Palletways is the latest network to report increases in revenue and profits in a year ravaged by Covid-19, driver shortages and Brexit fallout.

The palletised goods service saw turnover increase by 14.8% to £220.8m in the year ending 30 June 2021. Pre-tax profit soared by 35.5% to £23.2m.

In a review of its business, the network said volumes had improved significantly during the trading period as the company recovered from the initial impact of the pandemic and restrictions were eased.

Palletways said it also benefited from a sector-wide uplift in market share of freight distribution. International volumes fell significantly as a consequence of Brexit, but it said that as it represented less than 0.5% of its total pallet volumes beforehand, it was “immaterial” in comparison to its core UK work and did not affect profits.

“The company has worked closely with its members to maintain and build pallet volumes across the network as they recovered from the impact of Covid-19,” Palletways said. “Operational flexibility helped to manage the impact of the Covid-19 test and trace system and balance the availability of drivers with service quality.

“As an essential service provider, distributing express, palletised freight across a variety of consumer markets, the directors do not consider Covid-19 to be a principal risk to the company.”

Previously, Palletforce, Palletline, Pallet-Track, TPN and Pall-Ex have all announced soaring volumes during the pandemic.

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