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Linkline begins £15m warehousing expansion Linkline Transport has opened a purpose-built warehouse facility in Wellingborough as part of a £15m expansion programme. The Fortec member has also revealed plans to open a further two Linkline depots in Manchester and London Gateway in the next two years. The new hub includes 137,000sq ft of warehouse and distribution space and provides the company with a third UK location, taking overall capacity to 240,000sq ft.
It will be serviced by two new SDC Freespan curtainsiders supplied by Hertfordshire-based rental firm Trailer Resources (TRL), increasing daily operations across the UK and into Europe. The trailers are built as a ‘special’ in line with the celebration of the new site and specified by TRL according to Linkline’s requirements. Pictured are Trailer Resources sales director Ryan Jones (left), and James Bowes, commercial director at Linkline Transport.
Mounting losses prompt new owner to call time on Cardiff-based haulier, putting 400 jobs at risk
Covid-19 downs Rhys Davies By Carol Millett
Just over a year after being bought by Cathay Investments, Cardiff haulier Rhys Davies has gone under after accruing “unsustainable losses” during the Covid-19 pandemic. Ian Vickers and Philip Harris, partners at business advisory firm FRP, were appointed joint administrators to the company on 8 December. In a statement, the auditors said Rhys Davies, which was founded in 1952, “had been acquired by Cathay Group after a long period of losses and despite significant investment from its owners since acquisition, the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in significant and unsustainable losses of revenue. “The administration does not impact any of the other businesses in the Cathay Group.” The statement added that “a number” of staff members will be made redundant with the remaining employees staying on to assist with the wind-down. The administrators added that they are open to considering “serious” offers from interested parties looking to acquire the business
After being hit by the loss of two major contracts in 2017 and suffering serious operational disruption during the ‘Beast from the East’ storms in March 2018, the business reported losses of £8m in the 18-month period to 28 February 2019, on turnover of £55.3m. In October 2019 Rhys Davies was bought by Cathay Investments for an undisclosed sum, as part of the Croydon-based investment firm’s strategy to expand into the UK logistics sector.
and assets of the company. They are also working with their agents to arrange for customers’ goods to be returned to them Steve Baluchi of FRP said: “The impact of the pandemic has resulted in unsustainable losses for the company and left the directors with no option but to place it into administration. “We will now be focused on the orderly wind-down of the business and returning customers’ goods
to them as quickly as possible. “We are also working with staff to support them and help make any claims to the Redundancy Payments Service during what we recognise will be a difficult time.” The Cardiff-based logistics and warehousing firm operated a fleet of 170 vehicles, including 150 trailers, and had more than 560,000sq ft of warehouse space across nine UK sites. It employed around 400 staff.
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