News

Leading UK haulage firm Eddie Stobart has revealed a sharp rise in both turnover and pre-tax profit prior to its merger with Westbury Property Group and subsequent stock market listing. The Carlisle-based firm saw turnover jump by 25% to £168.9m and pre-tax profit rise by a whopping 60% to £5.6m in the year ending February 2007. The company now intends to launch more rail services and develop its multi-modal operations.

It attributes the strong results to increased business within the  haulage division and "better fleet utilisation and other operational efficiencies". Chairman Andrew Tinkler says the firm has driven up its vehicle utilisation to 83% from 71% when he took over the company. He adds: "It's all about working with our customers to take the empty running out if you can reduce that, then you can share the cost savings with them."

Tinkler also heaps praise on the rail service it runs between Daventry and Grangemouth on behalf of Tesco. He reveals Stobart is looking to launch further rail services provided that it can get customer buy-in and persuade different clients to share the service, plus find suitable paths on the rail network. Tinkler says that the rail service saves five-million vehicle miles each year - the equivalent to Stobart's entire 1,000-vehicle fleet being parked up for 2.2 weeks.

In addition, the firm is still keen to develop further multi-modal operations resulting from its acquisition of O'Connor Group. It has applied for planning  permission for a 1,000,000ft2 warehouse at Widnes and is in consultation with the UK Ports Authority to develop the Port of Weston to allow access for feeder container ships.