NFC set for shake-up
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by Guy Sheppard
• NFC is poised to withdraw from unprofitable contracts, sell some sites and cut more jobs following the appointment of Gerry Murphy as chief executive.
The transport and logistics group, which employs 24,000 people in the UK, suffered a 30% drop in pre-tax profits to £20.4m in the four months to January.
Finance director Trevor Larman says details of the redundancies will be announced in June; "I would not say that any particular operational business unit is in the firing line although various parts will be under the microscope," he says.
Rationalisation is likely to be "rather broader" in the controlled temperature business than was originally planned when German Frigoscandia was acquired last year, says Larman. This followed a marked increase in losses in the Logistics Europe division, from .E400,000 to £1.9m. Profits in the main UK transport and logistics division,
which includes Exel and MS, fell from £16.5m to £13.3m. But Lynx cut its operating losses to £1.5m from L2.6m with revenue up almost £3m at L25.7m.
NFC has already been scaling down its workforce for more than a year.
Murphy was appointed after a seven-month selection programme; he succeeds Peter Sherlock who resigned last August after a boardroom clash.
Murphy is currently head of the Irish food and agriculture group Greencore: he will join NFC in June.
E A strike by BRS Scotland drivers came a step closer last week as negotiations over pay broke down. Transport & General Workers Union Scottish transport secretary Jimmy Lock says the company has refused to
increase the self-financing 2.5% deal already rejected by the drivers.
Lock will call a delegates' meeting in next few weeks where possible strike action will be discussed.
Excel Logistics's managing director Robbie Burns previously told CM that "no-one wants a strike" but added there was "no extra money in the pot" and any deal would have to be selffinancing.