Tibbett held back by Axial problems
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• Car industry problems continue to dog Tibbett & Britten with senior management forecasting a "quiet start to 1997 trading".
Axial Europe, Tibbett's mainland European car operations subsidiary, is now suffering "unpredictable" volumes and lower profit margins in France after a "volatile" 1996, says the group.
The warning that the distribution group's earnings growth could be held back by a depressed start to this year's trading came last week in its preliminary results for the year to 31 December 1996. Tibbett's difficulties with the French car market follow its earlier massive problems with its UK car storage, transportation and pre-delivery services division, Axial UK.
During 1996 Axial UK made a L1.6m operating profit on a £94.8m turnover. Management says this is "still unsatisfactory" but it was an improvement on the previous year's £9.8m loss, thanks to tighter management control and improved workforce co-operation.
Group turnover in 1996 was up 9.2% to 1713.2m, with pre-tax profit almost doubling to .£23.8m.