Turners daf_FTP

Turners (Soham)’s decision to expand its container haulage interests with the purchases of Macintyre Transport and Goldstar Transport last year has seen significant increases in turnover and profit at the acquisitive operator.

Now reporting to Com- panies House as Turners (Soham) Group of Companies, pre-tax profit rose to £28.26m (from £24.8m in the previous year) for the period ending 31 December 2016, with turnover up 27% to £313.8m (£247m).

It also revealed annualised turnover in its container division stood at approximately £150m. Turners acquired Macintyre Transport in January 2016, while it completed its acquisition of Goldstar Transport (right) in September 2016.

It reported turnover growth of 214% from £27m to £85m for the division during the financial year.

At the time of the acquisition, Turners MD Paul Day said: “Container haulage was a high-volume space and it was about who can operate vehicles in the most efficient way. That’s something Turners is good at.”

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Breaking down the business by division, turnover increased by £2m in its temperature controlled arm to £111m; by £6m in its tanker sector, to £82m; and by £1m in its general haulage division, to £36m.

Turners is not shy of acquisitions, having purchased chilled specialist Browns Distribution in 2012 and Lewis Tankers in 2013.

It has bounced back from the loss of its Greenergy contract in 2013, which saw the energy company take the delivery of fuel to supermarket group Sainsbury’s in-house. Day described the loss as being of “some worth”.

It employs 3,365 staff and runs 1,777 trucks compared with 2,459 staff and 1,203 trucks in the year ending
2 January 2016.

However, Turners’ filings warned that the economic climate remained challenging and there were limited opportunities for organic growth. “The ongoing need to control costs and increase efficiency continues,” it added.

Day was unavailable for comment as MT went to press.

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