Wincanton has announced its half year results for the six months ended 30 September 2016.
Revenue for the six months decreased by 1.7% to £561.8m, primarily due to the cessation of certain contracts, including an exit from all closed book home shopping contracts in Pullman, which have been partly offset by revenue from prior year contract wins.
Wincanton’s operating profit increased by 19.2% to £26.1m, driven by the improvement in performance of the Pullman business and end of contract settlements.
Profit after tax improved by 55.8% from £10.4m to £16.2m.
The company announced that the re-organisation of Wincanton into Retail & Consumer and Industrial & Transport sectors has been completed.
Retail & Consumer reported revenues of £319.6m in the period, up by 4.8% on the £305.0m reported in the same period in 2015. The overall revenue increase in this segment was driven primarily by the impact of prior year contract wins and strong volume growth with Home & DIY business customers.
In the six-month period Wincanton concluded a number of renewals and extensions of services with key customers, such as Co-op and Sainsbury’s. New business wins included a four-year contract with grocery product company LDH (La Doria) and a five-year contract with Majestic Wine.
Industrial & Transport reported revenues of £242.2m in the period, down by 9.2% on the £266.8m reported in the corresponding period in 2015. The decrease in revenue is primarily due to the cessation of the closed book Pullman home shopping contracts, together with volume pressures in container transport operations and the insourcing of a construction logistics contract.
Adrian Colman, Wincanton’s CEO, commented, “During the period we successfully renewed contracts with two of our largest customers, which were further supported by new contracts in Retail & Consumer, whilst at the same time extending our capabilities in the construction market by becoming the first 3PL provider to enter the ready-mixed concrete logistics market”.
He continued, “We have seen no significant change to trading volumes since the date of the EU referendum however we will ensure we are prepared to meet any challenges that our end customer markets experience over the coming period as the United Kingdom works through its exit from the EU”.
Source: Wincanton
