Europa Worldwide Group sees return to profitability in 2016
Europa Worldwide Group has reported that it has seen a return to profitability in 2016 and expects strong growth in 2017 after a “challenging but robust” performance over the past financial year. In a statement sent to Post&Parcel today (13 October). Europa’s Managing Director, Andrew Baxter said that a significant restructuring of the business has put some ‘bumps in the road’ but that the company now has a “solid platform for significant improvement in efficiencies, profitability and growth in the coming years”.
Restructuring costs in 2015 were £1.6m, and the total cost of the company’s restructuring programme in 2014 and 2015 was £2.5m.
Baxter added: “Overall, the financial picture is a healthy one but, at times, it has been painful. We have not shied away from implementing some major restructuring projects, the last of which was changing our operational IT systems this summer. All of this change has a short term negative impact on the bottom line, but it’s a game changer for the business and has created an environment for growth. Added to that, for the first time in Europa’s 50-year history, turnover will break through the £100 million mark in the final quarter of 2016 which is a great milestone for us.”
Creating the UK’s largest European groupage hub in 2015, the company made its biggest single investment – the £30 million construction of its new 26,368 square metre logistics facility in Dartford. As part of this investment, rationalisations such as moving its entire Erith operation into the new 1hub and closing its Birmingham hub (the Minworth branch remains fully operational) helped improve efficiencies and cut costs.
Europa Worldwide Group has reported a 14% year-on-year increase in turnover in 2015 to £96.5m with operating losses of £0.9m. Andrew Baxter puts this down to the recent restructuring programme. He expects a pre-tax profit in the current financial year of around £1.2m and turnover to rise to approximately £110m. He is forecasting turnover to reach £130m in 2017 with net profits of approximately £3m.
