Operating Profit Down 22% at Culina Logistics

By Transport Intelligence

UK warehousing, distribution and logistics giant Culina Group has reported operating profit down by an estimated 22.0% y-o-y to £111.569m in 2023, the latest available data. Revenues were up 3.5% to £2,218m in the same period. 

Thomas Van Mourik stands aside as CEO

After 30 years at the helm of Culina Group, in March 2024 Thomas Van Mourik stood aside as CEO of the company, becoming Group Chairman as of October 2024. He was replaced by Culina Group chilled business CEO Ian Smith. Van Mourik said of his replacement: “Ian has done an exceptional job since his arrival and has the full support of the Board around him, so please be confident it will be very much business as usual as we drive Culina Group forward in a sustainable and responsible manner.” Based on 2023 figures, Mr Smith has a tough job ahead.

Loss making operations hold profits back

In 2023, a subsidiary of Culina Group Morgan McLernon, reported losses of £15.74m, an increase of 9,924% y-o-y from its 2024 losses of £157,000. The warehousing and distribution company had the largest losses but was not the only loss making operation, with Warrens Warehousing & Distribution reporting an operating loss of £973,000, an increase of 257.7% y-o-y on the previous year’s £272,000 losses. Both companies had increases in revenues in the financial year, with Morgan McLernon up 3.5% y-o-y to £69.88m in 2023 and Warrens, up 6.1% y-o-y to £79.13m.

Other companies in Culina Group, while not making losses, saw sharp drops in operating profits in 2023:

• Eddie Stobart – a 38.6% y-o-y drop in operating profit to £24.35m on revenues that fell 13.8% to £505.74m
• Fowler Welch – a 55.2% y-o-y fall in operating profit to £4.71m, on revenues that fell 2.6% to £198.65m in 2023
• iForce had a 93.5% y-o-y drop in operating profit to £408,000 and revenues were down 8.1% to £91.58m
• Great Bear Distribution had strong revenue growth of 31.7% y-o-y to £525.12m in the period but operating profit fell 13.2% to £24.35m
• The Logistics People saw a 10.8% y-o-y fall in operating profit to £7.67m on revenues that were almost flat at £128.91m
• CML, 28.8% y-o-y drop in operating profit to £1.74m on revenues up 1.9% to £71.4m

The UK economy was impacted by high inflation and soft consumer demand in the reporting period, and this looks to have hit some of the country’s largest individual warehousing and distribution operations at Culina Group. Their size will have saved them where many smaller logistics companies went out of business that year. Not all of Culina’s companies suffered though.

Brighter skies for other Culina Group companies

Culina Logistics itself saw operating profit grow by 17.3% y-o-y to £21.19m on revenues that grew by 3.6% in 2023 to £250.52m. Another £100m+ revenue company in Culina Group to see strong growth was The Pallet Network that reported a 77.4% y-o-y increase in operating profit to £8.21m on revenues up by 1.5% to £185.93m. Integrated Packing Services reported a 29.9% y-o-y increase in revenues to £94.31m and operating profit up 3.5% to £4.24m.

These were the only three mid-to-large operations to report significant increases in income. Culina Group’s two smaller operations, Eezeehaul and Logistics Security Ltd reported increases in income, but with revenues of £10.39m and £5.1m respectively these couldn’t hope to offset the large falls experienced by the larger operations in the group. Eezeehaul saw operating profit increase by 20.4% y-o-y to £390,000 and Logistics Security saw operating profit grow by 8.5% in the period to £434,000.

Estimates – not hard numbers

The figures above are a discussion of the income from the logistics operations (but not holding or acquisitions companies) in Culina Group. Culina Group is wholly owned by Luxembourg based Theo Müller Group and like many other privately owned logistics companies doesn’t like to shout about its revenues and profits. Due to the way the company operates, it reports most of its income streams to UK government entity Companies House but does not make a formal declaration of overall income. The data we have is based upon 13 of the 14 major revenue generating operations at the company. It is worth noting however that its dairy transport operation Müller, Milk & More does not report in this manner, though would add revenues in excess of £100m to the overall income for Culina Group.

Author: Richard Shrubb

Source: Ti Insights

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