Unipart Profits Up

The Unipart Group of Companies, one of Europe’s leading privately–owned distribution and logistics businesses, has reported sales for 2004 of £1.064bn (2003: £525.8m) and a net operating profit of £25.4m (- £1.3m). After tax, interest and other charges, the Group reported a profit of £26.3m (£0.9m).

In mid-year, the Group also announced that it was creating a thousand new jobs largely in its Oxford and Midlands locations. In the automotive sector, Unipart won a 10 year extension to the prestigious Jaguar contract for a full range of global logistics services, and won an extension to the London Taxi International business. The Group also brought together its distribution networks comprising the 100 year old Brown Brothers business, Partco and Unipart International under the Unipart Automotive Network brand. This network now comprises one of the largest parts distribution organisations in Europe supported by a van fleet of over 1500 vehicles, capable of getting parts virtually anywhere in the UK in under an hour.

According to Unipart Group chief executive John Neill, the performance in 2004 marked a turning point in the Group’s transformation from its origins as solely an automotive parts provider to a third party logistics services and consulting company operating across a range of industry sectors.

“Several years ago, we accelerated our strategic diversification that has virtually eliminated our future dependency on Rover. We adapted the deep expertise that we developed in the automotive sector to reposition Unipart Logistics’ services for high quality clients in business sectors that are growing rapidly,” said Neill.

“We have brought our company back to the level of profitability that we achieved in the late ‘90s. Our customer base has now diversified into our chosen group of industry sectors and our customers are some of the fastest growing businesses in their respective sectors.”