Abbey Logistics is targeting  £25m to £30m in additional turnover within the next five years, taking its annual turnover to approximately £60m - as well as improving its profit margin to 3.5%, Motortransport.co.uk can reveal. 

The five-year strategy will be launched in July, due to board’s confidence that its existing targets (set in 2010) will be reached during 2014 , 12 months ahead of schedule.

Speaking exclusively to Motortransport.co.uk, Steve Granite, MD at the Bootle, Merseyside business, said: “We are satisfied we are going to reach the turnover target this year, and shouldn’t be too far away on the profit if the year continues as it has started. So what we said was we could either continue the plan for another year and let things settle down, or do we feel confident enough to launch a new five-year plan and look for more growth. And the board agreed to the new plan.”

In its latest set of financial results for the year ended 30 June 2013, the tanker specialist generated turnover of £31.3m, up 13.2% from the previous year’s £27.7m. Pre-tax profit was also up 19.4% from £754,000 to £900,375 - representing a margin of 2.87% for the business.

Granite told Motortransport.co.uk that the company’s robust performance has been a combination of new contract wins and a focus on improving efficiencies, with the management team achieving a £300,000 cost-reduction target they were set for the financial year.

He added that 2014 has got off to a flying start for Abbey, with a £1m new tanker contract kicking off on 1 January, as well as a new palletised deal due to be announced in the next few months. Granite also hinted that acquisitions later this year might not be ruled out, but that organic growth is the priority for the first part of the year, with the company exploring options to diversify into new areas.

"We've got a few irons in the fire at the moment," he said. "We were looking at some potential acquisitions, but to be fair we’ve got that much organic growth coming through in the first quarter of this year, that we’ve put these on the back-burner for now. It’s part of our five-year plan though if organic growth isn’t coming through enough, we will look outside."

To support its growth plans, the company expects to take delivery of between 50 and 60 new vehicles in 2014  and is currently conducting a head-to-head manufacturer trial of Euro-6 trucks before committing to any purchases.

• To read the full Top 100 for 2013 go to motortransport.co.uk/top100

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