South Wales haulier John Raymond Transport suffered a drop in pre-tax profit of over 99.7% in the last financial year, accounts lodged at Companies House have shown.

Despite a 4.8% increase in turnover to £21.2m in the year to the end of September 2014 (2013: £20.2m), the company’s pre-tax profit fell from £56,532 to just £153.

The additional £1m of turnover generated during the year appears to have been completely eroded by a rise in the cost of sales, up from £18.9m to £19.9m. Staff costs rose from £6.26m to £6.84m, showed the accounts.

None of the firm’s directors were available for comment.

In their financial report for the year, the directors said the current economic climate “remains challenging” but added that the company was “well placed to embrace the challenges that lie ahead and maximise opportunities with existing and new customers as and when they occur”.

The drop in profitability is a shock after last year’s results, when the firm - which is a member of the Harlequin Logistics consortium and a Gold Fors member, and was also named Tesco’s Grocery and General Merchandise Haulier of the Year in mid-2014 – reported a 35% rise in pre-tax profit.

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