After a year of consolidation for national supply chain
specialist Nightfreight, a three-year development plan for growth
is starting to pay dividends.
Progress made in 2010 through investment in vehicle telematics
and innovation is bolstering revenues for Willenhall, West Midlands
based Nightfreight, which is predicting pre-tax profits of
£2million for its year end November 2011, with turnover
expected to reach £123million.
Nightfreight's confidence in the future is underlined by the
expansion of its customer base this year, with forecasts for 2012
predicting pre-tax profits of £4.6million and revenues of
£130million.
Owned by parent company Penglais Investments Ltd, Nightfreight's
programme of consolidation and investment is reflected in latest
financial results posted for its year end 30 November 2010, with
pre-tax profits of £48,394.
Despite a difficult trading climate where existing customers
again shipped less volume, revenues were £117.8million in
line with company expectations.
The company's resulting growth this year reflects its strong
position in delivering excellent customer service, improving
operations and offering greater customer value.
Group finance director, Ian Horsfall said: "We're pleased to
announce after a year of restructure and investment, we are now
delivering growth over the next two years.
"Against a challenging economic climate, we have remained
focused on delivering a quality service and providing greater value
for customers.
"We've established a strong platform going forward as part of
our three-year strategic plan with repeat business, major new
client wins and operating more efficiently.
"In particular, we have seen significant demand for our
specialist Deliver2home and network solutions services, as well as
new business gains in the one-man parcel sector including Bosal UK,
Moore Large & Co Ltd and Fusion Provida.
"Equally, customers are taking advantage of our unique ability
to mix and match the combination of dedicated, shared and network
services we offer, delivering a more variable cost
proposition."
Progress throughout the year has seen the company - which
employs over 2000 staff across 53 operating sites nationwide and
1097 vehicles - gain new customers across all areas of the
business, with heightened service levels.
Underlining its success, the group has added several new account
wins including Spicers, Iforce and Carpetright plc to its wide
ranging UK customer base of both B2C and B2B business
customers.
Furthermore, Nightfreight has a record volume of repeat business
on its books with major dedicated logistics contracts being renewed
with Office Depot, Jungheinrich, Vacu-lug and Rapid Racking.
"In order to add value to our current and future customer base,
it is absolutely essential we continue to innovate and invest in
our operations and infrastructure. By implementing a programme of
investment in customer information technology and vehicle
telematics, we've continued to improve the quality of information
for customers whilst improving productivity by lowering fuel
consumption across the entire fleet, at the same time as reducing
accident damage.
"Future plans will see us create a model depot, from which all
operations will be modelled. This will be a blueprint of how we
expect all our depots to operate in future. We are also introducing
in-cab hand held devices across our entire one-man network.
"It is essential we praise our staff and drivers for their hard
work and continued support. Without them, our service levels would
not be at the exceptional level they are today.
"These are exciting times for the company, we've made huge steps
forward and we're firmly focused on the future and the next stage
of development," said Mr Horsfall.
Penglais Investments Ltd publishes its financial statements for
the year ended 30 November 2010 on Tuesday (30th August 2011).