Currie set for return to profit

Logistics group turns around fortunes after management buyout Currie set for a return to profit

By Carol Millett

Currie Solutions is set to move out of the red, three years after the loss-making firm was purchased in a management buyout.

The Dumfries-headquartered group operates a fleet of 140 trucks and 360 trailers and has 10 UK depots as well as sites in Europe.

It offers contract haulage, UK and Western Europe groupage services, warehousing, container import and export, and customs services.

Three years after its MBO, in January 2019, the company is forecasting a 51% rise in turnover this year to around £75m, and is preparing to post a profit – the first since 2015.

The company began its turnaround with a drive to recruit highcalibre executives. This saw former Geodis directors Kevin Huskie and Shaun Greig join as MD and commercial director respectively, followed by Christian Weber, a former Allport Cargo services director who is now MD of Currie European Transport BV.

Just weeks after the MBO, Currie Solutions also snapped up PS Ridgway of Dundee and Move-It Express of Livingston.

Self-driving tech prompts changes to Highway Code

The government has set out changes to the Highway Code to ensure the first self-driving cars, vans, trucks and buses are introduced safely on the UK’s roads.

The changes come as the government prepares to approve the launch of the first self-driving vehicles on Britain’s roads, possibly as early as this year.

The new rules follow a public consultation in which the majority of respondents were broadly supportive. The changes clarify drivers’ responsibilities in selfdriving vehicles, including when to take back control of a vehicle, such as when approaching a motorway exit.

The DfT said the technology could improve and level up transport, ease congestion, cut emissions and reduce collisions.

The plans also allow drivers to view non-driving-related content on built-in display screens while the self-driving vehicle is in control. However, this does not include using mobile phones.

New members join Pall-Ex

Two more hauliers have joined Pall-Ex.

Biggleswade-based AG & Sons Transport and Southamptonbased 4PL Links have both become shareholder members.

Launched in 1975, AG provides warehousing and storage and facilitates local, national and international palletised distribution.

Meanwhile, Southamptonbased company 4PLinks has joined the Pall-Ex and Fortec networks.

E-commerce Supply Chain, which trades as 4PLinks, was founded in 2017 and provides general and container haulage, customs clearance, warehousing and Amazon fulfilment. It has a fleet of 15 trucks and 20 trailers.

Winch & Co adds DTS to portfolio

Dedicated Transport Solutions (DTS), a Cramlington-based distribution company, has become the latest logistics business to be snapped up by private equity firm Winch & Co.

Following on from its purchase of Eclipse Distribution Solutions late last year, Winch & Co said the acquisition of DTS was part of its strategy of adding five logistics businesses to its portfolio.

Founder Nathan Winch said: “While these businesses are based in different parts of the country – DTS in the North East and Eclipse in the Midlands – they both operate nationally, and both have on-site warehousing facilities.

“DTS has plenty of potential, and for us it’s an exciting prospect. When we acquire a business, we do so to increase its profitability via investment and different ways of working.

“The previous owners built a solid business, and our job is to now drive it forward and take it to its next level.”

Bootcamps lead to higher wages for returning drivers

HGV drivers who left the industry are being urged to return and sign up to government-funded refresher courses and earn more money than they did before.

Business consortium Driver Academy Group said the skills bootcamps were “a gamechanger” and finally illustrated that lorry drivers were essential and vital workers.

The group, made up of Logistics UK, Manpower and training firm HGVC, said hundreds of spaces were available on the refresher training courses, but they were filling up fast. Interest in the bootcamps appears to be high, with the National Logistics Academy saying in January that they had got off to a “flying start”, with 5,374 expressions of interest in the first two weeks.

The 16-week training courses run until November and are funded by the Department for Education, with a target of bringing 11,000 HGV drivers into the industry.