Eddie Stobart Logistics

Eddie Stobart Logistics plc
Public limited company
Traded as LSE: ESL
Industry Integrated Transport Logistics
Founded circa 1940s
(as Eddie Stobart)
23 November 1970
(as Eddie Stobart Ltd.)
Founder Eddie Stobart
Headquarters Warrington, Cheshire, England
Area served
 Belgium, Ireland, United Kingdom
Key people
 Philip Swatman Chairman
Alex Laffey (Chief Executive Officer)
Revenue £570.2 million (2016)[1]
£30.1 million (2016)[1]
£9.9 million (2016)[1]
Number of employees
 6,000 (2015)[2]
Divisions
  • Eddie Stobart
  • Stobart Rail Freight
  • Stobart Ports
Subsidiaries
Stobart Transport & Distribution Ltd
Eddie Stobart Group Ltd
Eddie Stobart Ltd
James Irlam & Sons Ltd
Stobart (Ireland) Ltd
Eddie Stobart Belgium NV
Stobart Rail Freight Ltd
Westlink Group Ltd
O'Connor Group Management Ltd
Website www.eddiestobart.com

Eddie Stobart Logistics plc (trading as Eddie Stobart) is a large British multimodal logistics company, with interests in road haulage, rail freight, deep sea and inland waterway transport systems and deep sea port, inland port and rail connected storage facilities, along with transport, handling and warehousing facilities through operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Belgium.

The company has its operational head office in Warrington, Cheshire. Started by 'Steady' Eddie Stobart in the end of the 1940s as an agricultural business in Cumbria, the company was incorporated as Eddie Stobart Ltd. on 23 November 1970 as a haulage firm, eventually passing to his son, Edward Stobart.

After a series of complex takeovers, the Stobart company has developed from a haulage company to an intermodal logistics company, achieving a stock market listing without an IPO through a reverse takeover of the Westbury Property Fund.

In 2014, the logistics part of the company regained majority private ownership when Douglas Bay Capital bought a 51% share in the business from the Stobart Group, which remains publicly traded. The company regained a public listing in April 2017, when its shares were floated on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange, reducing the Stobart Group's stake to 12.5%.

Following the step down of Edward in 2003, the Stobart family was represented in the business by Edward's brother William Stobart, until 2017, when he stepped down as Executive Chairman. The company is listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. Stobart Group still retains a stake of 12.49% as of March 2018.

The largest overall shareholder is now Woodford Asset Management who holds 21.46% of the company.

History

Started by 'Steady' Eddie Stobart in the late 1940s as an agricultural business in Cumbria, the company was incorporated as Eddie Stobart Ltd. on 23 November 1970 as a haulage firm, eventually passing to his son, Edward Stobart.[3] After a series of complex takeovers, the Stobart company has developed from a haulage company to an intermodal logistics company, achieving a stock market listing without an IPO through a reverse takeover of the Westbury Property Fund in 2007.[4][5]

In March 2014, Stobart Group announced its intention to re-position itself as an Infrastructure and Supports Services business, with the announcement of the sale of its original Transport and Distribution business to Douglas Bay Capital for £280.8 million: £195.6 million in cash and £44.1 million in shares (and therefore a 49% stake) of the new Eddie Stobart Logistics business. William Stobart left his position as Chief Operating Officer the Stobart Group to become Chief Executive Officer of Eddie Stobart Logistics.[6]

In April 2017, Eddie Stobart Logistics regained a public listing when it floated on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange, with a £572 million valuation.[7]

Operations

Eddie Stobart Logistics provides transport, storage and handling services, meeting ambient and chilled distribution, and warehousing requirements across ten business units. It has 2,200 vehicles, 3,800 trailers and 3,800 drivers.[8]

Eddie Stobart

The largest part of Eddie Stobart Logistics is the original Eddie Stobart road haulage business. It also includes the former operations of James Irlam and Innovative Logistics. The Stobart Group completed the acquisition of Autologic in August 2012.[9]

Fuel

The Eddie Stobart fleet includes a number of Volvo FM dual fuel trucks, running primarily on liquid natural gas, with diesel as a backup.[10]

Vehicle naming

Eddie Stobart has a long tradition of giving its trucks female names. The first four owned by Eddie Stobart were named after model "Twiggy" and singers "Tammy" (Wynette), "Dolly" (Parton) and "Suzi" (Quatro). Names are now often chosen with connections to drivers, or to commemorate long serving employees. The practice has been expanded to cover other Stobart vehicles, including their sponsored sports cars and the Stobart Rail locomotive "Eddie the Engine".[11]

With the expansion of the fleet, names have become harder to choose, and the fleet now features "Tuula Karina" (Finnish), "Angharrad" (Welsh), "Anstice" and "Saoirse Erin" (Irish, meaning 'Free Ireland'). Currently the vehicles with the shortest and longest names are "Nia" and "Gladys Duchess of Overton", both on Scania R 420s.[12]

There are some exceptions to the female naming convention (including Eddie the Engine). In 2005, in celebration of twenty years of Transformers, Stobart named a MAN tractor "Optimus Prime" and recently during the filming of a television series entitled Eddie Stobart: Trucks & Trailers a Volvo FH12 was christened "Valentino" after Valentino Rossi, the legendary Italian motorcycle racer, which caused a furore among spotters.[13]

They have a static Volvo FH in the "Glasshouse" at their Crick depot which is named in honour of fusilier "Lee Rigby".[14]

Paintjob history

The first truck bought by Eddie Stobart in 1960 was painted post office red and Brunswick Green, with yellow lettering.[15] Gone was the gold yellow, the dark red is now changed to a regular red, and the dark green was changed to a mixture of dark and bright green. The white has remained the same.[16]

Stobart Rail Freight

The Stobart Group operates some rail based services, both for freight as the Stobart Rail service, and (formerly) for passengers. Rail operations were provided for the group by Direct Rail Services (DRS), but in 2009 it announced that it was switching partners to DB Schenker Rail.[17] Stobart also operated a short lived Stobart Pullman charter train.[18]

For rail freight transport, the group owns warehousing at the rail connected Daventry International Railfreight Terminal (DIRFT), and owns the rail connected Widnes Intermodal Rail Depot.[19]

A service operated by DRS started on 4 November 2008 from Inverness southwards, carrying containers operated for Tesco. The containers all carry the "Stobart Rail" or "Tesco – Less CO2" branding. Trucks carrying Stobart Rail branded containers are also carried by the haulage company J G Russell which partners Stobart in this operation.[20]

The Stobart Group also briefly entered the passenger railtour market, through the Stobart Pullman, which was a re branding of the Hertfordshire Rail Tours business inherited from Victa Westlink Rail. Traction was provided by Direct Rail Services using Stobart branded carriages. It was launched in February 2008, but as of July 2008, the operation was suspended, presumed closed.[21]

On 30 October 2009, Stobart Rail commenced a new train service (operated in conjunction with DB Schenker Rail (UK); it operates a 1,100 mile journey from Valencia, poviding a low carbon alternative for the import of fresh Spanish produce, terminating at the Ford Dagenham rail head.[22]

Stobart Ports

O'Connor Group Management Ltd (trading as Stobart Ports) is the ports division of the Stobart Group. It owns a site in Widnes, Cheshire.[23]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Interim Results" (PDF). Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  2. ↑ "New Service Support Centre". Facts Magazine. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  3. ↑ "Haulage magnate Edward Stobart dies, aged 56". BBC. 31 March 2011.
  4. ↑ "Eddie Stobart reverses on to stock market". The Guardian. 16 August 2007. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  5. ↑ "Eddie Stobart merges with Westbury and goes public". Commercialmotor.com. 15 August 2007.
  6. ↑ "Stobart family gets back behind the wheel of famous lorry company". The Guardian. 6 March 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  7. ↑ "Eddie Stobart Logistics lists on AIM with a £572m valuation". City AM. 25 April 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  8. ↑ "Eddie Stobart drives ahead with £550m stock market float plan as looks ahead to growth". Thisis Money. 23 March 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  9. ↑ "Stobart Group in for Autologic with £12.4m cash offer". Motor Transport. 19 June 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  10. ↑ ""Eddie Stobart: Trucks and Trailers - Series 2 Episode 5" at". Roadtransport.com. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
  11. ↑ "Eddie the Engine". BBC. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  12. ↑ ""Gladys Duchess of Overton"". Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  13. ↑ "Eddie Stobart names truck after murdered soldier Lee Rigby". Halifax Courier. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  14. ↑ "'Rare honour' as murdered soldier Lee Rigby has an Eddie Stobart lorry named after him". Manchester Evening News. 31 March 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  15. ↑ Roach, Martin (2012). Eddie Stobart: The Ultimate Guide to the British Trucking Legends. Virgin. ISBN 978-0753540909.
  16. ↑ "Row of parked Eddie Stobart trucks trailers & containers at Lorry Halt Row of Livery AEC Scania 440 haulage vehicles". Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  17. ↑ "Stobart appoints DB Schenker Rail as provider of UK rail freight services". Stobart Group. 14 August 2009. Retrieved 18 November 2009.
  18. ↑ "Stobart Pullman". Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  19. ↑ "Eddie Stobart plan could create 10,000 jobs". Liverpool Echo. 8 May 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  20. ↑ "New Freight Terminal for Inverness" (PDF). Railway Herald (162): 3. 19 January 2009.
  21. ↑ "Scot-rail charter trains 2008". Scot-rail.co.uk. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  22. ↑ "Stobart launches Valencia rail service". World Cargo News. 7 August 2009. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  23. ↑ "Luxury temporary headquarters for Stobart Ports". Construction Index. Retrieved 4 April 2018.

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