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B.R.S. Make £3.1m. Profit in Keen Competition
Page 48
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NETreceipts of British Road Services last year rOse by £1.2m. to NETreceipts of British Road Services last year rOse by £1.2m. to
£3.1m. This is revealed by the British Transport Commission's report and accounts for 1959, published yesterday. British Road Services, Ltd., made a net profit, after taxation, of £1,073,300, B.R.S.
(Contracts), Ltd., £371,222, B.R.S. (Parcels), Ltd., £734,217, and B.R.S. (Pickfords), Ltd., £795,503. B.R.S. (Meat Haulage), Ltd., alone made a loss of £105,840.
Gross receipts advanced by,£3.1rn., of which £1.3m. arose from the inclusion in 1959 of container services, whilst general haulage and contract vehicles mainly contributed the remainder. • General haulage tonnage handled rose by about 7i per cent., hut the average receipt per ton was a little lower than in 1958.
"Competition in the road haulage industry is now keener than at any time since 1948." says the report. "Receipts from parcels and smalls increased slightly, as did those from special traffics. The increase in parcels receipts is the more impressive in that the tariff rates have remained unaltered since May, 1957."
Working expenses rose by £1.9m. to £49.4m., mainly on account of container services. The higher level of traffic increased vehicle mileage from 291.1m. in 1958 to 296.1m. last year, but, even so, tyre costs were cut from £1.96m. to £1.82m. The inclusion of container services and increased general haulage business raised hire charges for vehicles and sub-contractors' charges from £1.66m. to £2.62m.
Loaded mileage rose by 2.3 per cent. and empty running was cut by 2.1 per cent.
Greater Tonnage
Tonnage carried advanced by 5.7 per cent. from 16.2m. to 17.1m. and "a greater measure of profitability was achieved." The number of loads carried to and from the Continent increased by 50 per cent. over the previous year's figure. Traffic on the Irish ferry expanded by about 20 per cent. Nearly 50,000 vehicles (some with trailers), independent trailers and containers not mounted on lorries were carried between Great Britain and the Continent and Northern Ireland by the B.R.S.-owned Atlantic Steam Navigation Co., Ltd.
Some £150,000 was spent by B.R.S., last year, on special vehicles and equipment to meet customers' particular needs. Vehicles included car transporters, bulk grain carriers and semi-trailers to haul exceptionally long steel girders and precast concrete items. B.R.S. (Contracts), Ltd., with more than 2,280 vehicles, expanded their business.
B.R.S. (Parcels), Ltd., handled 95.585m. items and reduced claims to 7.5 per 10,000 packages. Outside consultants were called in to assist research into parcels handling methods, the conclusions of which will be applied to the design of new depots. Seventy-seven per cent. of parcels traffic consigned for distances
of more than 250 miles is now trunked by rail.
At the end of the year B.R.S. had 15,911 motor vehicles and articulated units, of which 14,542 were available.
Divided into payload categories, the fleet comprised the following vehicles and articulated units: Up to 2 tons, 896; 2-4 tons, 2,709; 4-8 tons, 5,555; 8-12 tons, 3,019; over 12 tons, 3,732.