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Fred Sherwood & Sons (Transport) saw pre-tax profit fall 18% last year with turnover also declining by 5% in the period.

Reporting its annual accounts for the year ended 31 March 2016, the company revealed that pre-tax profit had dropped to £1.3m (2015: £1.6m) while turnover had fallen to £36.7m on the previous year’s figure of £38.6m.

Despite the fall in pre-tax profit and turnover, the directors’ report remained upbeat, stating that the firm had “traded successfully” in the period and had continued to renew its fleet, spending £2.2m on new vehicles and trailers in the year.

“With this renewed fleet the company is in a strong position to operate successfully going forward, provide a good customer service and reduce emissions by using the latest technology,” it said.

The report said company revenue was expected to remain the same in the next financial year, and added that its strategy of looking at new options and contracts “had proved to be a successful approach as the profitability of the company had been maintained year-on-year and is expected to continue or improve”.

Fred Sherwood & Sons (Transport) incorporates Fred Sherwood (Shepshed), recycling transport firm Bulk Transport (Midlands), grain haulier George Varney (Bulk Services), aggregates firm Bulk Minerals,  and dry cargo transport firms Kwik Freight and KJ Transport.

It also includes storage division Sherwood Self Store, workshop Sherwood Commercial Vehicle Repair Centre, Junction 23 Lorry Park and vehicle livery and sign writing division Elliott Signs.

Results were mixed across the group of companies with Fred Sherwood (Shepshed) seeing annual profit rise to £1.3m (2015: £1m), KJ Transport’s  profit soar to £42,898 from a loss of £219,336 in 2015 and Sherwood Commercial Vehicle Repair Centre delivering a £34,228 profit following a loss of £26,637 in 2014.

However George Varney (Bulk Services) saw profit fall in the same period to £122,091 (2015: £209,103) with annual profits for Bulk Freight (Midlands) also falling to £131,266 (2015: £167,815).

Fred Sherwood & Sons (Transport) is part of the Fred Sherwood Group, which has three subsidiaries, Fred Sherwood & Sons (Trading) and Sherwood Property Developments, both of which are dormant, and Fred Sherwood & Sons (Transport).

The group reported annual profit of £3.4m to 31 March 2016 (2015: £3.1m) with turnover down £1m in the period to £60.2m. The directors’ report said the group had spent £6.3m on new “greener” vehicles across the group’s fleet.

The firm was unavailable for comment.

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