The Europa party truck on the road

Europa Worldwide Group has revealed its results for the year ending 31 December 2019, showing turnover increased from £176m to £205m and net profit before tax increased to £6m from £5.2m in 2018.

The business, which has just opened a £60m logistics facility in Corby, Northamptonshire, has also reported an increase in its net assets, which now stand at £12.9m compared to £8.4m in the preceding financial year.

Last year's investments included the acquisition of part of the assets of Menzies including its warehouse in Rushden, Northamptonshire and its PCI compliant contact centre based in Ashford, Kent, from its parent company, Menzies Distribution.

Other investments included £250,000 to refit its Birmingham site as part of a company-wide estate improvement and £2m in its Dartford transit warehouse to increase racking capacity by 75%.

The company has also made further developments to its bespoke IT system Leonardo which continues to expand and will eventually provide a fully harmonised system for every aspect of the business’s operations.

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Commented Europa Worldwide finance director Adam McBride: “The 2019 results are our best yet and show a really positive, solid year of growth for our business across all divisions. This has enabled us to continue investing throughout the business and across teams, which will allow us to continue this fantastic growth and meet any challenges head on.

“2019 saw us add two more sites to the group as well as increase the headcount to support the progression of the business, so we are happy with the figures."

Europa Worldwide Group MD Andrew Baxter added that he was pleased with the figures for last year, but his focus is on driving the business successfully through the impact of Covid-19: “The growth in 2019 was a result of the great team we have as well as our continued dedication to providing the best, most efficient services for our customers," he said. "This enabled us to win new business across the divisions and I am very proud of what we have achieved.”

Europa Worldwide Group has continued to operate all of its services, across all divisions, as normal throughout the pandemic with staff, where possible, working remotely. The company refused to add Covid-19 surcharges to its services or reduce any of its operations.

“From March onwards we, like every other business, were hit by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic but I believe we have weathered the worst of it pretty much intact, as well as opening our new Corby site on schedule which is a massive success," Baxter continued. "Our ongoing investment in technology has certainly paid dividends this year.

“I am really happy with the results from 2019. We anticipate that this year will be a different picture with limited or modest growth due to the pandemic, but we are highly optimistic for 2021 and march on towards our target of achieving £400m turnover.”