THE owner of one of the north's biggest transport and logistics groups has reported a rise in turnover to more than £64 million in the year to last March.
But the rising cost of running the business hit the bottom line at the Woodside Logistics Group in Ballyclare, as profits slipped back on the previous year.
Woodside Logistics is the parent company consolidating seven Woodside subsidiaries involved primarily in freight haulage into a wide range of destinations in Britain and Europe, and it also includes a warehousing division.
Established in 1967 and still family-owned and run (its key directors are Robert and Mark Woodside), the company said its performance in the trading year was "satisfactory", and was achieved in a "challenging operating environment".
The directors, in assessing performance, consider the key measures to be turnover and gross profit ratio.
And in the year to March 2018, turnover rose from £61.8 million to £64.4 million, although the gross profit margin slipped back to 15.1 per cent from 17.1 per cent a year ago.
Operating profit came in at £3.17m against £4.15m a year earlier, while the retained profit was £2.43m against £3.14m in 2017.
Over the years Woodside has developed strong links with all the major shipping lines across the Irish Sea from the ports of Belfast, Dublin, Warrenpoint and Larne, and as a result it has more than 160 standard shipping spaces every day across all major routes.
Its depots in Ballynure, Belfast, Dublin, Liverpool and Preston give the company easy access to all major ports in Ireland and Britain including Heysham, Birkenhead, Cairnryan and Holyhead.
According to accounts, the Woodside Logistics Group employs 483 people across a wide variety of roles.
That's up from 462 the year before, and as a result its overall wages bill rose from just short of £17m to more than £18.5m.
Its two key directors banked a total of £343,595, though that represented a sizeable cut on the previous year (£441,817).
Much of the equipment and vehicles used in the Woodside business are purchased on a leasing or hire-purchase basis.
The outstanding obligations on finance leases and hire purchase at March 2017 were £6.4 million, according to its financial statement.
In recent years, the group has retained post-tax profits in the business and there have been no recent dividend payments to shareholders.
As a result, the end year value of shareholders' funds has increased again to reach £23.2m at March 2018.
