GB Express calls in the receivers
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by Sally Nash • GB Express has become the industry's first major casualty of the new year, calling in the receivers just weeks after pledging to "overtake Norbert Dentressangle by the end of the century".
Joint administrative receivers Peter Rilett and Richard Hill from accountancy firm KPMG were called in to GB Express's Bournemouth headquarters on Christmas Eve following a "significant trading loss on the shipment of whole trailer loads to France".
GB Express, which employs 600 staff, was continuing to trade as CM went to press. Negotiations to buy the company were underway with firms from the UK and abroad and Rilett is confident a deal will be completed within a few days. Failure to find a buyer could leave hundreds subcontractors facing crippling losses.
Speculation about a management buyout was quashed by KPMG, which has not received an offer from the directors.
Jeff Duval, who set up the company and remains its largest shareholder, talked enthusiastically of the company's bright future in a recent edition of CM'S sister magazine Truck.
"1 January is the beginning of a renaissance." He added that he had his sights on trebling or quadrupling the company's turnover of more than £90m within a few years.
GB Express has four divisions, specialising in full trailer loads; groupage; forwarding; and rail.
It has depots in Coventry, Harwich, Poole, Portsmouth, Newport, Ebbw Vale, Lichfield and Londonderry.
Last year a new chief executive and a new finance director were appointed as part of a restructuring plan.
• With a strong customer base in the automotive and chemical sectors and a focus on continental work GB Express could be an attractive prospect for a number of companies.
P&O is understood to be the front runner and another possible buyer is fellow cross-Channel operator Norbert Dentressangle, which has been on an acquisition trail recently and makes no secret of plans to boost its groupage business. Other UK distribution firms could also gain valuable international work from snapping up GB Express: NEC has said that it would be interested in acquiring a freight forwarding business to complement its activities.