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26th November 2009
Page 16
Page 16, 26th November 2009 — P TRADING FIGURES
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UK Mail reveals profit boost

By Joanna Bourke UK MAIL, formerly Business Post. says a series of cost-cutting measures implemented last year has moved the group into a good position to cope with dwindling sales while boosting profit.

For the six months up to 30 September, pre-tax profit at UK Mail rose by 18.6% to .£7m compared with 15.9m this time last year. Turnover fell 3.2% from £194.5m a year ago to £188.2m.

UK Mail chief executive Guy Buswell says the company began the six months in a strong position because cost savings of £1.2m were achieved over the preceding 12 months via three depot closures, a 5% cut in the fleet and 150 redundancies — most of which were office-based.

"We removed these costs, so when it came to handling lower volumes, we knew we would be able to cope," he tells CM.

During the six months to 30 September, the firm says it has implemented partial automation of its Birmingham hub. A £2m sorting machine went live in October and offers more space for loading. Buswell says this has improved vehicle utilisation, and in the remainder of the current financial year, UK Mail hopes to reduce road journeys by one million kilometres.

The only arm of the business to experience turnover growth was mail, which grew 5.6% to £84.6m. Sales in parcels fell 10.7% to £80m and pallets fell 5% to £23.6m.

Buswell says the growth in mail can be partly attributed to winning two big clients following strike action by staff at Royal Mail (CM 22 October).

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