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Brexit has boosted profits for Xpediator in the first five months of this year, the group has announced, ahead of its AGM today (8 June).

In a trading statement, the freight management specialist said revenues were boosted by the service it offers to operators, helping them navigate new paperwork created by additional customs control processes.

This offset the fall the group saw in cross channel freight forwarding volumes, following the UK’s exit from the European Union in January this year, which saw some of Expediator’s clients finding alternative sourcing arrangements outside the UK.

Xpediator has been acting as a post-Brexit customs clearance representative, ensuring declarations are completed correctly and are compliant.

The company saw strong demand in the first five months of 2021 across all three divisions, adding that it expects to exceed market forecasts in the year to 31 December 2021.

It added that parts of the transport and logistics and warehousing divisions, that had been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, are now all trading positively.

However the Group's fashion logistics business, which came under significant pressure as a result of Covid-19, has been forced to reposition itself to focus on the luxury end of the fashion market.

The report added: “A strong sales pipeline, including some of the world's best known fashion brands, indicate this business is moving in the right direction, although this is subject to the continued re-opening of the UK high street.”

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The group also took the opportunity to announce ahead of the AGM, the completion of a new purpose-built 200,000 square foot facility at Southampton's Container Port, as part of its focus on port centric warehousing and logistics in the UK.

Expediator’s European freight forwarding and logistics division has continued to perform strongly, alongside Affinity Transport Services, with both delivering like-for-like sales increases, the report said.

The Pall-Ex business in Romania has performed particularly well with a record number of pallets handled during Q121, the group added.

Its program to rebrand and integrate in key areas has also made good progress with the UK business now largely operating under the Delamode International Logistics brand and all other group businesses looking to incorporate this brand within their trading names.

Xpediator’s divisions are also “well advanced” in bringing together their operating companies under single IT and single finance platforms.

Robert Ross, chief executive of Xpediator, said: "We believe the actions we are taking across the business are bringing the group closer together, resulting in individual teams working together better and utilising a more efficient and scalable base, all of which support our objective of becoming a leading international freight management and logistics provider.

“While the majority of the group's profit is earned in the second half of the financial year, we have made a strong start to 2021 which positions us well for the full year and beyond."

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