Autologic made a pre-tax profit of just £400,000 after exceptional items, and saw turnover fall by 25.7% in its UK arm during a year that saw car and light CV volumes slump.
The automotive transport specialist has posted revenue of £134.5m for the year ended 31 December 2009 - including contributions from its mainland European business - a fall of 21.39% compared with £171.1m turnover in 2008.
Its UK revenue, which accounts for the majority of its business, fell by 25.7% (or £37.5m) to £108.3m in 2009, compared with £145.8m in the previous year.
Pre-tax profit, before exceptional items, was £2.1m (1.56% of turnover), however, Autologic had to take into account restructuring costs of £1.7m, associated with restructuring and down-sizing its driver numbers and transporter fleet, pushing down profit to just £400,000 - a profit margin of just 0.29%.
This was an improvement on the restructuring costs incurred during 2008, totalling £10.7m, which pushed the company into a pre-tax loss of £11.6m.
Autologic warned shareholders that given the downturn in volumes and overcapacity among suppliers in the automotive sector of the market, there was extreme pressure on pricing when it came to the renewal of contracts. It warned that the pricing of these contracts would inevitably have an impact on its operating margins during this year.
As a result, it would only bid to retain contracts where "the quality and future of a contract was beneficial to the group", according to group finance director Andrew Somerville. During 2009 it won and retained contracts with BMW, Nissan, Fiat and Mazda.
Furthermore, the company says it had taken advantage of some "extremely attractive prices" and purchased 70 transporters as they came off lease. It says it will continue to purchase assets, but only to support the long-term strategy of reducing operating costs.
Chief executive Avril Palmer-Baunack says: "The prevailing economic conditions and the uncertainty within the automotive sector inevitably call for management to be cautious in its short-term outlook for 2010, which it expects to be more challenging than 2009 following the cessation of scrappage schemes across Europe."
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