Southampton-based Pentalver Transport saw its revenues rise but its profit slump in 2008. It admitted that finishing 2009 by breaking even would be a success because of the recession.
The company ended 2008 with revenue up to £63.6m, from £62.9m in 2007, while pre-tax profit fell from £10.7m in 2007 to £6.89m in 2008.
In its directors' report, the company said it had seen the volume of loaded boxes passing through its depots in Southampton, Felixstowe and Tilbury fall by 11% in 2008, compared to 2007.
In 2008, it also increased the average number of employees from 356 to 393, boosting the wage bill from £10.3m to £11.75m.
Managing director Brian Tattersall says the company has suffered as the volume of containers coming into the UK has slumped. Between June 2008 and June 2009 the company cut 50 staff through compulsory redundancy and natural wastage.
"We have cut our wage bill between June 2008 and June 2009 by £3m," he says.
The company increased its total acreage for container storage in 2008, but Tattersall tells CM: "At the moment we are having a disastrous year because we have acres in Southampton that are not being used.
"My target for the year is to break even," he says of the company's projected performance.
Sister firm Pentalver Cannock, formerly Bowmur Haulage, which Pentalver Transport bought in May 2005, finished 2008 with revenue up by £3.5m from £24.7m in 2007 to £28.2m in 2008. Pre-tax profit was virtually flat at £2.45m.
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