TDG to slim further
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• Transport Development Group will continue to rationalise its operations this year by selling non-core activities.
Announcing a 7% decline in operating profits to £40.5m for the year to 31 December 1992, TDG chief executive Alan Cole says the group will continue to sell "businesses that don't fit in". But TDG will also buy profitable, well-managed storage and distribution operations with turnovers of £5-10m.
The doubling of pre-tax profits to £33.5m was due to the introduction of new accounting procedures. Turnover rose by £21m, to £565m.
One subsidiary currently for sale is Essex-based fuel and liquid storage outfit London and Coastal Oil Wharves. "It is not a business key to our future," says Cole. TDG's French business, which had a "dismal" year, is also being reviewed.
Translittoral will move away from the overcrowded generalhaulage market into niche sectors such as tanker transport, and its cost base will be further reduced. At the end of last year four of its sites were closed.
TDG subsidiaries that are doing well include Harris Distribution and Network, the shareduser operation. Cole describes Harris as the group's "Flagship" distributor.