Reed Boardall_ Sarah Roberts, FD, and Marcus Boardall, deputy chief exec

Reed Boardall Group saw pre-tax profit rise almost 60% last year despite “fierce competition” in the transport industry and rising fuel costs.

Reporting its latest annual results to 31 March 2018, the temperature controlled logistics firm revealed a 2.3% rise in total turnover to £61.6m (2017: £60.2m) and a profit hike of 59% to £1.4m (2017: £865,921). This represented a profit margin of 2.3% compared with 1.4% a year ago.

The group’s cold storage services division provided the lion’s share of the group’s turnover in the year at £43.5m (2017: £43.1m). In the same period Reed Boardall’s transport arm saw turnover grow by 5% to £17.6m (2017: £16.7m) with the group’s vehicle servicing division delivering a 2% uplift to £451,245.

Marcus Boardall, deputy chief executive, said: “Given the fierce competition within the transport industry, along with rising fuel costs, this remains a challenging sector. However, with our long-established customer relationships and strong reputation, we are proving resilient and recently invested in a further 30 bespoke, aerodynamic trailers to complement our 300-strong fleet.”

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Reed Boardall Group is based at Boroughbridge in Yorkshire. Sarah Roberts (pictured), the company's finance director, said operating from a single site gave the company an edge over its competitors.

“Our strong results are testament to the efficiency of our single site model, giving customers a truly integrated cold storage and transport service, and establishing us as the largest consolidator of frozen food in the UK.

“Over the last financial year, we have not only been able to improve utilisation of our 142,000 pallet capacity cold storage facility, but also to win additional business on the strength of the ancillary services we offer including blast freezing, picking and packing,” she added.

Image shows Marcus Boardall, deputy chief executive of The Reed Boardall Group, with finance director Sarah Roberts.