Essex-based haulier Simarco increased its workforce by a fifth last year, ahead of its aquistion of freight forwarder IFB in April.

The increase brings the total number of staff employed directly by Simarco up to 130 having recruited employees at three of its five sites – Manchester, Barton and Witham – in the last year.

Chairman Simon Reed said: “Ours has not been a policy of taking people on for the sake of it. We have been very targeted and added individuals to make a specific difference in specific areas of our operations.

“We have not just invested to increase staff numbers but invested in the development of those staff to make sure that we only enhance our reputation for providing excellent service and advance their careers with us,” he added.

Earlier this year Simarco acquired fellow freight forwarder IFB, which it runs as a separate business. Combining both entities gives Simarco a total number of 200 employees.

At the same time it also revealed that its turnover rose by 10.5% to £26.5m in its most recent financial year.

Reed said: ““Given our performance over the last year and the forward momentum which we take into the rest of 2014, I believe that we may be increasing our number of employees still further in order to give clients not just volume but valued specialist service.”

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