John Jempson and Son's profit up after sale of Palletforce shares

John Jempson and Son saw profit more than double in 2015 boosted by the sale of its Palletforce shares.

Palletforce was acquired by EmergeVest in a £30m deal last August, which saw the pallet network’s haulier members sell their shares as part of the change in ownership.

John Jempson's annual results to 31 December 2015 show pre-tax profit up to £679,475 in 2015 (2014: £300,261).

This was after an injection of £356,040 into the company’s coffers after it sold its Palletforce shares.

The company, which is headquartered in Rye in East Sussex, saw turnover rise to £12m in the same period (2014: £10.6m).

Reporting the company’s results at Companies House, MD Mark Chamberlain said the directors were “more than satisfied” with the company’s performance “given the difficult trading conditions under the current economic climate”.

He added that its “strong customer base” and its reputation had allowed the company to continue to grow in what remained a competitive market.

Explaining the rise in pre-tax profits for 2015, chairman Jonathan Jempson told Motortransport.co.uk: “That was mainly due to selling our Palletforce shares.

"We had been buying shares over the years and had accumulated more shares than the average Palletforce member, which was a good move. So when Palletforce was bought last year we sold them.”

Jempson said the windfall was welcome, adding that the market continued to be tough, exacerbated by the driver shortage.

“I think everyone is suffering from that and we can’t always take on work because of the shortage – which has its pluses and minuses, since prices do tend to get a bit firmer.”

Jempson called on the government to do more to ameliorate the driver shortage. He said: “We would all like to see more government help. We used to get more help from the government through the Road Transport Industry Training Board. We need something like that now.”