STOB.L Regulatory News (STOB)

20 Jun 2008 07:00



20 June 2008

STOBART GROUP LIMITED

("Stobart" or "the Group")

Interim Management Statement 

Stobart Group, one of the UK's leading providers of multimodal transport and logistics solutions, is pleased to announce its first Interim Management Statement ahead of its Annual General Meeting, to be held at the Fermain Valley Hotel, Guernsey, at 12 noon today.

At the meeting, the following update for the period from 1 March 2008 to date will be read to attendees:

"Stobart has made a good start to the year, successfully completing the acquisitions of James Irlam & Sons and WA Developments Ltd, and the integration of both of these businesses into the Group is proceeding to plan. We are pleased to announce that WA Developments (now known as Stobart Rail) is performing ahead of expectations and is making a valuable contribution to the Group.

"In line with its strategy, Stobart continues to develop its multimodal offering to provide customers with cost and environmental benefits. Core to our strategy is moving goods using less fuel and one of the Group's key performance indicators is the optimisation of our road fleet to reduce wasteful empty miles.

"A few weeks ago we announced the signing of an additional contract with Tesco to provide a second dedicated rail service running daily, six days a week, from Grangemouth to Inverness. The contract, which will run for an initial five year period, is valued at £15 million. When fully operational it is hoped that this service will replace approximately 13,000 lorry journeys, or 1.9 million lorry miles from the road each year saving around 700,000 litres of fuel. The Group has also started development work at the Port of Weston in Runcorn, Cheshire.  

"Stobart is protected from fuel increases and has fuel price escalators in customer contracts. We are mindful of the rising cost of fuel and the impact that it will have on our customers and the transport and logistics industry at large. The Group is engaging with audiences at the highest levels of government and industry in an attempt to work constructively with them to establish ways in which the burden of rising oil prices can be eased.

"Despite the continued speculation of an economic slowdown and rising fuel prices, the Group continues to trade in line with management expectations and the Board remains confident that its strategy of developing a truly multimodal transport and logistics offering will enable the Group to deliver further profit growth over the course of this financial year."

-Ends-

For further information: