transport costs by using road transport as opposed to only
using rail transport.
The impact on the firm’s financial performance is also
significant when comparing the different modal scenarios
based on calculations using the SPM. Table 4 illustrates this
variance.
If only rail transport was used for all inbound transport
requirements, the firm’s profit margin in 2011 would not have
reduced to 8.55%, but would have been 9.56%. The return on
assets (ROA) in 2011 would have been 18.93%, as opposed
to 16.93% and this represents a much better utilisation of its
assets to generate sales.