fergusons

Ferguson Transport said a fall in revenue from handling goods in its warehouse division last year was more than compensated by additional storage charges and increased demand for capacity.

In its accounts for the year ending 30 September 2020, the Cramlington haulage and warehousing firm said that although trading was heavily impacted by Covid-19, the board regarded its profit after tax of £103,000 as “a very satisfactory result”.

Turnover fell by 10.5% to £19.9m and pre-tax profits slid by 9.6% to £185,000.

In its report, Ferguson said it had furloughed most of its operational staff for 13 weeks, with office staff working from home.

But by the end of June it began to return to normality, with customers resuming their previously suspended activities.

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“The haulage was particularly affected as this resulted in a number of our major customers closing down their operations and not requiring transport,” it said.

“Turnover from this area of the business dropped to £15,458,252, a fall of 14%.

“Business has gradually built back up since operations resumed at the end of the initial phase of the lockdown.”

However, it added that its warehousing activity was not affected in the same way and turnover here increased by 1.9% to £4.4m.

“Whilst the efficient management of the business’s working capital remains a priority, the board is confident that the company can manage its way through these challenging events,” it said.

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