Transport and distribution specialist Eddie Stobart is putting two Iveco ECOSTRALIS tractor units to the ultimate test within its extensive transport operation.

Stobart Group has revealed it is abandoning its plan to launch a savings bond.

In a statement to the City yesterday, the group said it had walked away from a plan revealed on 13 November that would have seen it launch a six-year retail bond with a fixed rate of 5.5% per year.

The closing date for bond applications - the issue of which was being managed by investment bank Canaccord Genuity - was today (27 November).

In a statement to the City yesterday afternoon the operator revealed it had abandoned its plan after several larger bond issuers launched products into the market at higher rates than Stobart could or was willing to match.

Stobart chief financial officer, Ben Whawell, said: "We will keep under review the possibility of issuing a retail bond in the future, as we see it as a potential attractive funding option, but only when we feel the cost of the bond to the company, its attractiveness to investors and its liquidity characteristics are in the right alignment."