Culina launches international division as it reshapes business following rebrand

The changes come as three of the group’s best-known legacy businesses – Eddie Stobart, Great Bear and Fowler Welch – have reported sharply weaker financial performances for 2025.

Culina International will bring together the group’s general haulage operations previously carried out by Stobart Europe in Belgium, Germany and Bulgaria, with IRF’s unaccompanied transport operations in the Netherlands and UK.

The new division will focus on transport and logistics between the UK and continental Europe, with the ambition of becoming a leading transport partner for customers moving goods across the Channel.

Stijn Gheyle (pictured right) has joined as MD of Culina International. He has held senior roles with ECS, 2XL, Unifeeder by P&O Ferries and DP World, with experience spanning European logistics, shipping and UK-European transport.

Culina has also appointed James Gray (below) as group business development director. Gray joins from GXO, where he spent more than 13 years and most recently served as head of development for the UK and Ireland.

His appointment marks the creation of a new group business development function, which will focus on strategic customer relationships, identifying opportunities in new sectors and increasing collaboration and cross-selling between Culina’s five specialist divisions.

The group said the function would bring together expertise from across the business to develop supply chain solutions for customers.

Meanwhile, Culina’s Finished Vehicle Logistics operation will become a dedicated standalone business under the continued leadership of Raf Hustinx, giving it a greater focus on customers in the automotive sector.

Deputy chief executive Fabian Koehler said the appointments and the launch of Culina International built on the momentum created by the group’s recent decision to bring its legacy businesses together under the Culina name.

“The launch of Culina as a single identity was a defining moment for our business,” he said. “It reflects our ambition to be a more connected organisation, bringing together the best of our heritage, expertise, and capabilities under one brand.

“Stijn’s and James’s appointments and the creation of Culina International build on that momentum.”

The rebrand, announced in October, is intended to simplify the group’s customer proposition and improve collaboration across its logistics operations. It brings businesses including Eddie Stobart, Great Bear and Fowler Welch under the Culina identity, while retaining five specialist divisions.

However, the latest changes come against a challenging financial backdrop for those established businesses.

Eddie Stobart reported a pre-tax loss of £24.9m for 2025, compared with a loss of £883,000 in 2024. Revenue fell by 2.4% to £543.4m, with the company citing lower volumes from existing customers, increased recharges from within the Culina group and higher fleet hire costs.

Great Bear also moved from profit into the red, reporting a £13.2m pre-tax loss against a £15.3m profit the previous year. Although revenue increased by 2.5% to £526.1m, the company cited lost contracts, lower volumes, underutilised warehouse capacity and rising personnel, property and energy costs.

Fowler Welch’s pre-tax profit more than halved, falling from £8m to £3.3m, despite a 3.6% increase in revenue to £191.1m. The temperature-controlled logistics operator said inflation and higher employment taxes had increased labour and warehouse costs.

All three businesses identified cost control, operational efficiency and improving the profitability of their networks as priorities. Their directors nevertheless described them as financially robust and expressed confidence in their ability to manage the prevailing market conditions.

Culina employs around 15,000 people and has said the move to a single identity will provide a platform for further investment, innovation and growth.