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Circle Express is looking at buying additional warehouse space near its Heathrow head office after "outgrowing" the current premises. The overnight air freight distribution firm points to industry growth for the surge in business. "The industry seems to be busy our customer base has improved and there is a lot more work from existing customers," MD Chris Coffey tells Motor Transport. His company's business in September was "remarkably up" compared with the previous year. The total amount of business  "in the catchment that would fit into what we do" is worth £100m. Current turnover is £25m, Coffey says. He is not looking to capitalise on European work that may come from pallet network PalletTrack, of which Circle Express is a member, for fear of becoming a competitor for customers. "We're sensitive to our customers and it's not an area we would sell," he says.

He describes Circle Express as a "very volume dependent" business which is run on an ad hoc basis with no contract agreements with clients. "We just respond to whatever comes through the door," he says. Other well-known firms in the same business are not regarded as competitors because they mainly deal with contracted work. "They don't do what we do." Responding to more direct competition, which Coffey says is mainly regional. "Nobody else has got a network they own and run." IT investment is "continuous" with web-based tracking available to customers "in the next few weeks", Coffey says. Circle Express is in discussion  with Vodafone to set up its own private network for internal and external calls in the next six months.

Expansion of the company's 300-strong fleet continues with 22 new Euro 4 Mercedes vehicles, the first of which were delivered on Friday. During the summer Circle Express took four Cartwright super-cube double-decker step-frame trailers, costing £50,000 each. It is looking to order more. Further developments at the company include the award of college status in August for ADR training. A dedicated courier director, a full-time HR manager and a six-strong board of directors have all been appointed in the past year.