MOTOR TRANSPORT TOP 100 2024 - Resilience is key

It has been quite a year for the road transport industry with GXO outbidding Ceva to take over Wincanton and the Barclay family divesting themselves of Yodel. Not only that, at the time of writing, Royal Mail is awaiting approval for its £3.6 billion takeover by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. 

In fact, a study by finance brokers Hilton Smith found that while the global M&A market was at a ten-year low in 2023 the UK logistics sector was a hive of activity with 81 deals reported – topping the previous record year of 2021.

This ties in with figures from the Department for Transport which show that the number of road freight transport enterprises fell by 4% between 2021 and 2022 to 55,733. 

The Hilton Smith study highlighted the fact that while margins are being squeezed, M&A is allowing companies to achieve economies of scale and generate cost savings. 

And the degree to which margins have been squeezed as UK economic growth faltered is all too evident from the Top 100. 

Overall, sales were up by an average of 3.5% among the Top 100, but some big players saw revenue fall back – including DHL, DPD, UPS and Wincanton. 

Return on capital employed was down from 7.4% to 4.8% as operating profit fell by 35% on average. Operating profit margin was down from 3.3% last year to 2.1% this year. 

Pre-tax profit, which includes non-trading items such as interest payments, was down by an average of 37%. 

These declines were driven by some big reverses: Yodel went from a £24m pre-tax profit to a £160m loss, while Wincanton went from a £38m profit to a £45m loss. Only six of the 15 biggest operators managed to increase pre-tax profit.

In general the smaller operators were more successful in maintaining profitability. 

The good news is that business confidence has been rising. The annual Logistics Confidence Index produced by Barclays and BDO, stands at 57.6, for 2024 up ten points on last year suggesting that operators believe that trading conditions are improving. Confidence is highest among temperature-controlled operators (64.9). It is also clear that confidence is higher among smaller operators – those with revenue of under £50m.

Companies have clearly been taking steps to respond to the headwinds they have faced, notably in reducing headcounts. The number of people employed by our Top 100 fell by some 1.2 per cent and, as a result, sales per employee rose by an average of 4.8 per cent. 

Most commentators are predicting modest economic growth over the next year, with growth accelerating the following year. After a tough year, all the signs are that the road transport industry will be well placed to take advantage.

The MT Top 100 explained

The rankings were finalised using information available as of 23rd October 2024. The data was compiled from accounts filed at Companies House. 

The table lists the company in regard to its official registered name at Companies House, which is not always the same at the company’s trading name. 

Turnover: As far as possible we have used figures generated solely or primarily from UK road transport and warehousing activities, unless otherwise stated below. 

Employees: predominantly those employed solely or primarily in the UK. 

Return on capital employed: calculated as Operating Profit / (Total Assets – Current Liabilities) expressed as a percentage. 

Profit growth: minus (-) signs have been changed so they always mean worse. 

For example, Royal Mail made a smaller loss in 2023 than in 2022. The calculation gives a growth figure of -14.7% (because the loss is smaller). But because the column is called “Profit Growth”, intuitively that seems wrong. Consequently, we have changed the sign to 14.7% to reflect the fact that it is actually better.

Abbey Logistics Group: was taken over by Sitra Invest NV in October 2023. As a result its latest results are for the six months to 31 December 2023. 

Advanced Supply Chain: figures reflect the performance of Advanced Supply Chain Group, excluding the results of its Advanced Forwarding international freight forwarding business. 

Arrow XL: Yodel Delivery Network and Arrow XL have been separated following the sale of Yodel by the Barclay family. Arrow XL’s accounting period is for the 18 months to 31 December 2022.

Ait Home Delivery UK: New name for Panther Warehousing. 

BCA Automotive: comprises Walon, Paragon Automotive Logistics and Sensible Automotive, which are all subsidiaries of BCA Marketplace.

Ceva: Ceva took over Gefco in 2022 and renamed it Ceva Ground Logistics. We have kept separate entries for the two companies this time because the figures for Ceva Ground Logistics are for 2022 – before the takeover. The impact of the takeover is shown in the table of subsidiaries. Ceva is a subsidiary of CMA CGM and consequently a sister company of CMA CGM Inland Services UK which also appears in the Top 100. 

Culina Group: comprises Culina Logistics, Eddie Stobart Logistics, Great Bear Distribution, Integrated Packing Services, Morgan McLernon, CML F&L (Telford), Fowler Welch, iForce, and Warrens Warehousing & Distribution (Midlands). 

DHL: comprises DHL Supply Chain, DHL International UK, and DHL Ecommerce UK (formerly DHL Parcel UK). Employees in DHL Supply Chain are employed through DHL Services. DHL’s freight forwarding business is excluded from our figures. Exel and Tradeteam have been removed from the figures as their roles have changed and they now hold and managed leased properties on behalf of DHL Supply Chain. 

DPD: comprises DPDgroup UK and DPDLocal (formerly Interlink Express). The pre-tax profit figure has been adjusted to reflect a dividend of £70,011,000 paid by DPDlocal to DPDgroup.

ECM Vehicle Delivery Services (Cold Fell Group): Became part of BCA Automotive in April 2023. We have kept it separate for this year’s Top 100 because its accounts relate to the period before it was taken over. Accounts are for the 15 months to 02/04/23.

EV Downton: 2021 figures have been restated. 

Evri: Hermes Parcelnet was been renamed Evri in May 2024. 

Gist: was acquired by Marks & Spencer in July 2022. 2023 figures are for 65 weeks to April. 

Gregory Trading Holdings: New name for main Gregory company. 

GXO Logistics: created when XPO spun off its contract logistics business in August 2021. GXO Logistics UK II is the new name for Clipper Logistics which became part of GXO in June 2022. 2022 figures are for 8 months. Wincanton was taken over by GXO in April 2024. It is shown separately in the main table, while the impact of the takeover is shown in the Subsidiaries table. 

H Sivyer Transport: Year end change. Latest figures are for 9 months to 31/12/23

Kinaxia: the main entry is for Kinaxia Ltd. We have included a separate table to show the figures for the constituent companies. The AKW Global Warehousing business has been renamed Kinaxia Logistics & Fulfilment.

Knowles Logistics: New name for Knowles Transport following acquisition of Masters Logistical Services in October 2022.

Kuehne+Nagel: for 2023, turnover is derived from its contract logistics business (as reported by Kuehne + Nagel Ltd). Turnover from its freight forwarding business is excluded to reflect the domestic road freight related contributions to the business. However, as K+N does not split the two divisions into legal entities, we were unable to break down pre-tax profit, capital employed and employee numbers in the same way. Therefore profit and employee figures include the international freight forwarding business. 

Lenham Storage: Comprises Lenham Storage and Lenham Storage Southern. 

McBurney: comprises McBurney Transport and Bondelivery Northern Ireland. The group became part of DFDS in 2023.

Oxalis Logistics UK: New name for Hoyer Gas & Petroleum Logistics. 

Pentalver: Comprises Pentalver Transport and Pentalver Cannock.

International Distribution Services: Parent company of Royal Mail. IDS only gives return on capital figures for the whole group, not just UK operations. Parcels accounted for £4.1bn of domestic revenue in the year to March 2024, while letters accounted for £3.7bn. GLS, the international parcels business, accounted for £4.9bn of revenue. 

XPO: comprises XPO Transport Solutions UK and XPO Bulk UK. We have excludes XPO Global Forwarding and XPO Maintenance UK to reflect turnover and profit derived from domestic road freight. 

Whistl: Whistl’s 2022 figures have been restated. 

Wincanton: see GXO.

Yodel: Yodel Delivery Network and Arrow XL have been separated following the sale of Yodel by the Barclay family. Yodel’s accounting period is for the 18 months to 31 December 2022. The RoCE figure has been ignored as it is based on a negative figure for capital employed.