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Mexican venture 'was justified'
Page 7
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Exclusive
FORMER TIBBETT & Britten executive chairman John Harvey has defended the firm's acquisition of Mexican logistics firm Dimalsa, even though it left T&B open Exel's takeover.
Until its acquisition in March 2002 Dimalsa was making a Dm annual profit, but the operation slipped into the red impacting heavily onT&Ws North American revenue in 2003. This prompted analysts to question the company's overall strategy — it was T&B 's first venture into Mexico.
But in an exclusive interview
with commercial Motor the former boss of T&B insists:"There's nothing wrong with the decision — the execution was rotten.We managed to turn a short-term profit [from Dimalsa] into a loss which was coincident with a couple of legacy issues out of the North American business and that led to a very, very bad performance.
"In 2003 we were corning off that base and I said the North America business would recover. It is recovering and Exel was smart enough to realise that."
Harvey says Exel had made previous overtures to buy T&B along with other major forwarding and logistics companies. "I felt strongly that Tibbett & Britten had an independent future business," he explains. "We'd shot ourselves in the foot with events, particularly in Mexico and North America last year. If we'd had another six months we would have been out of the woods.We were clearly vulnerable and Exel's timing was absolutely excellent."
Harvey pays tribute to the staff at T&B and says he's been overwhelmed by "all the letters and emails I've had from drivers to the chairmen of customers!"
• For the full Harvey interview turn to page 28-29.