Fewer transport and storage firms in Britain saw an increase in turnover in July than any other comparable sector, but that’s not stopped many predicting an increase in September. Transport companies are on a rollercoaster ride, according to home delivery expert Parcelhero.
New data from the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveals that fewer transport and storage companies saw an increase in turnover in July than any other business sector except the arts. Only 9% of transportation and storage firms (the category that includes logistics, parcels, haulage and warehousing firms) reported a rise in turnover in July, reveals the latest ONS ‘Business insights and impact on the UK economy.
The number of transport and storage companies enjoying an increase in turnover was significantly lower than other comparable industry sectors. For example, 19.4% of manufacturers and 20.1% of retailers reported increased turnover last month. Transport and storage’s 9% was the lowest number of firms reporting an increase of any sector except the arts’ bottom-of-the-barrel 5.2%.
David Jinks, Parcelhero’s Head of Consumer Research comments: “Overall, an average of 16% of businesses across all industry sectors revealed that their turnover had risen in July over the previous month. The number of transport and storage companies reporting turnover growth clearly lagged far behind the majority of sectors and, in particular, their manufacturing and retail partners. However, this may only be a temporary dip. Countering July’s results, transport and storage companies are bullish about their revenue prospects for September. An impressive 20.4% of transport and storage firms expect to see an increase in their turnover next month, beating all other sectors except education and health/social work.”
“Interestingly, this result reveals transport and storage firms are notably more optimistic about next month than their manufacturing and retail partners. 18% of retailers and just 13.1% of manufacturers expect their turnovers to increase in September. In fact, the more we dig into the latest survey’s results, the more positive the picture becomes for the transport and storage sector. Jumping back to July, the number of transport and storage companies reporting a decrease in turnover was 27.3%, only slightly worse than the average for all sectors of 24%. Interestingly, this was a better result than those of their manufacturing and retail partners. In all, 31% of manufacturers and 32.9% of retailers recorded a decrease in turnover.”
“Looking forward to September, it’s a similar picture. Only 10% of transport & storage companies expect to see a decrease in turnover, compared to 15.2% of retailers and a rather worrying 18.6% of manufacturers. Finally, to complete the rollercoaster ride, there’s now another major concern for larger transport and storage companies. It’s currently a very aggressive market and, compared to any other sector, more transport and storage firms that employ 10 or more people say that competition is currently impacting their business. 33.2% of transport & storage companies said competition is impacting their turnover as opposed to, for example, 30.3% of retailers and just 23.5% of manufacturers employing 10 people or more.”