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25% losing money
Page 8
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• More than a quarter of all hauliers in England and Wales are losing money, according to the latest figures from ICC Financial Surveys.
In the midlands and north, more than 30% of road haulage companies filing accounts at Companies House report an average pre-tax loss on sales.
The corresponding figure for London and the south is 23.89% of haulage companies.
The average pre-tax return on sales throughout the industry is just 1.62%.
Among those companies making a profit, the average pre-tax return on sales is 5.12%. The average loss is 7.82%.
Hauliers in London and the south enjoy slightly higher profit margins on average than their counterparts in the midlands and north. Average pretax returns in the south stand at 1.65%, compared with 1.59% in the north.
According to the latest Companies House figures, Sheldon-based haulier W R Ingram recorded a 69.4% return on sales in the year to June 1984, making it one of the top profit performers in the industry in terms of percentage return on sales.
During the year in question, the company made .230,000 profits on a turnover of 243,000, but that highly profitable performance was won at the cost of sharply reduced turnover, down from .2280,000 in 1982.
London-based General Transit Services enjoyed a 69% return on sales in the year to December 1984, but this was achieved on a 233,000 turnover, down from 243,000 the year before, when the company had a 37.3% return on sales.
One of the most spectacular tumrounds in business profitability was recorded by Market Drayton-based Newport Storage and Distribution, which made a 217,000 loss in the year to April 1984, but had turned this to a 223,000 profit (45.1% return on sales) in the year to April 1985.
There are all too many haulage companies showing a negative return on sales, but some of the more notable include animal feed specialist Clovers from Colchester, whose turnover fell by more than 22 million in 1985 (-89.8 return on sales), Flockton Plant Hire, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, which lost 2368,000 in the year to March 1985, giving it a —53.6% return on sales, and Middlesbrough-based Econofreight, which saw a —21.3% return on sales in the year to December 1985. These figures, are all contained within ICC's reports 'Road Hauliers London and South' and 'Road Hauliers Midlands and North'. The reports contain profit and turnover figures for all haulage companies in England and Wales registered in Companies house.
Of those companies listed in the reports, 30%. have failed to publish up-to-date figures on their financial status, so it is quite possible that profit margins within the industry as a wholeno ',wen slimmer.