1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140 
Joining forces
Page 14
Page 15
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Not many operators in the country specialise in inbound car parts and recycling services for local authorities, but Acumen Logistics Group does and has carved out a niche for itself.
Words: Christopher Walton! Images: Graham Richardson
THE STORY OF Acumen is one of two Johns (Hodges chairman and 100% shareholder, and Stocker, commercial director) and one Chris (Doughty, MD). Hodges purchased the business six years ago, in 2004, when car distribution giant Autologic decided to dispose of its parts distribution business.
Hodges merged the business with his own smaller operation (VAS) and needed to bring in a specialist in the automotive sector. Having spent 10 years working with John Stocker at Ryder in the late 80s and early 90s when Hodges was group MD, he approached his old friend Stocker to push the business forward.
Strength Stocker tells CM: -We put the two businesses together and put in a growth strategy for where we wanted to be. Clearly our strength was in automotive and we wanted to go through a process of growing those customers."
During Acumen's first year of operations under the ownership of Hodges. Stocker says its turnover stood at about £3.5m, with the company making a loss in the region of £150,000.
Now the company has a fleet of 37 car transporters, and manages the panEuropean inbound car parts for a variety of major automotive manufacturers. Stocker prefers to keep the names of customers in this sector close to his chest, but he does let slip that one client is London Taxis International, the maker of the iconic black cab that is now primarily based in China and imports to the UK.
It is no secret, however, that the car parts market has been tough in the past 18 months, and Stocker is quick to stress exactly how competitive the market has become: "We cannot compete in bring
ing parts in from eastern Europe with the people who employ eastern European drivers.
"But we do have partnerships with lots of European operators and can bring parts in from the likes of Slovenia and Roman i a.
"We heard of one company that was paying drivers from the Baltic States somewhere in the region of £6,000 per year. Factor in the cost of diesel and we cannot compete.
"We had to make a choice, either go to some form of driver agency or start to form partnerships, so we made the decision that there was lots of capacity in the European market and we could enter partnershipsWe use British trucks and British drivers, but at the end of the day we are still able to provide the service to our customers."
Acumen's other growth market is a world away from global supply chains and multi-national manufacturers. Born out of Hodges' VAS, which merged with Acumen as part of the disposal deal with Autologic, Acumen provides recycling collection services for local authorities in the UK. including borough councils in Newcastle-under-Lyme and St Helens.
High-Level investment
It is a business that requires a high level of investment — one specialist flat-load curbsider can cost £170,000 and all vehicles have to be tracked by satellite — but can be rewarded with long-term contracts. Last year Acumen renewed its contract with the local authority in Newcastle-under-Lyme for another seven years.
"Newcastle's recycling rates were as low as 19% before we took over the contract. We very quickly drove it up to 26% and, with a number of new services we have just launched, we have now pushed it up to 55% to one of the leading services in the UK," he explains.
Those new services include segmenting waste such as textiles and food, the
latter of which requires additional hygiene permits, But Stocker believes that the paperwork is worth it.
In recycling, our customers are now market leaders and we have worked with them through that. We have a lot of expertise in increasing recycling rates, which is a huge target for lots of local authorities because the government is putting pressure on them and they get penalties if they do not achieve certain targets to reduce landfill. Here we have a good story to tell."
Stocker is optimistic about using the reputation it has created in its core markets to push forward and expand in the second half. He says he anticipates Acumen will achieve a turnover of about 115m in 2010, despite revenues taking a dip in 2009.
Growing the business
While the firm's results for 2009 are still to be audited at Companies House Stocker reveals: "[Revenue] took a dip Iasi year but our projections for the calendar year [2010] are close to £15m. We have grown the business a lot and we have really stood by customers, and they have stood by us, during the recession. When times have been tough, they have looked for someone who can be a bit flexible."
For the year ending 31 December 2008 the company reported turnover of 1.10.9m and pre-tax profit of £659,836, however in September last year it bought Coventry-based Auto UK Logistics from its owner Malcolm Daffron for an undisclosed sum, in a deal that was expected to add Elm to turnover.
Acquisitive activity points to a business optimistic about the future, but with targets to hit and Lenders on the horizon, what is the Acumen approach to business?
-R really is about being a bit more flexible," Stocker says. "We can be costcompetitive and prove that we can do the job." In this day and age, that counts for an awful lot. •