ARR Craib made a pre-tax profit of £2.5m in the 18 months prior to its acquisition of Highland Haulage, its latest accounts showed.

The Aberdeen headquartered company, with locations also in Cumbernauld, Stockton upon Tees and Great Yarmouth, also reported revenues of £79.4m during the period ending 28 September 2019.

The accounting period was extended by six months to align the haulier’s year end with that of parent company Gregory Distribution (Holdings).

ARR Craib’s business review stated that since the acquisition by Gregory in 2018, trading had been reviewed at the customer and contract level, which led to “a number of operational efficiencies.”

It said: “As a result, the business has shown an underlying improvement year on year in profit, margin and Ebitda.”

In November 2019, it acquired Glasgow and Inverness transport firm Highland Haulage, comprising assets with a value of £1.4m.

ARR Craib said: “This acquisition will further increase the group’s presence in Scotland, particularly in the Palletline pallet network, as well as complementing the ARR Craib business in Aberdeen, north east Scotland and Cumbernauld.”

The company listed cyber-attacks and volatility caused by Brexit as principal risks to the business and it added: “The availability of skilled drivers remains a risk to the sector as a whole, which may be exacerbated by Brexit.

“However, the impact on our business has been and will continue to be significantly reduced through our driver training programme, together with our recruitment and retention initiatives, and a significant increase in the number of apprenticeships offered by the business.”

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