Not your average Joe
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Following a management buy-out two years ago, Lewis Tankers has concentrated on working to its strengths by servicing niche markets
Words: Roger Brown / Images: Gabriel Szabo/Guzelian
TRUCKS OPERATED by East Yorkshire haulier Lewis Tankers have been a familiar site on the UK’s roads for almost 40 years. The fuel, chemicals and gas transport specialist, founded by Norman Lewis in 1973, was bought by global fuel storage giant Simon Storage from the family at the beginning of this century.
However, November 2009 saw the irm subjected to a management buyout (MBO) with David Brown as chairman; Stewart MacDonald, MD; and Andrew Nicholson, inance director.
At the company’s headquarters, a spacious depot two miles from the M62/ A19 interchange in Hensall, near Goole, Brown says: “It became clear that Lewis Tankers did not it the portfolio of Simon Storage’s parent company.
A good business
“Stewart (Macdonald), who joined Lewis Tankers as general manager in July 2007, instigated the MBO. We realised it was a good business with some excellent people, went down the venture capital route, and got a lot of help from Simon Storage to make sure the process was a success.
During the irst year of the new set-up, poor winter weather conditions affected operations in Scotland, the volcanic ash cloud hit its aviation fuels business and a major customer decided to realign its core leet. All this contributed to a pretax loss of £451,381 for the 12 months to December 2010, compared with a proit of £1.5m in 2009, while turnover remained static at £7.2m.
Brown says: “The irst year was very dificult, but we carried out a thorough review of the business, asking questions like: ‘are we serving the right areas of industry?’ We worked hard on improving management reporting systems to produce timely and accurate operational and inancial reporting in a simple format.
New clients
“The company has kept and won new business and we have brought in the right staff to help us grow. Our customer base is both strong and diverse and the forecast for the year is to deliver a substantial turnaround in operating proit.” Over the past 12 months, the irm has won new clients as well as extensions with existing customers.
This has included a bulk solvents distribution contract with chemical distributor Univar; a new transport agreement with the solvents division of Brenntag UK; and a three-year, £5m contract renewal with Stepan UK.
Brown, who has been MD of Tankfreight and Exel UK, as well as chairman of Suttons Group in his 35-year transport career says: “Our expertise and experience matches that of bigger names in the industry. We have the standards of a PLC, but not the restrictions.
“Because we make all the decisions we believe we can be more responsive, more lexible, and perhaps a little more imaginative in the transport solutions we can offer.” Lewis Tankers now employs more than 100 staff, including 84 drivers who operate from sites in Kingsbury, Ellesmere Port, Cadishead, Teeside, Stalybridge, Manchester, Newcastle, Grangemouth and Inverness in addition to its main depot in Hensall.
The business is divided into four roughly equal arms: the solvents network, general chemicals and gasses, road fuels and aviation. Clients include BP, Scottish Fuels, Gulf Aviation, Kuwait Petroleum, Sasol, Scotia Gas Networks, World Fuel Services, Univar, Brenntag and Stepan UK.
“We transport jet fuel to every regional airport such as Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool and Blackpool,” says Brown.
“Our drivers deliver liqueied natural gas to the Highlands, as part of our deal with Scotia Gas, and in general fuels, one of our biggest customers is Scottish Fuels at Grangemouth.” According to Brown, Lewis Tankers is eyeing up a potential acquisition in the south-east of England as part of its ambitious expansion plans. He says: “In terms of the issues facing us, the biggest is geography. We are strong in the north of England, the Midlands and Scotland, but we are on the fringes of the fuel market in the South East and South West. A regional acquisition is a real possibility, as long as it is a good it.”
Mixed fleet
The Lewis Tankers leet consists of 65 trucks and 81 tanks. It includes both shared user and dedicated equipment, often in customers’ own livery. The tractors are mostly MAN TGAs, but there are also a handful of DAFs.
The company uses eight compartment tankers from the likes of LAG and GRW, typically carrying up to 45,000 litres.
Says Brown: “The TGA cabs are a mix of owned and hire purchase. While we carry out the majority of maintenance in our own workshop at Hensall, the outbased equipment maintenance is largely outsourced, although we try to ensure we inspect all our equipment at least once a year ourselves.” Lewis Tankers has also beneitted from new computer software developed by whizzkid IT manager Gareth Braid. “The system helps us to avoid underutilisation of assets and gives our customers greater visibility,” says Brown. “Customers can access quality, live management information and can track vehicles on time.” With the wealth of experience and talent now in place throughout Lewis Tankers, CM has the impression this irm could be one to watch over the next few years.
Says Brown: “There is little point trying to compete with the Hoyers of this world; we want to seek out the niches and be a lexible friend to our customers. However, we also don’t want to be an average Joe – we need to punch our weight in this business. We believe there are still plenty of areas to grow in the sector, and we can promise that we will always do the job properly and add value for our customers.” ■
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