Bollington haulier saved from closure

Bollington haulier, BC Transport, has been bought out of administration by a local counterpart, saving its 50-strong workforce.

BC Transport (Bollington) 1991 entered administration on 5 December 2017, with Stephen Clancy and Steven Muncaster of Duff & Phelps appointed joint administrators. BC Transport, which is a member of the Road Haulage Association and Transport Association, was formed in 1964 and has an extensive fleet of articulated and rigid curtain side vehicles.

Kinaxia Logistics, which operates from a site is based near Poynton, has now acquired BC Transport’s trade and assets from the joint administrators. It represents the ninth business to join the Kinaxia Group.

Kinaxia Logistics director Peter Fields said: “We are delighted to welcome the team from BC Transport into Kinaxia and, as a fellow Macclesfield-based business, we are pleased to have been able to save the jobs of the local workforce. This is likely to be our last acquisition this year but we anticipate making further investments in the next 12 months and these will be in line with our aim to build a flexible and efficient, service-focused haulage and warehousing group covering the UK.”

BC Transport is a founder member of pallet network Palletforce and will continue to operate as a member of the network following the deal.

Clancy said: “As an established and valued business in the North West of England, we’re pleased to have successfully secured a sale of BC Transport following extensive interest being shown in the business, resulting in all jobs being maintained and its continued, sustained trading.

“The resilience shown by the UK economy following the EU referendum was better than expected. It had been feared that there would be a recession. However, it does now look like unflagging consumer spending largely buoyed up the economy.

“But many economists have anticipated a slowdown to come as higher inflation takes effect. Sterling has fallen significantly, and while exporters have broadly welcomed this, it has to be counterbalanced by an increase in the cost [of] imported raw materials as well as the uncertain trading environment.

“It was this deeply uncertain business environment that ultimately impacted BC Transport, which operates in an industry that was already highly margin-sensitive.”