Profits before tax at Yorkshire-based temperature-controlled food storage and distribution business Reed Boardall have risen to £1.4m for the year ending 31 March 2023.
The group, which provides storage and logistics services from its single site in Boroughbridge, achieved a £5.5m uplift in profits year-on-year. In 2021-2022, a number of adverse conditions, including Covid lockdowns, a cyber-attack and spiralling fuel and energy costs, resulted in the company sustaining a £4.1m loss.
Chief Exec Marcus Boardall said: “Given global uncertainty as the Ukraine conflict continues, together with ongoing inflation, pressure on our costs has been unrelenting. In such a challenging environment, the group has once again put in a strong performance, based on its longevity, outstanding reputation in the sector and the skills of our highly trained team.
“We were pleased to see labour shortages having a smaller impact last year than previously, largely due to initiatives we have undertaken to ease the industry’s recruitment issues, including our ongoing investment in training and improving working practices. By the end of the financial year, we had succeeded in training over 50 new recruits via our in-house driver academy, enabling them to become qualified HGV drivers, as well as having set up a number of administration and technician apprenticeships.
Mr Boardall continues: “Having already weathered one of the toughest years in our 30-year history, we are pleased that our latest financial results show the strength of the business as we look forward to further growth. The year ahead looks positive as we continue to prove the success of our single site strategy which enables us to provide an efficient and reliable service to our customer.”
Group finance director Sarah Roberts adds: “It is great news that despite market turmoil, the business is back on track with both turnover and profits increasing. Some of the positive trends we saw included higher average store utilisation than the previous year, and the recent extension to our 168,000 pallet cold store running at very high capacity.”
Based on a dedicated 55-acre site operation in Boroughbridge, Reed Boardall has a fleet of 200 vehicles operating 24 hours a day, year-round, and delivers 12,000 pallets of frozen food daily from manufacturers across Britain, Europe and further afield to all the UK’s best-known supermarkets. It also provides blast freezing, picking and packaging services.
