New deals help deliver the goods for Stobart

The road transport and warehousing division of Stobart Group posted a 30 per cent rise in underlying pre-tax profits, to £33.6m, in the year to February 28.

Eddie Stobart, whose trucks are a common sight on Britain’s motorways and feature in a Channel 5 documentary, secured new chilled business with supermarket giant Tesco, as well as contracts with Irn-Bru owner AG Barr and Robinsons company Britvic.

But the wider group saw profits decline 11 per cent, to £29.5m, in the period as other divisions, including Stobart Rail and Stobart Ports, weighed on performance.

The group said its recent three-year reshuffle – which has seen the company broken up into five new operating divisions – would now start to deliver.

The group posted a 12 per cent rise in revenues, to £500.4m, in the year, after the haulage business saw an 18 per cent increase, to £449.9m.

The Tesco contract came after the supermarket giant opened a 500,000 sq ft chilled facility in Cheshire. Eddie Stobart has also benefited from continued volume growth with consumer goods group Unilever.

The growth came despite a one-off £1.8m hit from the disruption caused by the severe weather conditions in November and December last year.

Andrew Tinkler, Stobart Group chief executive, said: “These results are largely due to the ongoing strength of our transport and distribution business, significant new business wins and tight cost control.”

The group said the fly-on-the-wall documentary, Trucks and Trailers, which claimed to “lift the lid” on the world of the company, helped boost customers’ understanding of its services.

The group raised £115m to invest in new divisions.