News

Welch's Transport expects 2006 to be "an even tougher year" than 2005. Managing director Jim Welch tells Motor Transport that both turnover and profits will "possibly dip a little" in the face of "an increasingly competitive market driven by customer fortunes". "We're all out there knocking on the same doors," he adds. The predictions were made as the latest financial results for Welch's Transport for the year to December 31, 2005 reveal a drop of 38% in pre-tax profits to £152,937 from £245,489  in 2004.

But parent company Welch's Group Holdings has reported pre-tax profits of £509,639 for 2005, almost a non-mover from the £504,692 in 2004. Both the results for Welch's Transport and Welch's Group Holdings say the directors "consider the state of the company's affairs to be satisfactory". Welch tells MT that the latest results are "nothing to get excited about" but says that all assets are owned outright.

Gross profit at Welch's Transport, which specialises in haulage contracting, warehousing, crane hire and temporary driver hire, dipped by 3% to £1.89m in 2005 from £1.96m in 2004. Operating profit was sliced by more than one-third to £152,937 in 2005 from £245,489 in 2004. Staff costs, including directors' pay, hit £4.97m in 2005, a rise of 12% from £4.42m in 2004. But average staff numbers including directors were up by just 6% to 206 in 2005.

Welch says staff got a pay rise worth around 5% in 2005. The results for Welch's Group Holdings, which reports  the directors' pay, shows a drop in management remuneration, to £146,500 in 2005 from £261,461 in 2004. Welch's Transport paid a dividend of £1m in 2005. Turnover for Welch's Group Holdings, which includes a garage business, grew to £16.9m in 2005, from £16.5m in 2004. Welch tells MT that around £9m of the overall group turnover came from the transport business.