Grimsby, Lincolnshire, UK: Temperature controlled logistics specialists ACS&T have announced their latest figures and demonstrated the success of their management strategies with significant growth and a return to profit.
ACS&T, which provides supply chain solutions to the food industry, operates nationally from locations at Wolverhampton, Tewkesbury, Scarborough and Grimsby and is celebrating a healthy 2011 following a raft of business wins and the growth of existing contracts, the company says.
Managing director Malcolm Johnstone says: “Following a challenging 2010, it’s an endorsement of the commitment of the business and our customers to see the profitable growth we predicted last year come to fruition.”
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Strategic investment in the business and new contracts with companies including Ideal Foods and Coldwater Seafood, as well as the significant extension of a number of existing deals, has allowed ACS&T to thrive and we are able this year, to announce we are once again in profit.”
The company have seen turnover increase from £16.4million in 2010 to £18.7million in 2011 and pre-tax profits increase by an impressive £1.2million.
“I believe the quality of the services we offer is the driving force behind the new contract wins; and the extension of existing deals with long-term trading partners, including a five-year contract with 3663, has helped strengthen our business and allowed us to grow. Our balance sheet remains strong and continues to be cash-generative,” Johnstone says.
“Further cost-saving initiatives and considerable investment and improvements to our foodservice offer have allowed us to attract new business and increase turnover while remaining competitive, and next year we expect even more success.”
ACS&T Logistics began life as the London Ice & Cold Storage Company in 1921 and built the country’s first ever cold store for fish underneath Billingsgate Market. The business went on to open the country’s first low-temperature cold store, at Grimsby, in 1934.
Today ACS&T’s services are provided from four centres and currently operates 14 cold stores, 2 ambient stores, extensive co-packing facilities and large, dedicated and shared-user multi-temperature transport fleets.
ACS&T Logistics is a wholly owned subsidiary of Camellia plc. Camellia is an international investment company with a long-term outlook on each of its trading companies. The turnover of the group is £250M, and it employs 75,000 people in 15 countries. In addition to food storage and distribution, Camellia operates in engineering, agriculture and banking. The company is also the world’s largest independent tea producer.
