Boughey photo

Boughey Distribution said it had a “positive” year in food distribution despite difficult conditions caused by supermarkets that are fighting for market share deflating prices.

Turnover at the division of NWF Group for the year-ending 31 May rose to £37.2m, up from £36.4m in 2014, while operating profit in the division increased by 25% to £2.5m, compared to £2m in 2014.

Last year it consolidated its operations into a single site at Wardle, Greater Manchester, meaning that it no longer has to carry out trunking journeys and cross-docking between Wardle and its former site at Deeside.

The group said that Wardle has remained full throughout the year and “the key to an improved performance” had been the more efficient use of labour and assets at a single site. Average storage at Wardle was 92,000 pallets, compared to 97,000 in 2014.

In March Boughey joined Palletline as it looked to expand its distribution services outside of ambient grocery at Wardle. NWF said that the Palletline operation was “working to plan and is being utilised by existing Boughey customers and others within Cheshire postcodes”.

Looking ahead the group said: “We continue to focus on optimal utilisation of the site in Wardle and have increased capacity to manage our customers' needs to carry more stock. We remain focused on continuing to provide excellent levels of customer service and support whilst ensuring we drive efficiencies in the business, which can further improve returns.”

Finally, NWF said it had been able to increase the driver numbers at Boughey in line with its requirements, despite widely reported shortages resulting from the introduction of the Driver CPC.

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