Satisfactory start for Stobart

27th Jun 2013 15:09

Logistics conglomerate Stobart has started the year 'satisfactorily' although some major customers were suffering lower volumes in the first quarter.The haulage-to-biomass group reported performance was "steady" in transport and distribution, "flat" in civil engineering, and still embryonic in the air division. Management added that their "expectations" for the business for the full year remained in line with forecasts. In a statement to be read by Chief Executive Andrew Tinkler at the company's annual general meeting on Thursday, the company reported that it was confident of delivering strong returns for shareholders over the coming years as its four year strategy [from 2011 to 2015] moved "from the investment phase to optimisation". Stobart said it the air transport and biomass businesses required increased volume in order to deliver value in the medium term, and admitted there remained plenty of work to maximise revenues, particularly in the air division.The biomass division was able to report revenues and profits per tonne ahead year on year in spite of a number of unexpected plant outages that disrupted service.The transport and distribution division battled to deliver a steady start to the year despite a troublesome trend of some FMCG customers reporting lower volumes. Stobart argued that this trend should be reversed with better weather over the summer, although many in the country at present would think the likelihood of this is questionable. Efforts to extract further efficiencies in the automotive segment, including the closure of the head office and roll-out of an innovative new trailer product, were ongoing. Shares in Stobart Group were up 1.45% at 87.5p at 15:45 on Thursday. OH