Many of the companies in the bottom half of the Top 100 have shown appreciable increases in turnover in their most recent results, but have often had difficulty in maintaining profit levels - some have even dropped into the red. The crowded area at the very bottom of the Top 100 table - where turnover figures are around 10-15m, with employee numbers of 150 or more - sees a great deal of movement, and plenty of different approaches to business. Some firms are sticking with traditional haulage,
and making a good business of it (take Stan Robinson, for example), while others have diversified into broader logistics and specialist areas such as tankers or controlled-temperature work.
One operator which has taken the pain of transformation is Crewe-based Brit European Transport, which has moved from general haulage to specialist vehicle and carpet distribution. Consequently, it moved into a pre-tax loss in its last results, although turnover rose by 1.8% (keeping it at 85th place in the Top 100) and the management is optimistic about the results of the restructuring. Food consolidator Reed Boardall Transport also managed to grow its turnover by 7.4% to 24.4m, but saw a drop from a pre-tax profit of 278,000 to a loss of 357,000. The report gave increasing fuel costs as a reason, and concluded that "we believe the situation will continue to be increasingly difficult".
Knights of Old, the Northamptonshire firm which has made it to the shortlist for MT's Haulier of the
Year for the third year in a row (see p15), saw a 5% fall in pre-tax profit to 728,863 for the year to the end of May 2005. As a private firm, Knights does not publish turnover figures, but confirmed that turnover had "increased significantly". Based on its employee count of 173 in 2005, we can estimate its turnover at around 15m, putting it just into the Top 100. A similarly-sized firm is Kent-based Lenham Storage, which reported a 5% increase in turnover to the end of last August - to 14.7m - but managed to increase pre-tax profit by 71% to 986,899. That represents a profit margin of 6.7%, very healthy for the sector, and puts them closer to a firm place in the Top 100.
Oh, and just to put everything into proportion, take a look at UPS. Last month the US parcels and logistics giant posted revenues of $11.5bn (6.1bn), up by 16.5%, and net income of $975m (520m), up by 10.5%. Pretty impressive - and that's just for the first quarter of 2006.
One firm whose financial statements have become ever more complex is Innovate Logistics: founded as part of commercial property firm Innovate Holdings, the logistics arm - led by MD Pete Osborne - has grown strongly through increased turnover and acquisition. Last year it bought Phil Hanley, whose substantial haulage fleet complemented Innovate's primarily controlled-temperature storage facilities; together with strong organic growth, this is likely to have doubled Innovate Logistics' turnover of around 30m.
In March this year Innovate went further, buying Grampian Country Transport, the logistics and transport subsidiary of Innovate customer Grampian Country Food Group. At that point, Pete Osborne said: "The combined transport and logistics group will have a fleet of 250 tractor units, 300 trailers and an anticipated turnover this year in excess of 90m. This means that Innovate is well on the way to fulfilling its stated aim of being the market leader in the refrigerated transport storage and distribution industry."
The acquisition would certainly put Innovate into the top third of our Top 100, and close to Fowler Welch Coolchain. Just a few weeks later, Innovate entered into a joint venture with Icelandic shipping, aviation, refrigerated storage and transport firm Eimskip; this saw Eimskip initially take a 50% stake in Innovate Holdings, which subsequently became a controlling interest. It will be interesting to see how much further Innovate can go.
One firm which will not be appearing in the Top 100 again is Fiege Merlin Distribution Services, which had been at number 76 on the list (from a high point of number 48) with a turnover of 26m in 2004. After going into administration last October, Fiege Merlin was bought by Harrier Logistics - run by former Merlin owner Richard Morris - before finally crashing in February. Some of its contract home delivery business was transferred to NYK and Lane Group; as Lane MD Rebecca Jenkins said at the time: "It's a damn difficult part of logistics to get right."
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