ALLIED Vehicles, the Glasgow-based supplier of modified automobiles has seen operating profit increase by almost one-third but since year-end it has faced a number of challenges relating to changing suppliers.
And the company faces a major challenge after one of its main clients, Motability, opted to move its hire business to another suppler.
Writing in accounts newly filed at Companies House, managing director Peter Facenna said: “This will marginally impact the results within the hire department for the current fiscal year, however the impact will be more severe next year and thereafter.”
For the year to April 30 2017 Possil-based Allied saw turnover climb by eight per cent to £129.6m, as operating profit increase by 30 per cent to £7.1m. Mr Facenna said “overall it was a good year”.
The company saw growth in “most” of its departments, with Motability sales and rentals the best performing. Mr Facenna said the company’s WAV Services department also performed well, having been established after the company recruited mobile technicians to provide remote support to Motability customers – which is now a condition of supplying wheelchair-accessible vehicles.
However, Mr Facenna said hackney vehicles sales slipped back on the previous year, driven by a time delay between a deal with Peugeot and Ford deliveries commending. This contract change also affected fleet sales.
Pre-tax profits rocket by 80 per cent to 6.7m, with last year’s figures reduced though the waiving of loans to the nearby Glasgow Tigers speedway team, which was saved by the business.
In 2016, the company waived £1.9m of loans to both the Glasgow Tigers and Ashfield Allied, which owns the club’s stadium. Last year, £424,439 was waived.
The company saw the average number of staff increase to 578 from 545.
Since year-end Mr Facenna noted that taxi trading had been “significantly tough”, with sales reflecting the general automobile sector. He added that the taxi industry was facing challenges from the spread of app-based services like Uber.
Model changeovers would also present the company with a challenge.
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