The cost of rolling-out and running Whistl’s end-to-end final mile delivery service had exceeded £10m by the end of 2014, newly published accounts reveal.
The service, which Whistl officially killed off earlier this month, saw costs associated with the network, in what was ultimately a failed bid to take on Royal Mail, balloon from £2.1m in 2013 to £10.3m last year.
Following financial backer LDC’s decision to withdraw support for the final mile venture in April – at that time operating in Liverpool, Manchester and London – Whistl took the decision to end the service. It initially suspended the service in May.
Furthermore, according to documents filed at Companies House, it also cost Whistl £3m to rebrand the business, after it was unable to use the name TNT Post when parent company Post NL split from TNT Express.
However, Whistl pointed to growth in its parcels and packets service, alongside its burgeoning logistics business as reasons behind its year-on-year turnover growth, which rose from £574.9m to £590.2m.
“The packets and parcels business had a challenging year but experienced continued growth and with new developments in this area planned for 2015 we forecast this trend to continue,” it said.
Despite this, and significantly reducing its deficit in 2014, the group remained in the red making a pre-tax loss of £3.7m compared with more than £8m a year earlier.
Whistl added that its logistics business was off to a “promising start” with a “good margin” and the acquisition of contracts from a number of well-known clients in the retail, food and packaging sectors.
