Rangel invests another 5.5 million to continue growing

The Rangel Group has been synonymous with transportation and logistics for 37 years, but the CEO Nuno Rangel, the new generation at the helm, wants more, much more. The strategy for diversifying the business is well defined, and in full execution, and the numbers are on the tip of the tongue: the group has an investment of 5.5 million euros in the pipeline until the end of 2018, after having already invested 10 million euros between 2014 and 2017. "We ended last year with 158 million euros in turnover, we have 23,000 customers, we manage a logistics area of 263,000 square metres and we completed 2.6 million transports", summarises the CEO in an interview with Dinheiro Vivo. 

The heaviest focus will be in the new area of e-commerce and specialised transport of medicines, but internationalisation to a new market "in two or three years” is also in the group’s sights, following the investment in Cape Verde, which became the fifth country where Rangel operates, in addition to Portugal, Brazil, Angola and Mozambique.

Namibia, South Africa, Morocco, Colombia and Peru are at the forefront. "We are studying these countries for their regional logistics potential. We prefer emerging markets with potential for the future, because we like to create things from scratch and grow them”, said Nuno Rangel. 

Although not a big fan of balance sheets in the middle of the year, the CEO (who replaced his father Eduardo Rangel, now president and chairman of the group) states that growth to June 2017 "is already 7.5%, far above the expectations” to grow at a rate of 4.5% to a target of 165 million euros, after ending 2016 with 158 million euros in turnover. 

"Our business is a good barometer of the economy and exports are growing a lot this year. We still have the last quarter to come, which is always the best time for business. Let's see how the year will end,” states Nuno Rangel, explaining the company's strategy: "The way we have grown in the last few years has to do with the specific focus on our main customers sectors or specialisation in niche markets. The core transport and logistics activity are there, and it is always growing, but we always want more.” 

This willingness to want more gave birth to the group’s most recent "babies": Rangel Pharma, Rangel Wine, Rangel Fashion, and new e-commerce and critical shipments units (with more urgency or unusual specificity), not to mention the logistics area of works of art. "We want to be closer to our customers’ needs and focus on niche markets. Some sectors are so important that they deserve a separate unit,” he explains, promising that "you will hear about Rangel in e-commerce in 2018,” following the investment of 1.5 million euros. 

Following the launch of the Rangel Group e-commerce unit at the Web Summit in late 2016, this is a priority area for Nuno Rangel, who highlights the offer of "solutions to help companies enter the online world, from the technology platform to logistics, transportation, customer service and digital marketing.” "Portugal has a lot of evolving to do in e-commerce. 2018 will be the strong year for e-commerce,” he assures us. 

Another area with great growth potential is pharmaceutical logistics, in which the company has invested 2.5 million euros since 2009, with forecasts of a further 1.3 million euros in cold transport for pharmaceuticals, and 2 million euros next year in the second phase of expansion of the warehouse (100% automated), from 16,000 to 25,000 square metres. "We will not stop here," says Nuno Rangel, remembering: "We started from zero and by the end of 2016 we were already handling 100 million units of medicines." 

The CEO reinforces the desire to diversify the group's business, which operates to the entire world from five countries: "Transport and logistics are our daily routine. But we have to take a step further. We want to operate close to the different sectors and 2017 is the year of maturity for these more recent projects.” Rangel Wine is included in this context, with an investment of 2.7 million euros between 2015 and 2016, mostly following the start of operations to Brazil in 2013. The business opportunity arose with exports of Portuguese wines to the Brazilian market, which led to the creation of a customs warehouse in Montijo specifically for this sector. 

Rangel Fashion (textile and shoes logistics) was, according to Nuno Rangel, "the right investment at the right time”, taking into account the success of this industry worldwide. With a large turnover in this area, Rangel already transports cargo to 200 different countries. The three most recent destinations are the Fiji Islands, Iran and Kosovo. 

One of the company's objectives for 2018 is also to expand the vault area (currently occupying 1,000 square metres on two floors) which is currently dedicated to the logistics of works of art, or "white gloves logistics", as Nuno Rangel calls it. "We want to be an international benchmark in the transport and logistics of works of art”, says the CEO after having transported valuable works such as coaches to the new museum in Lisbon or the paintings of the Spanish painter Miró to the Serralves venue in Porto, among others. 

"The way we have grown in recent years has to do with investing in our main customers’ sectors or specialising in niche markets,” he explains. 

The company’s investment in terms of infrastructures, which increase as the different businesses grow, has also been heavy in recent years, says the CEO. It includes the investment of 3.5 million euros in opening the business in Cape Verde, with two new facilities, to which a third will be added in 2017 following new investments in the country. Rangel also inaugurated a new platform of 15,000 square metres in Póvoa de Santa Iria, two new facilities at the Lisbon and Porto airports and another in Coimbra, of 2,500 square metres, as a platform in the Central Portugal region for pharmaceuticals, in addition to the expansion of the headquarters, which has 1,200 square metres of offices.