Po JOINT VENTURES
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Culina's joint ventures boost capability and turnover
dominic.perryarbi.co.uk CLILINA LOGISTICS Group believes that two recent joint ventures (JVs) have boosted the company's capabilites, as well as increasing turnover by around i5rn in their first year.
The new operations are an Irish distribution business. Culina SHS (Ireland), which is a 50-50 JV with Cheltenham-based SHS Sales & Marketing, and co-packing division Culina IF'S, another 50-50 JV with Featherstone, West Yorks, firm IPS.
The Irish operation went live in February, with the co-packing business following a month later. Culina predicts revenue will reach £6m for Ireland and £4m from copacking in the first year. but expects substantial future growth.
Steve Winwood, commercial di rector for the group, says the decision to offer co-packing was based on customer requests.
As the big food manufacturers increasingly standardise products from factories, it is more costeffective for the logistics firm to do it at the point of stockholding rather than attempting to add retailerspecific packaging at the production site, he explains Culina felt it was better to bring in co-packing experts rather than attempting to do it itself. adds CEO Thomas van Mourik, as the capital investment and expertise required might have created a distraction for the logistics operation. The group's core focus remains Culina Logistics, which specialises in chilled and ambient shared user storage and distribution for food and drink manufacturers.
Thanks to the acquisition last year of Wincanton's chilled operation, it now boasts a £200iii turnover. with 2300 employees "As a result of that deal Wincanton has now exited the chilled arena for good," says van Mourik. "When I started the business, Wincanton was enemy number one, and it's taken 15 or 16 years to take them out.
As part of the deal. Wincanton took a 20% stake in Culina Logistics.