AGM Statement

RNS Number : 1727T

Wincanton PLC

16 July 2015

 



16 July 2015

Wincanton plc ('Wincanton' or the 'Group')

AGM Statement

Wincanton, a leading provider of supply chain solutions in the UK & Ireland, will hold its Annual General Meeting today at 11am at the offices of Buchanan, 107 Cheapside, London, EC2V 6DN, at which Steve Marshall, Chairman, will make the following statement:

The Board is pleased to report that Wincanton continues to trade in line with expectations.

Within Contract Logistics, the Group has been awarded a number of new business wins including a new contract with Halfords, to be sole operator of its national transport contract. In addition, the Group has signed a five year contract extension with Heinz UK for the provision of transport, warehouse and repack operations until at least 2019, taking our relationship with them beyond the 20 year milestone.

In the Specialist Businesses segment, we have also seen new business wins including, in Wincanton Records Management, a new contract with Viridor to outsource archiving and management of its documents. As highlighted within the preliminary results announcement the Pullman business has been underperforming and was loss making in 2014/15. The new management team is implementing an improvement plan to enhance the performance of the business going forward. In the Home Shopping section of Pullman the existing commercial arrangements in respect of the two unprofitable contracts will end within the current financial year. We are continuing to work with these customers to identify if a new operating solution and commercial framework can be developed. 

The Group has received confirmation from the Pensions Regulator and the Trustees of the Wincanton Pension Scheme that the March 2014 actuarial valuation process has now been completed and the pension deficit recovery plan will continue with the same profile of cash deficit contribution as existing. This will result in a pension deficit contribution of £14.8m in 2015/16 increasing by RPI each year until September 2024.

There has been no significant change to the general financial position of the Group from that disclosed in the results announcement for the year ended 31 March 2015.

As previously announced the following Board changes will take place over the coming months. Eric Born will be stepping down as Chief Executive at the end of July 2015 to take up an international CEO role outside of the logistics sector and Adrian Colman, currently Group Finance Director, will be promoted to Chief Executive with effect from 1 August 2015. Tim Lawlor, currently Director of Finance and Strategy with Serco Group plc, will join Wincanton as Group Finance Director on 28 September 2015.

Paul Venables, our current Audit Committee Chairman and Senior Independent Director, is stepping down from the Board after six years at today's AGM. Stewart Oades, who joined the Board in November 2014 and brings with him very considerable logistics sector experience, will assume the role of Senior Independent Director and Paul Dean, who joined the Board in February 2015 will chair the Audit Committee going forward.

For further information please contact:

Wincanton plc                                                                  Tel: [phone]

Eric Born, Chief Executive

Adrian Colman, Group Finance Director

Buchanan                                                                            Tel: [phone]

Richard Oldworth, Gabriella Clinkard

 

END

 

 

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