Premier Logistics

A back-to-basics approach has helped Premier Logistics to successfully trade through its 18-month Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), the company has revealed.

The haulier said it is now ready to compete on a level footing after restructuring its finances in 2018 via a CVA in the face of a £5.7m shortfall to its creditors.

HMRC forced through a revision to the original terms, which would have meant the company making monthly contributions over five years.

However, Premier Logistics said this term was later reduced as part of a settlement accepted by creditors and HMRC and the CVA ended in February.

The Leicestershire company said it had concentrated on its core services, stripped back its assets, separated out non-profitable contracts and focused on “a core group of loyal customers".

Read more

It added that over the last 18 months, it was unable to tender for certain contracts but that now it had the agility to respond to commercial opportunities.

MD Lee Christopher said: “I’m proud to say that Premier Logistics has successfully traded through the CVA and is now in a much stronger position for the future.

“There’s been a lot of hard work to review the business, reduce our assets and cost base and become more efficient to build a strong foundation for the future.

“We’ve learnt that big isn’t always best and our strategy is to grow the business by targeting select work where a commitment to service excellence is a driving factor.”

Christopher added: “We’ve been at a huge disadvantage in the marketplace over the period of the CVA and many people had written the business off, but we’ve put in the hard work and now have an agile and responsive business with a strong foundation for the future.”

Gary Witter, head of logistics at customer Tom Chambers said: “We’ve worked closely with Lee and the team at Premier Logistics over the last 12 months and it’s encouraging to see how a focus on continual improvement has helped moved the company forward.”

Topics