New data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveals that fewer transport & storage companies saw an increase in turnover in July than any other business sector except the arts.
Only 9% of transportation & storage firms, which includes logistics, parcels, haulage and warehousing firms, reported a rise in turnover in July, according to the latest ONS Business insights and impact on the UK economy survey.
In a report analysing the ONS survey, home delivery expert Parcelhero found that the number of transport & storage companies enjoying an increase in turnover was significantly lower than other comparable industry sectors.
For example, 19.4% of manufacturers and 20.1% of retailers reported increased turnover last month. Transport & storage’s 9% was the lowest number of firms reporting an increase of any sector except the arts’ bottom-of-the-barrel 5.2%.
David Jinks, Parcelhero’s head of consumer research, said: “Overall, an average of 16% of businesses across all industry sectors revealed that their turnover had risen in July over the previous month.
“The number of transport & storage companies reporting turnover growth clearly lagged far behind the majority of sectors and, in particular, their manufacturing and retail partners.
“However, this may only be a temporary dip. Countering July’s results, transport & storage companies are bullish about their revenue prospects for September. An impressive 20.4% of transport & storage firms expect to see an increase in their turnover next month, beating all other sectors except education and health/social work.
“Interestingly, this result reveals transport & storage firms are notably more optimistic about next month than their manufacturing and retail partners. 18% of retailers and just 13.1% of manufacturers expect their turnovers to increase in September.”
Jinks said further analysis of the data reveals an increasingly more positive picture for the transport & storage sector.
He explained: “Jumping back to July, the number of transport & storage companies reporting a decrease in turnover was 27.3%, only slightly worse than the average for all sectors of 24%. Interestingly, this was a better result than those of their manufacturing and retail partners.
“In all, 31% of manufacturers and 32.9% of retailers recorded a decrease in turnover.
“Looking forward to September, it’s a similar picture. Only 10% of transport & storage companies expect to see a decrease in turnover, compared to 15.2% of retailers and a rather worrying 18.6% of manufacturers.
“Finally, to complete the rollercoaster ride, there’s now another major concern for larger transport & storage companies.
“It’s currently a very aggressive market and, compared to any other sector, more transport & storage firms that employ 10 or more people say that competition is currently impacting their business.
“33.2% of transport & storage companies said competition is impacting their turnover as opposed to, for example, 30.3% of retailers and just 23.5% of manufacturers employing 10 people or more.”
