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7th September 1995
Page 7
Page 7, 7th September 1995 — COMMENT'
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

ALL THE EGGS IN ONE BASKET

According to popular legend "big fleas have smaller fleas upon their backs to bite them. And smaller fleas have smaller fleas, and so ad infinitum." Any mediumsize road haulier reading this week's lead story might well feel they're being bitten from both sides. Exel Logistics' joint venture with brewery giant Bass is just the latest conquest in NFC's predatory advances into the own-account sector which started when Tankfreight took over the original Texaco contract in the eighties. And it's probably no coincidence that what helped NFC win that work—a promise to cut costs and raise productivity from the existing workforce—should also feature in the Tradeteam deal. For Bass it's a matter of what constitutes its "core-business". With the arrival of Tradeteam that probably doesn't include hauling beer. No doubt city analysts are hoping deals like this, together with the current reorganisation within Exel, will ensure the "rapid recovery in the financial performance" of the company. Unfortunately the same observers in the Square Mile are warning industry that joint ventures such as Tradeteam will inevitably squeeze out smaller hauliers who have no chance of raising the kind of money-215.5mthat NFC put up in order to win Bass's distribution operation. Is this the future? Will the big get bigger while the small get smaller? And will those left in the middle either be bought out or blown out? i905-l95

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