Although Damco attributed much of this increase to its August 2011 acquisition of Chinese airfreight forwarder New Times Transportation, the company's air cargo business still recorded underlying organic growth of 42 percent, year-over-year, during the first half of 2012.

Also rising was Damco's net revenue, which surged 12 percent, year-over-year, to $1.543bn during the first half of 2012. The global freight forwarder's gross profit and EBIT also rose during this period, increasing 5 percent and 42 percent, year-over-year, respectively.

Despite double-digit growth, Damco explained in a press release that the company's EBIT was negatively affected by the restructuring of its European activities. The freight forwarder also revealed that it "invested more than planned" when launching new business operations, further hindering EBIT. Even so, the sale of Damco's Chinese warehousing facilities greatly offset these declines, according to the press release.

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