Food storage and distribution firm back in profit despite ‘unrelenting’ costs pressure
North Yorkshire-based temperature-controlled food storage and distribution business, Reed Boardall, has reported a strong performance, seeing its pre-tax profits rise to £1.4m for the year ending 31 March 2023.
It says these results have been achieved in the face of continued pressure on costs.
The group, which provides storage and logistics services from its site in Boroughbridge, to many of the UK’s leading food manufacturers and retailers, achieved a £5.5m uplift in profits year-on-year.
In 2021-2022, a number of adverse conditions, including Covid-19 lockdowns, a cyber-attack and spiralling fuel and energy costs, resulted in the company sustaining a £4.1m loss.
Marcus Boardall, chief executive, said: “Given global uncertainty as the Ukraine conflict continues, together with ongoing inflation, pressure on our costs has been unrelenting.
“In such a challenging environment, the group has once again put in a strong performance, based on its longevity, outstanding reputation in the sector and the skills of our highly trained team.
“We were pleased to see labour shortages having a smaller impact last year than previously, largely due to initiatives we have undertaken to ease the industry’s recruitment issues, including our ongoing investment in training and improving working practices.
“Having already weathered one of the toughest years in our 30-year history, we are pleased that our latest financial results show the strength of the business as we look forward to further growth.”
Group finance director, Sarah Roberts, added: “It is great news that despite market turmoil, the business is back on track with both turnover and profits increasing.
“Some of the positive trends we saw included higher average store utilisation than the previous year, and the recent extension to our 168,000 pallet cold store running at very high capacity.
“The group prides itself for being at the forefront of the cold storage and distribution sector and we plan to continue to innovate, for example, by seeking to further reduce our carbon consumption, water usage and waste production; and by investing in new technology and practices to drive additional operating efficiencies.”
Reed Boardall has a fleet of 200 vehicles and delivers 12,000 pallets of frozen food daily from manufacturers across Britain, Europe and further afield to UK supermarkets. It also provides blast freezing, picking and packaging services.
