Europa in the logistics fast lane after passing £100m revenue

Robert Ross, left, and Andrew Baxter

Logistics operator Europa Worldwide Group, which has a significant site at Salford, has broken the £100m turnover milestone.

Revenue grew 20% to £116m – a £20m increase on the prior year in the 12 months to December 31, 2016, the company said.

Pre-tax profits also increased to £2.3m from a loss of £1.6m in 2015.

Each division of the business – air and sea, showfreight, road and warehouse – have all seen turnover growth respectively too, with Warehouse almost 50% up on its 2015 revenue figure.

Projected turnover for the Media Village business for 2016-17 is £140m, with strong growth trajectories now established across all areas of the business.

The £100m milestone is all the more important for the business, which employs 17 staff in Salford, as it follows on from a challenging couple of years during which its owner Andrew Baxter and his team initiated a significant restructuring to ensure a solid platform for growth.

Baxter said: “Our annual results for 2015-2016 are very positive, given the complex process of restructuring which came before.

“We needed to make these changes in order for Europa to thrive in the future – but it wasn’t easy and there were many obstacles in our way.

“Yet we came out the other side and I’m extremely proud to say we are now stronger than ever before. Our separate divisions are at the cutting edge of their sectors, innovating every day in order to offer the best possible service to our customers.

“I believe that by this time next year, we will be the leading operator for European goods distribution – a fantastic achievement which will be, as always, thanks to the commitment, passion and vision of the brilliant people who work for Europa.”

Finance director at Europa Worldwide Group Rob Ross said: “We’re thrilled with the return to profitability which we’ve seen in the last year, with the business now in a healthy and positive financial position.

“Our success is no doubt a result of the bold decisions we made three years ago. We made the biggest single investment in Europa’s history when we opened our £30m 1hub in Dartford, which is the UK’s largest European groupage hub.

“We invested nearly £2m in completely overhauling our IT system by introducing our own, Leonardo TMS software, which was created in-house by our IT team. We closed some warehouses, and we reconfigured others, to ensure they were operating at maximum efficiency.”

Europa Worldwide Group employs more than 600 people across 11 sites in the UK and Hong Kong and is represented in 100 countries.

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