Stobart back in the black

TRANSPORT logistics and infrastructure giant Stobart Group has swung back into profit, thanks in part to the sale of its Carslile distribution centre.

The groups made a pre-tax profit of £10m for the year to the end of February 2016, compared to its £9.4m loss a year earlier.

Revenues were up to £126.7m, an 8.6% increase on the previous year’s figure of £116.6m. Underlying EBITDA increased by 69.8% to £30m (2015: £17.6m).

The sale of properties over the year helped the business to generated £24.1m m(2015: £27.2m). A big chunk of that came from the sale of Stobart Rail’s completed air/road freight distribution centre at Carlisle Lake District Airport for £16.8m, as well as  properties at Worcester and Swindon.

The company owns assets including  London Southend Airport, and its divisions span rail, energy, property investment and infrastructure.

The aviation division wants to grow the number of routes it operates to reach a target of 2.5 million annual passengers by 2018, while its airline Stobart Air flew over 1.4 million passengers during 2016.

The group’s energy division is its largest with revenues of £73.4m. It has six major plants coming onstream over the next 18 months, as it aims to supply over 2mt of biomass by 2018.

Andrew Tinkler, chief executive, said: “This year we have delivered improved profitability in all five divisions with the foundations, management and organisational structure almost set to achieve our objectives and deliver our plan.

“We are on track to deliver our strategy by 2018 and drive shareholder value through our three growth operating divisions of Energy, Aviation and Rail, while generating a cash surplus through the exit of our infrastructure and investment portfolios at the right time allowing increasing returns to shareholders.”

The company will pay a final dividend of 4p, taking the total for the year to 6p a share, totalling £19.7m.

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