CJE units

Premier Logistics is looking to boost its contract partnerships and palletised-freight customer base in 2016, and make further acquisitions.

Speaking ahead of the publication of its accounts for 2015 at Companies House, sales director Mark Steel told Motortransport.co.uk turnover had hit £20m last year, which would be a 25% increase on £15m for the year ending 31 December 2014.

Steel said last year’s acquisitions of Hull-based specialist haulier CJE Logistics in May (pictured above) and DA Clayton Transport in Oxford in October had contributed, as had a number of new logistics deals. The latter delivered an organic growth rate approaching 10%.

Following the deals, the Pall-Ex member is operating from four depots in Reading, Leicester, Hull and Oxford, and runs a fleet of 150 vehicles and 160 trailers. These include specialist vehicles for abnormal loads, flatbeds, Hiabs, Euroliners and Moffetts.

“The plan this year is to consolidate the business, making it more efficient by taking on more medium to high volume palletised group customers and long term, full-load contractual partnerships.

“We’ll also return to the acquisition trail, probably around the third quarter of 2016,” said Steel.

The company is taking a stand at Multimodal 2016 in May. “Attending Multimodal 2015 put us in a completely different arena that led to us working with companies such as Downton and Malcolm Group, so we’ll be attending again this year,” Steel said.

Premier is also working on tackling the driver shortage. This will likely see a “significant” pay increase, including bonuses and additional holidays, for staff. “It will cost the business a lot of money but we can’t grow without good quality, English-speaking drivers.

"This package will shake up the industry quite a bit,” he said.

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