Nightfreight’s financial results (for year ended 30th November 2008) have revealed a £1.5 million rise in pre-tax, pre-interest profit on the previous year, (it rose from £800,000 in 2007 to £2.3 million in 2008), while sales have remained the same.
Read MoreResults show a pre-tax profit falling to £785,978 from £4.3m for the year to 30 November 2007, turnover up 4% to £137.5m.
Read MoreNightfreight is a specialist delivery business with a well-established national distribution network capable of handling items of all weights and dimensions. The company made a name because of its specialism in handling ‘difficult’ parcels, but in fact its overall offering is quite diverse covering a full range of delivery options including next day and three day delivery, 2-man home delivery and a dedicated contract logistics service. Earlier this year Nightfreight launched a ‘Pay as You Go’ 2 man home delivery service designed to save retailers up to 50% of their existing transport costs. This new delivery solution is the UK’s only independent shared user network service available to retailers on a pay as you go basis for an unlimited range of products. Nightfreight’s Managing Director Peter Louden talks to WLN.
WLN – Peter, can you summarise exactly what Nightfreight does?
Nightfreight is first and foremost a parcels carrier, with about 90% of our 5,000 customer accounts consisting of network operations made up of classic overnight deliveries and what is often termed “difficult” freight. However, we are also a major player in the two-man home delivery sector and our Deliver2home service now accounts for more than £40 million of our revenue. We also operate a range of other specialist home delivery options and a dedicated logistics service.
The company currently employs over 2,300 staff at over 70 operating sites around the United Kingdom and operates in excess of 1,000 vehicles. Last year we successfully delivered over 18 million items and have a turnover of £140 million pa.
WLN – Can you tell us more about the Nightfreight ‘Pay as You Go’ home delivery service?
The service, is managed through our Deliver2Home division and is targeted at medium and large retailers who are currently using fixed cost resources such as dedicated vehicles and warehousing, either in-house or through a third party, which have to be paid for fifty-two weeks of the year, regardless of usage. The savings, up to 50%, can be made through reducing or eliminating these fixed costs and replacing them with a variable charging structure (Pay as You Go) that directly relates to the number of deliveries required. As a result, retailers will be able to deal with peaks and troughs throughout the year without incurring unnecessary price penalities.
Other benefits of the service include the ability to deal with difficult geographical demands – Deliver2Home offers a daily delivery to 90% of UK postcodes and with varying weekly delivery timetables to all other postcodes areas – guaranteed service levels, a web based booking system and track and trace.
WLN – What is behind your decision to launch it?
Now more than ever retailers are facing increased delivery and fuel costs, customer demand for higher levels of service and an uncertain market. Understandably they need to look to their supply chains as a way of saving money or risk seeing their margins eroded by distribution costs. Nightfreight’s unique ‘Pay as You Go’ solution will enable them to save up to 50% of their costs whilst maximising productivity levels within their remaining in house and/or third party assets.”
WLN – So is home delivery becoming an increasingly important part of your business and how else are you targeting this area?
Home delivery is a growing market, and there’s a clear move towards outsourcing among online, catalogue and high-street retailers. This creates an opportunity for us to expand in this market.
The Nightfreight network has the ability to deliver a wide range of products to anywhere in the UK including anything from lamp posts and digger buckets to mattresses, treadmills and swimming pools. Deliver2home draws on Nightfreight’s experience of handling awkward products to enable retail and manufacturing customers to concentrate on their core activities safe in the knowledge that their products will be delivered by an expert on-time and undamaged.
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Read MoreNightfreight’s two-man home-delivery network has seen volumes grow by 20 pct over the past three months and 10 pct year-on-year, while a new customer win will boost volumes by a further 10 pct to 20 pct. In the summer, the firm added two new offerings to its two-man business – a pay-as-you-go service and a premium-to-home service – both of which have increased the firm’s business, says MD Peter Louden.
Under the premium-to-home service, Nightfreight offers a 48-hour delivery on mixed goods. “If there’s a time-critical delivery, then this service is ideal,” adds Louden. He adds that the focus for the next six months is to continue to grow volumes significantly in the two-man area. “Our strategy is to open up more two-man depots where we can – the closer we can get to our customers the better,” says Louden.
Read MoreWest Midlands-based Nightfreight has begun a pay-as-you-go home delivery service, offering retailers transport savings of up to 50 pct. Targeted at distributors and retailers that have their own fleets, the service will be managed through Nightfreight’s Deliver2Hometeam. The group cites not having to pay for a fixed and rigid contract as the main benefit of the scheme.
Up to 50 pct can be saved on transport costs with the new variable charging system, in which customers pay for the actual number of deliveries required. Currently 50 HGVs and 110 staff are involved.
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