Eddie Stobart hauls group into profit

Haulage business Eddie Stobart continued to drive growth for its parent company after the division was boosted by new contracts from Tesco, AG Barr and Britvic.

The road transport and warehousing division of Stobart Group posted a 30 per cent rise in underlying pre-tax profits to 33.6 million in the year to 28 February.

But the wider group saw pre-tax profits decline 11 per cent to 29.5m in the period as other divisions, including Stobart Rail and Stobart Ports, weighed on performance following cutbacks in expenditure by Network Rail and other major customers.

Stobart said its three-year reshuffle, which saw the company broken up into five new operating divisions, would now start to deliver.

Stobart recommended a final dividend of 4p, bringing the total for the year to 6p per share, unchanged from 2010.