“Until two or three years ago I thought the diversity
Page 14
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
was definitely a good thing, but in 2008 the bottom dropped out of everything”
Part of the dificulty was that the group had just two active directors (Jim and brother Tony), so their expertise was spread pretty thinly when every section of the business needed constant attention.
It helped that Welch is a trained accountant, but it was still hard work, with a great deal of pain involved. The group lost 25% of its turnover, 25% of its staff and 25% of its leet during this dark period.
Fortunately, things started to improve. The £463,817 pre-tax loss of 2009 was cut to £127,137 in 2010 and Welch expects to return proit this year, albeit a modest one.
Welch’s Transport now operates in ive different areas: contract distribution (Paperchase is a big customer); pallets via Palletline; general haulage; specialist plant hire (including massive 12-tonne forklifts); and hazardous cargo.
About the only areas it doesn’t normally work in are containers and reef ers, so as with the group as a whole, it has a diversity that helps it survive as the conditions have changed.
Handing it on
In the context of the recent gloom surrounding many UK hauliers, Welch always has in mind that the irm will be handed on to the next generation of the family when he and Tony retire. Between them, the two brothers have seven children. As Welch puts it: “One or two of them might want to get involved.” He believes it is good for family members who do join the irm to work for somebody else irst. Jim was an account
ant for publisher Reed International before he took the plunge with Welch Group in the late 1980s. At the time, Reed owned Commercial Motor, although Welch was more involved with the newspaper publications.
However, Welch admits that encouraging other family members to do the same is not without its downside.
He says: “It is good to send them out to work for someone else, but you have to accept that there is the danger you won’t get them back again.” None of which alters Welch’s fundamental desire and expectation that the irm will be passed down to the fourth generation.
The future might not yet be glowing for Welch Group, but it is rather rosier than it was. Apart from the expectations of a return to a small proit, Welch has started replacing its leet again. One or two contract wins, notably from tiling and looring adhesives manufacturer Ardex, have helped make the recovery stick. You could make a reasonable bet that in another 77 years Welch Group will still be about, perhaps with Jim’s grandson at the helm. ■