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P FINANCIAL

18th February 2010
Page 8
Page 8, 18th February 2010 — P FINANCIAL
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Drinks haulier Cert Octavian toasts a healthy new year

joannahourkefarbi.co.uk DRINKS LOGISTICS firm Cert Octavian says it is back in the black just seven months into its current financial year, due to cost-cutting measures and new contract wins, following last year's pre-tax loss of £1.49m.

Speaking exclusively to CM, Cert Octavian managing director Anthony Finlayson-Green says: "I am pleased to say that seven months into [this] financial year, we have returned to profitability.

-1 would now go as far as to say, we have never had so many opportunities or potential in the history of the firm." The return to profit follows an improved position in the year to 30 June 2009: the company made a pretax loss of £1.5m in the period against a loss of £5.9m the year before.

During the same period, turnover fell 9% to £44.1m from £48.6m.

Profit continued to improve as a result of cutting overheads, says Finlayson-Green. During the period, staff headcount fell from 550 to 500. while new rates with promotional packaging operations were agreed. He continues: We looked at all services in the business to see where costs could be reduced, including transport.

"We have seen a lot of improvement to fuel efficiency by training drivers and consolidating more loads. We took out £750,000 from transportrelated bills." he adds.

However, while some overheads were cut, the firm continued to invest in sales and marketing to win new contracts.

Over the past six months, the company has won a £30m three-year contract renewal with Scottish & Newcastle for European, Middle Eastern and African distribution of Foster's lager. as well as deals with Rimon Wines and Brown Brothers.

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