DSV Road saw both turnover and profit growth slow last year due to the rising costs of goods and services.

Reporting its latest financial results for the year to 31 December 2018, the company which specialises in freight forwarding, haulage and supply chain services, revealed a 1.5% rise in turnover to £196m (2017: £194m) compared with growth of 7.3% a year earlier.

Pre-tax profit was up 6.1% to £10.3m (2017: £9.8m) compared with a 21% leap in the same period a year earlier.

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DSV Road's key performance indicators, published in the annual results, showed sales growth had slowed from 7.3% in 2017 to 1.2% in 2018.

The business review to the results said the decrease in gross profit to £32.8m (2017: £33.2m) was “indicative of the increased pressure on the cost of key goods and services”, which it added was the subject of management focus.

The company, which employs 730 staff, has licences to operate up to 350 trucks and 314 trailers from depots at Harwich, Immingham, Chester-Le-Street, Manchester, Tamworth, Purfleet, Peterborough and Antrim in Northern Ireland. It said the market remained "very competitive and also increasingly volatile driven by the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the  final circumstances on the UK's exit from the European Union".

It added that the company's focus in 2019 would be preparing "any post-Brexit scenario". It will also continue to focus on driving organic growth through successful business relationships with existing and new customers.

The company declined to comment on the results.

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