Winning a raft of new contracts helped supply chain group Wincanton steer a positive course over the past three months.
The Chippenham-based group said in an update to the London Stock Exchange that it continued to trade in line with expectations following new business wins linked to the recovering construction sector and the extension of its relationship with defence giant BAE Systems. 
It said “good levels of activity” in the construction sector had supported further contract awards, including a new five-year deal with Lavendon Group to take over the in-house logistics operations for its specialist powered mobile work platforms.
The BAE contract includes additional on-site logistics and warehousing activities for its maritime operations. Under the long-term agreement, which starts with the outsourcing of all logistics and warehousing at BAE Systems’ sites in Glasgow, Wincanton will operate a central warehousing facility, inbound scheduling and collections and provision of modular re-useable crates.
Profits in its specialist businesses segment, which includes containers and its Wincanton Records Management and Pullman Fleet Services divisions, were in line with expectations, the group said, although margins had remained under pressure in the Pullman Fleet Services business in the second half of the year.
While a major user of fuel – it operates more than 4,000 vehicles – Wincanton said the near halving of the oil price had no material impact on its profitability as its contracts typically passed on any fuel price risk to the end customer. The group employs 15,500 people across 200-plus sites in the UK.
