DSV Road saw turnover fall by £13.3m in 2015 after a “challenging year” that saw it lose a major customer.

The company’s annual results to 31 December 2015 published to Companies House, reveal that turnover fell to £174.1m (2014: £187.4m).

DSV said this was due, in part, to the collapse of papermaker Tullis Russell, one of its largest customers, in July last year.

However DSV Road, which is a subsidiary of Danish logistics giant DSV Group, saw a small increase in pre-tax profit from £10.2m to £10.8m in the period.

The company’s employee numbers fell in the period, down from 795 in 2014 to 755 in 2015.

The directors remained upbeat about the company’s prospects going forward, pledging to “grow at a rate exceeding the average market growth, through organic growth and acquisitions”.

Whilst acknowledging that the market will remain “very competitive for the foreseeable future” DSV Road said its ability to “adapt quickly to circumstances beyond its control” and to provide “high quality service at competitive prices” would help it gain new customers this year.

Speaking to Motortransport.co.uk, DSV Road MD Jesper Hansen said: “Tullis Russell was one of our biggest customers and we lost their business after they went into administration. That was something which unfortunately we couldn’t influence.”

Hansen said the fall in employee numbers in 2015 was largely due to the loss of Tullis Russell’s business. He said: “We had to restructure business activities related to that contract and so those people involved in that specific activity were affected.”

Hansen added that following the restructuring the business was “winning new contracts all the time”, adding that the company’s sales team is targeting “companies across a range of vertical markets.”

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