Operational reviews – Bidvest 3663 review
Bidvest Foodservice
Europe |
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Andrew Selley: Chief executive |
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Highlights
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A robust performance, with a continued increase in operating profit |
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Sales and volume increases across all business categories |
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Continued strong working capital performance |
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Significant investment in new infrastructure. |
Innovation and new investment
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New multi temperature depots opened in Yorkshire and the Midlands with another due to open in South Wales |
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Replacement depot in North London for the fresh operation |
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Roll-out of Voice Picking |
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Continued roll-out of telematics in all new vehicles |
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Continued refinement of 3Xpress, the proving ground for new technology |
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Implementation of customer self-serve for invoices and statements. |
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| Andrew Selley – Chief executive |
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Disappointments and challenges
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Continued change in business mix towards fresh makes the business more complex and drives in cost |
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Benefits from investment in technology to reduce power consumption have taken longer than expected to materi |
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National business, with its associated additional requirements, has outperformed free trade business |
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Stock loss disappointing – an area of focus. |
Changes in the operational environment
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Increased activity by the UK Ministry of Transport has focused on vehicle maintenance and driver compliance with legislation |
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Increased costs driven by increased fresh volumes – being addressed by infrastructure improvements and increased collaboration with Bidvest Fresh. Also a continued focus on range rationalisation |
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Legal training requirements for drivers have been achieved but there is increased difficulty in recruiting and retaining drivers. |
2015 targets, objectives and factors affecting future results
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To further develop our free trade business |
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To simplify the business, both operationally and administratively |
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To eliminate non-value adding costs |
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To continue to develop a depot infrastructure to enable greater efficiency while remaining close to the customer. |
Risk and response
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Increasing “outsourcing” by customers, expecting the business to undertake additional work on their behalf – difficult to resist in a competitive marketplace |
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Increased fuel costs – a significant proportion of fuel purchases are now hedged |
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A challenging trading environment in terms of competition and
pressure on margins – being addressed by targeting specific
sectors and product ranges and providing the sales force with
the tools they need to both effectively sell and manage margin. |
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