New business wins and acquistion help Knowles Logistics treble profit in 2023

The family firm, which has its headquarters at Wimblington March in Cambridgeshire, services the food, drink and food packaging sectors and operates more than two million sq ft of warehousing.

It offers contract logistics, full- and part-load transport, retailer consolidation, pallet network distribution, dedicated fleet management and contract packing.

Reporting its financial performance for the year to 31 December 2023, the company - which changed its name from Knowles Transport last year - reported turnover from transport related activities rising to £38.9m (2022: £36.3m).

In the same period, turnover from storage, warehouse and handling related activities leapt to £23.6m (2022: £13.2m).

Profit before tax for the year rose threefold to £3.8m (2022: £1.2m) and EBIDTA also surged to £8.2m (2022: £5.5m), which the company’s strategic report to the results said “highlighted the impact that increasing depreciation and amortisation charges has had on profits as a result of continued capital investment in the group”.

At the year end, net assets stood at £32.7m (2022: £30.2m). Cash and cash equivalents rose from £692,507 to £1.3m, which the report hailed as “positive” in the light of the acquisition of Masters Logistical Services in October 2022 and “significant” investment in the group during the year.

The report attributed the growth in both turnover and profitability to winning new customer contracts and expanding work with existing clients, adding that the acquisition of Masters Logistical Services “has continued to deliver synergistic benefits across the group, significantly enhancing financial performance”.

It added: “This positive trend lays a strong foundation for future growth and has been made possible by continued investment across the group’s warehousing and transport operations.”

Chief executive Alex Knowles, who is the third generation to run the family firm, which was founded in 1932, said he was pleased with the company’s performance in 2023 and its continued performance to date.

Speaking to MT, he commented: “We are seeing another year of continued growth, with turnover rising this year as well. Obviously, this is against a challenging backdrop of rising costs across the sector, but on the whole, it has been going well this year.

“We’ve had a few contract transport wins this year that have added to the top and bottom line, mainly in the food and drink sector. So I would say it’s looking positive.

“We’ve invested a lot of money into this business over the last four or five years through acquisition and through expanding the fleet, and that is starting to come through, and the money that is generated is continuously going back into the business, so we’re in a good position.”

Knowles said the company’s size gave it an advantage over competitors. “We’re neither too big nor too small. We can service our customers really well, and they don’t feel like they are just a number with us, as they might with larger companies,” he explained.

”We currently have around 650 staff. That’s 500 more than in 2018 when I took over this business. We have six depots and a fleet of around 150 trucks and 250 trailers.”

Knowles added that the company is also expanding its electric vehicle fleet. “We’re big on electric vehicles at the moment. We have four in the fleet - three Volvo FM and one Volvo FE - which we’re running across two customers, and we’re in talks with another customer to decarbonize one of their factory clearance operations,” he said.

“We are keen to carve niche operations with electric vehicles on certain operations. We’re working closely with Volvo and DAF on range simulations, and we have installed 150 kilowatt fast chargers at three of our depots.

“So we see scope in growing in that arena, particularly with large customers, in helping them to lower their Scope Three emissions,” he added.