Owens Road Services returns to profit

Owens has returned to profit  after three consecutive years of losses, its latest financial results have revealed.

The Welsh firm posted a pre-tax profit of £706,782 for the year ended 30 June 2012, up from a loss of £12,562 at the end of the previous year. Its pre-tax profit margin also rose to 1.9%, while turn-over jumped 11.9% to £36.7m (2011: £32.8m).

2012 was the first year since 2009 that the firm posted a pre-tax profit, after seeing losses of £492,031, £163,017 and £12,562 at the end of 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively.

The firm saw a major improvement in fleet miles per gallon due to driver training and its vehicle replacement programme, which it began in 2011/12 financial year. Its fleet was replaced with contract hire vehicles, which has been continued into the 2012/13 financial year.

The directors said in a statement: “Despite the outlook for the economy remaining difficult, the directors [believe] the outlook for Owens is positive.

"Now that the company has returned to profitability, there are many avenues that the [business] will be exploring to ensure the long-term future of the Owens brand.”

Owens is part of the Partnerlink consortium, which last year expanded its coverage to and from the Continent.