1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188 
Blue-chip logistics companies report contract wins and rising profits
Page 22
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The past month has brought good news from major players suci as Business Post and Wncanton with strong finandal results and new contacts.
Business Post, the UK mail and parcel delivery company, says first-quarter trading was satisfactory and in line with the board's expectations, with parcels services continuing to make progress following the difficulties experienced in 2005.
Progress has also been made in improving the performance of its franchise network: two more loss-making franchises have been brought back into corporate ownership. Meanwhile the company's UK mail division has continued to demonstrate strong growth, handling 70 million mail items in June alone.
Within logistics, TDG was upbeat in its results for the first half of 2006. Although underlying prof its fell 20%, an improvement in performance is expected in the remainder of the year as new contracts begin to feed into the company's top-line.
While sales were flat at £253.7m, the company says its headline profit was affected by retail contract terminations in 2005 and the "phasing of new business implementations". Looking ahead, the company says business development has been encouraging: it predicts net contract wins for the full year will be significantly better than last year.
Indeed, recent UK contract announcements also seem to point to a healthy market environment for logistics companies. Wincanton extended its involvement with Argos by winning a contract to manage inbound container movements from the port of Felixstowe.
The three-year contract is based on the provision of container storage at the new Alconbury terminal. This is the first of its kind for Wincanton in the UK: it will incorporate specialist software which will enable stock to be accurately monitored while helping to control costs.
Christian Salvesen won a five-year contract with Inter Link Foods worth about NOm. The food manufacturer, based in Blackburn, makes a range of cakes for the retail own-label sector. It also produces Screen-branded fruitloaf products and is the UK's largest producer of mince pies, fairy cakes and decorated buns. The contract also involves transporting 1,000 pallets of raw materials directly to some of the Inter Link bakeries.
Coming on the back of a solid set of 2005 results, the reports over the past month have shown that companies in the logistics sector are continuing to remain positive over both the outlook for the industry and their own financial results.