Member Article

Sheffield parcel firm to be acquired for £113 million

Sheffield parcel firm Tuffnells Parcels Express is to be acquired by specialist distributer Connect Group plc, based in Swindon for an initial consideration of £113.4 million.

Tuffnells specialises in B2B of mixed freight and parcel consignments, particularly in items of irregular dimension and weight with a national distribution network.

For the year ended 31 December 2013 revenue for Tuffnells was £127.8 million, up 11.5%. on the prior year.

Connect Group plc, formerly known as WHSmith News before its demerger from WHSmith in 2006 has newspaper, book and education distribution arms.

Mark Cashmore, group chief executive of Connect commented: “We are delighted to be announcing the acquisition of Tuffnells today, which we believe offers significant strategic and commercial opportunities for the Enlarged Group.

“The addition of Tuffnells will see us broaden our reach into an area of specialist distribution which complements our core skills and competences of time sensitive distribution with high levels of service and efficiency.

“The transaction is expected to be significantly earnings enhancing for our shareholders and accelerates our clearly articulated diversification strategy. The Group remains focused on growing profits and generating free cash flow to support our progressive dividend policy.”

Lloyd Dunn, managing director of Tuffnells commented: “I am delighted that Connect Group has recognised Tuffnells’ leading expertise and future growth prospects.

“By combining our businesses we will immediately benefit from opportunities to share skills and create synergies. We are already planning for strong standalone growth and expect there will be significant further benefits as we combine with Connect Group to deliver for the next phase of our development.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .