Sales rise but so do company failures

Total sales in transport and logistics were up 2.97 per cent over the last quarter of 2017, according to the Creditsafe Watchdog Report.

But it was not all good news. There was a four-fold increase in company failures compared to the year before. Not only that, employment levels and wages stagnated, however, with a 4.69 per cent increase in employees in the last 12 months.

Rachel Mainwaring of Creditsafe, said: “There are positive signs of growth across the transport and logistics sector, as both established and new companies have demonstrated strong financial performance this year.

“However, the mammoth jump in company failures seen towards the end of 2017, suggests that the sector may have adopted a higher risk ‘fail fast and often’ strategy, sometimes used to describe the disruptive and agile tech sector. As a steady stream of new companies entered the market in 2017, perhaps we’re now seeing a significant proportion burn out.”

“In road freight specifically, we have also seen a similar upwards trend across sales, active companies, employment and wages, as well an increase in company failures of 17.89 per cent. With the figures in road freight showing smaller swings, there appears to be less volatility in this area than across the sector as whole.”

The number of County Court Judgements issued was down in quarter across transport and logistics, with a decrease of 17.98 per cent, but up by 14.93 per cent for road freight.