TDG in Scottish tie up
Page 14
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Two Scottish Transport Development Group companies, Inter-City Transport and Connal Highland, are to merge in January.
The merger is effectively a takeover by Inter-City, with the new firm keeping the InterCity name and only chief executive David Thomson from Connal joining the board of the Cumbernauld-based company.
Inter-City runs more than 240 trucks, most of which are artics on trunking work and secondary distribution in Scot land. It turns over £18m and has depots in Manchester, Birmingham and Harpenden and contracts with Ford, Woolworth and Caledonian Paper.
Connal, which has bases in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness has about 100 trucks and its turnover is around £12m.
Inter-City made the move to gain "full coverage" in Scotland, especially in the areas where it does not have depots, such as the north, north-east and the islands, says the company's commercial director Wil ham Cochrane. He believes it will make Inter-City the biggest transport firm in Scotland. The two firms will formally come together on 1 January. Other TDG Scottish subsidiaries include Charles Alexander and Sutherlands.
Cochrane says the decision to merge was made several months ago by the two chief executives, although it had to be ratified by the main TAG board. Every TAG subsidiary is free to make its own commercial decisions.
He denies that economic pressures have pushed the two companies into the move. "It would be a brave company that said they were operating at full potential just now, but this has not been a forced decision," he says.
Connal's other director Neil Munro will become a manager with Inter-City. Connal will abandon operations at its Craigmont Street, Glasgow depot in January. In the meantime, it has applied for a continuation of its licence for 82 vehicles there.