Howard Tenens Logistics experienced mixed fortunes in 2022, boosting turnover by more than a quarter but being forced to close down its subsidiary Howard Tenens (West London), after it was hit by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In its latest annual results to 30 September 2022, the company saw its turnover rise almost 26% to £106.1m (2021: £84.4m) whilst pre-tax profit leapt to £5.7m, up from £3.6m in the previous year.

The Stroud-based haulier, which specialises in logistics, distribution and warehousing, said these results were achieved despite the economic turmoil created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its impact on inflation and supply chains.

However, in the same year the company was forced to close down its subsidiary Howard Tenens (West London), after it was hit by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in an 80% reduction in volume from two major customers.

The company was dissolved in September 2022, with Howard Tenens Logistics taking over its entire trade and assets and writing off the remaining investment value of £999,000.

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In its strategic report to the results, Howard Tenens Logistics said the period had seen “a healthy amount of organic growth in particularly within our transport division” driven by new business and expanding services to existing customers.

Cost of sales jumped to £72.3m, up from £55m the year before, which the haulier attributed partly to wage increases. It added that as a result its gross profit was hit by almost 3%, and pledged to make this a focus of the company this year.

The report said the haulier had also launched a “major consolidation” of some of its customer into one location in 2022, as part of a strategy to streamline its services and improve efficiencies. It added that this had driven additional costs into the business this year. “At the operating profit level we have seen a reduction of 9.5%,” the report revealed.

The haulier added that whilst it remains committed to continually updating its fleet it had experienced “continued supply delays”.

It added: “However the company does have capital commitments of over £5m in place to refresh the fleet as supply comes on line.”

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