• Transport giant NFC is to axe its loss-making carrier SPD with the possible loss of hundreds of jobs.
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SPD's Woking depot will shut this month, but its 96 employees are to be offered jobs in other parts of the group. The Chelmsford, Spennyrnoor, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Exeter depots will be merged with sister company NFC Contract Distribution, but unless new business can be found for others at Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol they will close in April, except for part of the Bristol depot which is being transferred to Contract Distribution.
Distribution Group managers are in talks with the Transport and General Workers Union in a bid to keep job losses to a minimum.
Martyn Peflew, divisional sales and marketing director of Distribution Group, says SPD's performance has been "less than satisfactory". Its closure comes as the group runs up to a Stock Market flotation at the end of this month.
The carrier, which special ises in shared-user distribution, has been hit by the trend to dedicated deliveries and depots. Because much of its business is moving to dedicated contracts it makes sense to merge the operation with Contract Distribution, says Pellew.
SPD was bought by NFC from industrial group Unilever, but this move shows it has failed to make its mark. NFC Contract Distribution operates around 23 depots.