Europa Worldwide Group reports further growth at fifth annual Management Conference – where managers from 16 locations listened to the Board outline exciting plans for business growth, as well as celebrating success of the last year.
This was the first event attended by managers from Continental Cargo Carriers (CCC) which was acquired by Europa in May last year.
Directors from Europa Worldwide Group’s business’s four operating divisions – Europa Road, Europa Air & Sea, Europa Showfreight and Europa Warehouse – presented their plans to more than 50 managers.
The event was held at a central location, Hodsock Priory in the East Midlands. Managers and Directors from across the Europa Worldwide Group, from Oostende to Hong Kong, Southampton to Glasgow, all came together to review the development of the business.
2018 was an exceptional year for Europa, the Group is in its strongest-ever financial position having achieved a turnover of £180m, revenue is up 24 per cent and the company aims to pass the £400m turnover mark by 2022.
Through the CCC acquisition, Europa increased its head count to 800. In addition, in 2018 launched a new Europa Road sales branch in Sheffield, unveiled new Northern Ireland and Nordic services. In addition, Europa Warehouse reconfigured its Northampton site which is now dedicated to longstanding customer Naked Wines and Majestic, and in November Europa Air & Sea reaching a record turnover of £35million.
This is at the same time as the business continues to improve efficiencies through its bespoke in-house developed IT system, Leonardo which drives quality and productivity now evident across almost all areas of the business, from the finance team to inside a Europa cab.
Europa is one of only six freight and logistics companies which was included in The Sunday Times Grant Thornton Top Track 250 league table, which ranks Britain’s private, mid-market growth companies with the biggest sales.
Managing Director of Europa Andrew Baxter said: “Last year marked a major milestone for us, five years since we acquired the business, we’ve achieved our goal of transforming Europa into a market leader this is because we continue to work hard at developing and evolving the business.
“Our strategy continues to focus on long term profitability by improving our services to customers, whilst driving down costs and driving up quality. We have a great team at Europa – the best people in the business – so sharing our plans and vision with the team is essential, whilst we continue to evolve and growth.”
All of the Directors talked about the impact of Brexit in their operations. Andrew added “2019 will be defined by what happens with Brexit. If there is a deal we will continue to aggressively expand the business, whereas if there is no deal, we will need to slow growth whilst we navigate those complexities.”
“2019 will be an exceptional year, we are already investing in a number of major initiatives to ensure we’re in the best possible position to manage the impact of Brexit. There is no doubt we are heading for a challenging period across the whole of the logistics sector.”
Europa has just completed the acquisition of some of the trade and assets of Menzies Response (an end-to-end fulfilment and warehouse management service) for an undisclosed sum – bringing its team to 900 plus two additional sites.
Europa Worldwide Group is a specialist road, air & sea, warehouse and showfreight operator employing more than 900 people across 16 sites in the UK, as well as Hong Kong, Czech Republic and Belgium, and with representation in 100 countries.
