Logistics firm DBL hauls in the funding after record year
HAULAGE firm and family business DBL Logistics is expanding for the second time in as many years after record results and a funding boost from the bank.
Planning permission has now been secured for the second phase of the company’s expansion.
DBL secured a £300,000 funding package from HSBC after a record year, in which DBL saw a 35% in their results to August 2014, with a projected further increase of 18% for the current financial year.
Staff numbers have increased from 25 in 2014 to 38 currently, with plans to take on a further three employees by the end of the year.
The move will also see the company purchase of three new MAN 18 tonne trucks and one MAN 44 tonne tractor unit.
Managing director David Clarkson spoke TheBusinessDesk.com about the firm’s expansion and getting help from the bank. He said: “We thought that the site would last us five years, but 18 months down the line it’s becoming a struggle for space and we needed to expand.
Strategically, they had already ensured there was 32,670 sq ft for expansion, and the extra 6 vehicle canopy and loading space and will allow DBL to apply to the Ministry of Transport for a larger operators license.
Mr Clarkson, a born-and-bred Sheffielder, said: “Our turnover has gone up 35% so we needed that extra space to grow that was initially meant for extra warehousing,but the need for more vehicles has run over the need for more storage.
“We don’t want to put any constraints on the growth, as long as we can finance it. Sometimes growing too quick can be detrimental as well as advantageous.
Hopes for the future are unpretentious, much like Mr Clarkson, who built his parents’ (Bert and Linda Clarkson, who founded the firm 30 years ago) business up, and has no problems doing a 15,000 sq ft skydive for Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice in Sheffield – this Sunday.
He said: “We have an amazing team, and we’re very proud of what we’ve accomplished and want to give something back – though in five years I would love to be fishing by a lake in France!”
The DBL boss also sung the praises of new bank HSBC, after removing themselves from a long-standing relationship elsewhere.
Mr Clarkson said: “HSBC have been great, my relationship manager Philip Carr, who is based in Lincoln where we hold the account, in particular. We moved banks 2 years ago and they came with a great deal, I’ve never felt more supported by a bank, a contrast to our previous service which we had banked with for 20 years prior to this. “
In 2013, DBL Logistics moved into its flagship £2million 33,550 sq ft Huntsman Depot in a deal supported by HSBC, and it is this site which now needs expansion.
Mike Swift, HSBC’s area director for South Yorkshire, said: “DBL Logistics is a well-established, family run Sheffield success story.
“HSBC is committed to helping businesses like DBL Logistics realise their growth ambitions and recently announced a £150 million SME fund for businesses in South Yorkshire.”
DBL is also the current back-of-shirt sponsor of Sheffield United Football Club and the rear-of-vest sponsor of British Basketball League’s Sheffield Sharks.
