SPD cost fan
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THE NATIONAL Freight Consortium paid £6m to buy SPD from Unilever but it has turned down a chance of expanding instantly in the United States.
NFC chairman Sir Peter Thompson revealed the SPD purchase price for the first time at last weekend's annual general meeting. Unilever will be paid in two annual instalments of E3m.
Unilever wanted the price to be kept secret, but NFC said its shareholders had to be informed.
SPD, which made a £1m loss last year, turned over £55m and has assets worth £23m. NFC is now endeavouring to make the company profitable again and is marketing its distribution services jointly with those of BRS.
The emphasis on turning round the losses of SPD and the NFC parcels companies deterred it from expanding its United States activities last month.
It considered buying a loss-making inter-state carrier based at San Diego, in California, but turned down the opportunity.
But it is still committed to expanding overseas and has set itself a target of obtaining a quarter of its revenue and profits from overseas activity within five years.
NFC expects to get £5m profit from overseas business this year.