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North-South divide in East
Page 12
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The famous North-South divide doesn't just affect England as a whole
— it is alive and well in East Anglia too. Chris Tindall reports.
WATFORD GAP services is said to be on the front line of England's North-South divide. but it seems that East Anglia has a North-South disparity of its own when it comes to operators' profits and salaries.
Two reports, Norfolk Ltd and Suffolk Ltd, from financial consultancy Grant Thornton, measure the performance of leading owner-managed businesses in the East Anglian counties.
They reveal that turnover within the transport and motor retail sector in Norfolk has grown by 5% this year, compared with 12% in Suffolk.
In Norfolk, transport and motor retail employees' salaries have increased by more than 8% to an average of £23,707. Their counterparts in Suffolk have enjoyed only a 6% rise, but their average pay is £24,040.
However, average pay across all industries is £22,448 in Norfolk £2,500 more than the £19,934 average in its southern neighbour.
And when it comes to cash flow Norfolk transport bosses are being paid by customers almost twice as quickly as in Suffolk, with averages of 18 and 33 days respectively Dutch operator Frans Maas leads the transport sector in Norfolk; its operating profit has grown by 30%, despite a small reduction in turnover. Truck and trailer rental specialist Peter Colby Commercials has boosted its operating profit, up 50% to £4.4m despite a fall in sales.
In Suffolk, Turners (Soham) is the leading haulage business; the Grant Thornton report says it is "in a class of its own with profits approaching £15m". With 1.390 employees, it is also the sector's largest employer in the county.
Pre-tax profits as totals for all the industries in each county are also strikingly different. In Norfolk they are up 15.6% to £356m; in Suffolk they are down 20%, to £106m.