Suckling Transport: profits fall was 'inevitable'

Suckling Transport remains confident about the future despite reporting a £3.8m fall in turnover during 2007/08.

The Thurrock, Essex-based fuel distributor also saw pre-tax profits fall to just £70,000 on a turnover of £17.7m in the year ending 31 March, but managing director Peter Larner says the drop was inevitable: "We've had six consecutive years of growth. It was a long spell to keep beating the previous year's sales figures. It had to come to an end at some point."

The loss of a Scottish ConocoPhillips contract and the withdrawal of its spot-hire resource TankShare from several Northern sites are blamed for the dip, which also meant the loss of around 60 drivers and engineers.

However, Larner says TankShare remains central to its business: "It's used in different ways. We are one of the few companies in our sector where you can hire a tanker vehicle for one job and get a price for it off the internet. It's a niche piece of business and it's quite rewarding because people will pay a fair rate for that flexibility."

Suckling Transport also expects to see improvements in its financial results over the next few years due to contract renegotiations: "We work with very big companies with very long contracts," Larner says. "We are into the second year of a five-year contract with ConocoPhillips, we are about to go into the first year of a five-year contract with Shell.

"I think we are in a very fortunate position where I know I have £20m turnover for the next five years. It's a great blessing for us living in this world at the moment. Every four or five years there will be a blip, but generally I make people money. That's my job."