Major revamp plans for NFC
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• The National Freight Consortium, the UK's largest transport operator, is to restructure its transport division over the next 18 months.
It is phasing out its five BRS regions and cutting an unspecified number of jobs.
BRS is to become a single national company with a new management structure. Car transporter firm BRS Automotive and tanker firm Tankfreight will merge with the new operation, which will be run from the BRS headquarters.
Lynx and Waste Management will continue as independent compainies within NFC.
BRS will have a centralised management structure although some regional presence will remain, It is not known if any of the 125 BRS depots will close; BRS managing director Steve Abel is expected to remain with the new company. As CM went to press BRS employees nationwide were being given details of their future. NFC chairman James Watson says the aim of the streamlining is to "make our approach to the marketplace sharper and more cost effective".
NFC chief executive Jack Mather says he hopes that most of the job cuts can be achieved by natural wastage. He believes the job losses will be less than the 1,800 that were shed over the past year.
The news comes as NFC reports a 16% fall in half-year pretax profits, from £40.5m to £33.9m when compared with the same period last year.
Watson says there is "no sign yet of an upturn in the UK economy", adding, "we are just bumping along at the bottom".
"There has been no growth in transport — the best we can say is it is not getting worse," says Mather.
The company is forecasting a full-year profit of £90-95m, which would lead to an employee dividend of £200. Profit in 1990 was £97.7m.
NFC's travel and removals arm, Pickfords, is beginning to benefit from increased holiday bookings and a slight improvement in house sales: property arm Hyperion has suffered from a "very distressed" market. But Logistics continues to grow with Exel acquiring Hellweg Tiefkuhl in Germany. More acquisitions are planned.