Fowler Welch saw turnover increase during the first half of this year after taking over transport operations at Dairy Crest’s Nuneaton NDC in 2016.

According to parent company Dart Group’s interim results, the food distribution business saw turnover rise 4% to £83m in the six months to 30 September 2017 (2016: £80m), also helped by increased volumes at its Teynham and Heywood sites.

Operating profit only marginally increased to £2.4m from £2.3m during the same reporting period last year, which it said could be attributed to a lower contribution from its fruit ripening and packing operation.

Pre-tax profit, however, increased slightly from £1.9m to £2m.

The operator saw a 9% increase in fleet mileage to 23.9m during the six-month period. The number of tractor units in operation jumped from 440 to 499, and the number of trailers increased from  662 to 731.