Gabriel sells Interlink
Page 14
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• Richard Gabriel has sold Interlink Express, the franchised overnight courier service he founded with his mother 10 years ago, to the UK subsidiary of the Australian corporation Mayne Nickless for 250.5m. The new owner, which also operates Parceline, has promised that Interlink will be run as a separate, competing business.
Gabriel, as majority shareholder, is pleased with the sale: "I've always been open that everything is for sale, if the money is right," he says. "Nobody before Mayne Nickless has come along with the right numbers and with the right attitude to the company. I still have a legal and moral obligation to the franchisees."
Mayne Nickless retains Gabriel as managing director. "My involvement is on-going, by mutual agreement," he says. "Mainly I want to see Interlink through to taking advantage of the vastly expanded international services it can now offer through the Mayne Nickless network," says Gabriel. "There will be no merger with any other carrier. Interlink will still be in
competition with Parceline." Interlink has 149 franchisees in the UK and Ireland.
According to Gabriel, the £50.5m valuation resulted from Interlink's ability to make profits during a recession and confidence that its problems in Germany have been solved.
"We are the only UK parcels company to make a profit this year," says Gabriel. "The analysts predicted around 25m; we forecast 26.5m. In the event we
made £6.9m for the year to end
30 June. I think that showed Mayne Nickless the robustness of the business." Turnover was 251.4m (248.8m) with net assets standing at 2,10m.
Mayne Nickless has interests in transport, security and healthcare, with 43,000 employees in 17 countries. It operates under more than 60 trading names worldwide, including Security Express and Armaguard in the UK; Mayne Nickless Courier Systems in the US; Loomis Express and Express Airborne in Canada; Transportes Helguera in Spain; and Heijden Transport in the Netherlands. Pre-tax profits in 1990/91 totalled .282.6m on turnover of 21.3bn.
Mayne Nickless managing director Ian Webber says the acquisition of Interlink is a logical extension of the company's express freight operations in preparation for what he predicts will be an explosion in European parcels traffic.