Next month we should expect to see full financial year results from Fowler-Welch parent company Dart Group. The only hint of the performance at Dart's logistics arm came on 19 April when it said: "The business remains well placed for profitable growth." Even the date in July of its full-year results remain as enigmatic as that statement... but there are some clues.
The first is an easy one: on 22 November 2012 Dart said turnover for the six months ending 30 September 2012 rose 8% year-on-year to £80.3m (2011 H1: £74.2m).
Second is the two-part interview with MD Nick Hay, conducted in February by Motortransport.co.uk editor Steve Hobson (read part 1 here and part 2 here). Hay said of its chilled business: . “We increased capacity in Spalding and filled it, we increased capacity at Hilsea and will have filled that before the year end. We have had a couple of tough areas though. Our European business is slightly challenging and we lost one large contract there, and revenue has dropped in Kent – but in calendar year 2013 that will recover again.”
Third is a two year contract renewal with Mars and finally is the backing of a major customer like Asda, where Fowler Welch's ambient division won its primary carrier award for the second year running and the retailers' supply chain awards in March.
Since then things hyave been quiet but there is a lot of investor faith in Dart (and we know that comes with the caveat of the performance of Jet2.com as well).
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In fact, Dart is performing as well as the MT Tracker basket of shares.
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And market cap's remain strong too.
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