Strong sales and profits growth for Clipper

Clipper Logistics increased revenue by 17.6 per cent to £400.1 million last year, while operating profit was up 16.3 per cent to £20.9m.

The company has been growing both organically and by acquisition. It won contracts with Edinburgh Woollen Mill, River Island, M&S and ASOS. It acquired RepairTech in June 2017, and Tesam Distribution in May 2017.

Chairman Steve Parkin said: “Our latest set of full year results show continued strong EBIT growth, growth achieved through remaining true to each of our core strategic principles: expanding the customer base, developing complementary services for customers, continuing to expand in Europe and identifying and seeking targeted, complementary acquisitions.

But, he warned: “We are conscious of the wider forces affecting the UK retail sector; while this means that we have to bring an element of caution into our planning, recent contract wins, together with a strong pipeline of new business activity and the further evolution of our Click and Collect proposition, leave the Group well positioned to achieve further growth both in the UK and internationally.”

Since the year end (30th April 2018), Clipper has started e large e-fulfilment operation for boohoo.com subsidiary Pretty Little Thing, and committed to a new site at Crick, UK to handle the increased scope of Halfords operations.

It has also committed to an additional site in Poznan, Poland to house one of the three new contracts won last year.