Transport and logistics company Toll Holdings Ltd said yesterday that it has acquired the Asia-Pacific express air freight business of Qantas Airways Ltd and negotiations are underway too for the possible purchase of DPEX Group, also owned and operated by Qantas.

The Melbourne-based company said that the expansion moves were part of its sustained growth strategy in the region as it reported that its operating profit before interest and tax for the current half of the year should be a maximum of 10 percent equivalent to profits posted last year.

Toll Holdings made the profit forecast amidst the prevalence of soft trading conditions on its Australian business operations and current difficulties being faced by its New Zealand operations.

However, company managing director Paul Little is upbeat that the acquisition of DPEX, reputed to be the biggest independent express operation in Asia, would strengthen Toll's expansion and development plans in the Asian region.

He added that DPEX should be a crucial addition to the growth strategy of Toll Global Express (TGX) division and its Asia-Pacific operations, which has added Deltec, Skynet and Kwikmail to its business last year, possibly providing too scale and coverage of 19 countries where Toll maintains presence.

Mr Little said that that DPEX is expected to add more than $30 million in company revenues with accretive earnings per share within its first year of acquisition, adding that DPEX should complement the growth of TGX's Toll Priority international express network in the Asia-Pacific region.

At present, Toll Priority is the primary express satchels and documents business division of the Toll Group.

According to its latest trading report, Toll's non-express operations has been hurting lately due to lower customer volumes in both Australia and New Zealand but solid turnovers from Toll Global Logistics and Toll Global Resources businesses has been eclipsing the perceived losses, with its Toll Global Forwarding operation receiving more volumes due to the recent acquisitions.

Toll reported in August last year a net profit of $270 million from the 12 months leading to June 2009, as compared to the loss of $695 the company incurred in 2008.

The company said that it has allocated a budget of $1 billion last year for purchasing small competitors in its pursuit to expand Toll's global forwarding division in Asia.