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JUST CAN'T KICK IT
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Despite hanging up their haulage boots, the trio involved in Hanbury Group couldn't stay
away. Miles Brignall reports.
To paraphrase a famous quote you can take the man out of haulage. but you can't take haulage out of the man. It certainly seems to have been the case for the three shareholders of the Felixstowe-based Hanbury Group.
The group was set up by three ex-Russell Davies directors following that company's buyout by Securicor. Glyn Davies, Ian Wilson and Philip West had originally intended to have nothing more to do with the transport industry they had left behind, and had instead set up a property developing company and a truck retailing business. However "something came up" and today the three preside over a company that operates 480 trucks out of 13 UK sites. It is a major player in container movement, has a growing logistics business. and a brand that has steadily gained prominence in an already crowded marketplace.
Last year the company turned over £52m and recorded a pre-tax profit of £2.1m.
The figures are all the more impressive when you consider that the group's transport operation has only been up and running since 1999.
"We had built up a couple of very successful non-transport companies, but to be honest we found ourselves a tad bored," explains Hanbury's managing director Ian Wilson.
-We were doing some consultancy work in the transport field and an old contact came to us and asked our advice. One thing led to another, and before we knew it we were back in the business,he says in a typically understated way.
The interesting thing about this story, however, is the way in which the company entered the market place. Rather than simply buying a few trucks and applying for an Operator's Licence, the three elected to buy two large container hauliers who operated in excess of 260 trucks between them one of which was in financial difficulties, Goodway, and another, which had different, but equally serious, future problems, Loadwell.
"Having already built a business from scratch we knew that we didn't want to go through the pain and sweat of growing another business organically.When these two opportunities arose we immediately thought we could use our skills to merge the two operations into one profitable company."
Wilson says Goodway was in serious 1110 difficulties and was picked up for a nominal sum, while Loadwell, through no fault of its own, was about to lose the customer that provided 70% of its work. Once in control, the three partners set about putting in place systems more akin to a modern transport operation.
"It's been a bloody hard four years to get to the position we find ourselves in today. It's difficult taking on two sets of employees with two different ways of doing everything, with contrasting business cultures, but we have now instilled our own methods and it has paid off" After the initial two acquisitions — Goodway in November '99 and Loadwell in January 2000, Hanbury Davies then made two further acquisitions. It purchased the business of Newell & Wright Felixstowe in July 2001, adding a further 40 vehicles, and the Ipswich operation of DFDS in August 2002 which added a further 90 vehicles to the company.
The philosophy
Talk for a long time with Wilson, and you soon realise that he and his fellow directors have an interesting way of conducting business.
They have been very strong on cutting costs in the businesses but have not done so at the expense of the drivers. Wilson describes this industry as a "pennies business" and believes the secret to managing a successful transport operation is to measure and examine the performance of each individual truck.To that end each driver is given a fuel-saving target,and they get to keep half of any savings in fuel costs they can make.
"We've got some drivers heading towards a £2,000 a year fuel bonus — you add that up over 480 trucks and it equates to a lot of money," says Wilson. Adding to that, the firm has introduced a 52mph speed limit (see box) which also helps boost fuel economy.
The future
Wilson says his firm puts a great deal of effort into retaining its good drivers and is committed to making up the reduction in wages that HGV drivers suffered over the last 20 years in real terms. He also notes it has invested heavily in premises and is well placed for the future.
The three directors clearly get on well— they'd all been to the England football match together the night before we spoke — and Wilson says they share a common view of how things should be done.
Given that Hanbury has come so far in such a short time, you might expect the firm to be planning to continue that trend, but this is not necessarily the case.
Wilson says the container side of the business will not get very much bigger and says any future growth will come from the logistics and distribution division.
"We don't have a ten-year plan as such— we tend to view opportunities as and when they come along. We are certainly not looking to grow for its own sake, but we will be trying to improve the profit margin on the work we do perform.We currently operate on 3-5% range and I would like to see it higher in the future.
"I have a feeling that there is going to be a big shake-up in the next few years, as a lot of people are going to get out of the industry it will be interesting to see where it leaves those still left in the game."
Wilson says even if they do acquire another company he would only be looking to retain half of its business activities.
-Adding another 100 trucks to a business doesn't necessarily add the equivalent in profit the key is managing the resource to its optimum level with the best team of people including the driver" he says. •