Despite an increased revenue of 9.7%, losses at Eddie Stobart Logistics stretched to more than £200 million as the group published details of its financial performance during 2019.
During the financial year in 2019, Eddie Stobart made a pre-tax loss of £238.9m, compared to the restated pre-tax loss of £22.3m in 2018. Turnover for the twelve months (ended November 2019) grew 9.7% to £857.1 million, compared to £781.5 million in its restated 2018 financial year. Eddie Stobart confirmed that this was primarily due to a full-year contribution from its June 2018 acquisition of pallet network TPN. Excluding TPN, like-for-like turnover was flat, reflecting the exit from what it described as two underperforming contracts.
In December 2019 its shareholders backed an injection of cash from DouglasBay Capital, which acquired a 51% stake in the company.
Eddie Stobart Logistics, now 51% owned by private-equity funders DBAY, also paid £10 million to Eddie Stobart Group for the Eddie Stobart brand.
William Stobart, executive chairman of Eddie Stobart Group, said: “The Eddie Stobart brand is an iconic name, linked to our core values, that should be part of the business. The acquisition will also deliver significant future cost savings and it will allow us to continue to grow brand awareness throughout the UK and Europe.”
In regards to the impact of Covid-19 on the business The Eddie Stobart Group stated that while there had been some volume reductions in parts of the business, it had benefited from fast-moving consumer and grocery goods, whole volumes in its e-commerce related activities remained strong.
