Unipart looks to West Midlands to support growth
ONE of Europe’s leading manufacturing, logistics and consulting businesses has announced increased profits in its latest full year results.
For the year ended December 31, 2014, Unipart Group saw operating profit reach £27.2m (2013: £26.2m), an increase of 3.8%. The group also made a pre-tax profit of £16.9m, the highest reported for the total group since 2005.
Revenue grew in real terms by just over 1%, however, group turnover dipped to £786.8m (2013: £1,056m).
The group, which has a large presence in Coventry, said the decline in revenue was attributable to a change in the way some client sales were accounted for.
John Neill, Unipart chairman and Group Chief Executive, said: “During the year we achieved our targets across all our operating units. Our turnover, for the most part, comes from the fees from our many clients.
“In the past, a major client required us to account for sales of products to their customers, which resulted in those sales appearing as part of our reported turnover.
“In the process of taking on more of their global operations, we restructured that arrangement so that those sales are now accounted for by our client with them taking the associated credit risk. The turnover reflects that change from sales to fees. It does not therefore result in a decrease in our business activity, rather the opposite, as our business continues to grow substantially and profitably.”
He added that investment in a proprietary system for employee engagement and operational excellence, had led to increased business with global brands such as Vodafone and Sky.
He said the group was also looking to its new operations in Coventry to support the growth of the business.
Unipart Manufacturing Group (UMG), part of the Unipart Group, announced in March the launch of a new business focused on nurturing and delivering high-tech engineering and manufacturing capability in Coventry.
It said the plan is to create the highly skilled jobs necessary to support advanced engineering and manufacturing capability in the UK.
The new business will be called Unipart Powertrain Applications and will occupy Unipart’s manufacturing site at Beresford Avenue in Coventry.
This site also includes the UK’s first ‘university on the factory floor’ – The Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (AME) – a partnership between Unipart and Coventry University.
“In our manufacturing operations in the Midlands, new facilities were opened during the year, each equipped with new production technologies. On our Coventry site, in collaboration with Coventry University (will) develop much needed young engineers for the UK,” added Neill.
Meanwhile overseas, the group has also continued to grow its operations. These include a new Chinese logistics centre for automotive company Qoros, while the long term partnership that Unipart has with Jaguar Land Rover has been extended by the establishment of a new logistics centre and IT system for its Indian operations.
