New look Target comes of age
Target Express saw a 4% improvement in top-line revenues in the year to September and, with margins running atmore than 10%, has increased profits by more than £1m. MD Paul Murray said: We need to keep above 10% and I will be focusing on growing existing accounts rather than chasing market growth.
We have doubled the size of the busines in 6 years (since he took over at Target), but we have made a conscious decision over the last 18 months to maximise our network rather than going hell for leather for growth.
Winner of the Business Improvement category in this years IFW awards. Target nevertheless expects to attract £20m worth of new business this year.
We have just won one major account that has been with a competitior for 20 years, Murray said. Customers want good service at a good price, but above all they want to see how youre performing. We had no IT when I came in, but I believe we have a market-leading system now. This is enabling us to tie down major business where before we coulnt get through the door.
But with rates steadily reducing, efficientcy was important, Murray stressed. If I had one wish, its that we could get back to the average revenue per shipment that this industry was getting six years ago. You can only compensate for falling prices by driving down costs and increasing productivity.
We were delivering 40 consignments per vehicle per day and we have got that up to 53 – weve never been as efficient as we are today.
Now in its 21st year of trading, Target is rebranding its 800-strong vehicle fleet in silver from this month to reflect its coming of age. The company has quietly dropped Worldwide from its name, preferring to emphasise its full range of epxress delivery services. Murray said the first 100 vehicles were already in the new silver livery and the rest would follow over the next three years as they came up for renewal.
