Clipper 玩嘉电竞 , the UK’s leading high value and retail logistics specialist has today unveiled its ambitious growth plans, following the release of its six month interim financial results to October 2010.
The figures, released today, show a period of significant growth and success for the Leeds-based business, which is continuing to outperform its sector.
Clipper’s decision to diversify from a traditional haulage and transportation organisation and to adopt a strategic business partner approach, creating e-fulfilment service lines in response to the changing dynamics of the retail sector that it operates in, and employing hundreds of dedicated e-fulfilment specialists has proved extremely successful. The group has seen uplift in sales in the last six months to the start of October of 16.1 % to £80.9m, while operating profits almost doubled to £4.2m. The group also reported earnings before interest; tax deprecation and amortisation were up by 61.4 % percent to £5.8m, a success largely driven by e-commerce.
Clipper 玩嘉电竞 was quick to capitalise on the online shopping revolution and transformed its business proposition and service lines to meet the needs of retailers. As a result, over the last decade turnover has grown from £5m to £200m and Clipper’s work force has grown by more than 2000%.
Whilst all sectors of Clipper’s core offerings have seen growth, the popularity of online retail has seen Clipper’s client base expand particularly rapidly and Clipper 玩嘉电竞 is now widely recognised as the largest e-fulfilment logistics provider in the UK. Since 2007, e-fulfilment has grown to account for 20% of the businesses’ turnover, a figure that has almost doubled in the last 3 years.
Earlier this year, Clipper won a contract with John Lewis, worth £25m, to manage its entire on-line clothing requirement in addition to contract wins with Tesco and Asda, and with a strong pipeline of new contracts, the company is firmly on track to hit forecasts of £170m full year sales and operating profits of £9m.
Clipper chief executive, Steve Parkin says: “We are obviously delighted to report a successful six months of progress with sales and profits on the increase, despite the challenging economic climate. Clipper now has to establish the next stage of its growth. Given the whole banking crisis, we need to look at alternative ways of funding our ambitious growth plans to take on more contracts with major retailers, and we have been inundated with offers from private equity and other sources. Clipper hopes the next round of fundraising will help it realise its aim of floating on the stock market. We look forward to further growth and expansion over the next 12 months.”
