department Rail Cargo Group (RCG), circumstances were not ideal. Transport performance fell, but the company managed to increase its sales.<\/strong>
\n<\/span>RCG achieved a transport performance of 26.2 billion net tonne-kilometres in 2025. This figure is 4% lower than that of 2024. Sales, by contrast, grew by 6% to 2090 million euros (up from 1974 million euros in 2024). Despite the economic situation, “we have performed quite well”, \u00d6BB comments on the figure.<\/p>\n

\u00d6BB notes a decline in the demand for logistics services due to the “third consecutive year of recession” in European and Austrian industries. The recession contributed to the worsened transport performance. Competition with the road sector shaped the environment in which this decline took place \u2014 making it tougher for rail to claim its place on the market.<\/p>\n

What does this mean for RCG\u2019s financial results? The freight operator closed 2025 with Earnings Before Taxes (EBT) of -135.5 million euros. This is significantly worse than the -24.5 million euros of 2024. The \u2018good\u2019 news is that the poor result is partially a consequence of one-off events, says \u00d6BB: a value adjustment and losses in the agricultural sector.<\/p>\n

One-off effects exert pressure<\/h2>\n

The value adjustment refers to a goodwill write down (a reassessment of the value of an asset) of 81.1 million euros at investments in Hungary and RCG\u2019s agricultural forwarding company. A big part of the Hungarian write off concerns the previously acquired MAV Cargo, but this has no direct impact on RCG’s capital. \u201cEven without this one-off effect, the earnings remained negative at -54 million euros\u201d, notes \u00d6BB.<\/p>\n

When it comes to the agricultural business, failed harvests, weak market development and trade and customer policy changes in the US had a negative impact on performance. Canadian exporters diverted their products to European market following US tariff implementation, which meant that grain arrived at European ports. This hurt the long-distance grain transportation segment of Austria-based RCG.<\/p>\n

As a result, the agricultural sector brought an earnings loss of some 36 million euros, according to the rail operator. Without the depreciation and amortisation and the losses in the agriculture segment, earnings would have remained roughly at the level of 2024.<\/p>\n

Construction works and energy<\/h2>\n

Lastly, \u00d6BB emphasises the influence of the many construction sites in Germany. Customers are not happy to pay for the hundreds of kilometres of detours, the company says during its press conference. Moreover, higher energy prices also impacted Rail Cargo Group\u2019s earnings. \u00d6BB expressed its concern about the impact of the Iran war on fuel prices and the subsequent influence on rail freight operations.<\/p>\n

Austria\u2019s freight operator is taking measures to achieve a better financial result in the current year. \u201cAmong other things, uncompetitive products are being discontinued, the capacity on popular routes is being increased in a targeted manner and the organisation is being streamlined and made fit for the future so that the \u00d6BB Group’s financial figures can be expected to improve in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n