busmag barclays - seabourne oct09 web
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8/8/2019 Busmag Barclays - Seabourne Oct09 Web
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/busmag-barclays-seabourne-oct09-web 1/1THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – OCTOBER 2009
business success 19
www.businessmag.co.uk
in association with
Barclays Commercial Bank
Some businesses owe their success to laser-like
focus on a particular niche expertise or seg-
ment of their market. With Seabourne Express
Courier, it is almost the opposite.
Seabourne is a holding company for a small
group of operations in international express
courier and freight forwarding both by sea and
air. With headquarters near Heathrow, it has
annual revenues of around £30 million and
employs 200 people, including at its oces
in Belgium, France, Germany, Holland and
South Africa. As courier and freight forwarding
companies go it is not unique but it plays to its
strength in a way that has enabled it to prosper
while many of its competitors have struggled.
“We benet hugely from having an overseas
subsidiary in Holland,” explains Nigel Hudson,
Seabourne’snance director. “The Dutch market
has always been very good .... There are many
major international warehousing companies and
central distribution operations there so there is
a lot of movement of products. Another factor
is that it is easier to employ and pay people in
Holland than it is for example in France and
Belgium. In that respect it is similar to the UK.”
He adds, however, that one reason why the
recession may not have bitten until January this
year as far as Seabourne was concerned was
because it has such a wide spread of customers.“The courier business as a whole is quite for-
tunate in that there is a wide demand to move
product and the range of customers is a broad
cross-section across all industries. We have cli-
ents from printing and publishing, lawyers, the
nancial markets, IT, recruitment, advertising,
marketing – all sorts of industries. Even post
2000 when the IT industry crashed we su ered
but fortunately it was only a small element of
the sales ledger; there were other customers
still there... This time though the recession of
the last few months has hit us across the board.”
However before the recession struck, the com-pany had been on the look out to acquire other
businesses. On August 1, 2008, it bought the
Air Action Group of Companies, which added
scale because it operated in similar areas and
had oces in other parts of the UK as well as at
Heathrow. Here Seabourne played to another of
Seabourne ExpressCourier – strength in breadthThe recession continues but bad news does not tell the whole story. In thelatest in our series of monthly articles we highlight another of the region’sbusiness successes. Richard Willsher of The Business Magazine writes
its strengths. “We demonstrated to our ultimate
parent, C J Bourne Asset Management, that
we could make money. That was an advantage
we had over our competitors, we have wealthybackers. However, the company’s bankers, Bar-
clays Commercial Bank, has also provided facili-
ties and nance when needed and often at short
notice. The bank was again critical in the Air
Action deal. Nigel Hudson has a strong working
relationship with Richard Palmer, his relationship
director at Barclays Commercial Bank, and both
are in regular contact with regard to the growth
and development of the group.”
The availability of nance was critical but it
has not been all plain sailing. Hudson says that
while the acquisition has enabled the combined
operation to generate more cash, it took until
January this year to get the two operations
under one roof and then a further six months
to get a group-wide computer system in place.
In addition, management controls have been
critical. “We are now more condent that we can
ght our way through the recession... We keep
an incredibly tight focus on cash through credit
control. We make sure that the debtors don’t slip.
And we keep a very tight focus on costs as well.
This way we should be able to cope with the
recession while for other businesses that were
already on the brink at the start of the recession
it would be a di erent story.”
He also says that a continuing sales e ort has
also been crucial. “We rely on sales calls. We see
it as a numbers game. The more calls you make
the more chance you’ve got. The key to the
courier business is new sales and new custom-
ers. We incentivise our sales sta so that they can
do well if they bring in new business. The way
to grow organically is to bring in new business
and look after existing customers. Ours is a
massive, almost innite market but you have to
get out there and nd new clients. Emphasis on
customer service and the development of IT has
been part of that, making it easier for customers
to book and track shipments they’ve made.”
Hudson notes that nancial analysis can be key
to the well being of many businesses, not just
the markets that his company operates in. “You
have to look behind the gures in the prot and
loss account. Look at the way you do the busi-
ness. Look at the margins you’re making. Is the
margin the true margin? What other costs are
in there? In our business, can routes or vans be
combined, are vans coming back fully utilised?
Are they taking the right routes? What is behind
the numbers? I think it’s important that the
nance department looks at and understands
these things and provides meaningful informa-
tion to the business.”
For Seabourne Express Courier getting through
the recession has been about making the most
of its strengths and managing its business
rigorously. Its business is not unique but its ap-
proach to getting through the tough times sets
it apart from its competitors.
Details:
Seabourne Express Courier Group
International Distribution Centre
01784-222900
www.seabourne-express.com
Andy Simpson
Head of Thames Valley
Barclays Commercial Bank
07775-552125
www.barclayscommercial.com
Nigel Hudson