Macauley Christopher, Customer Relations Manager at Premier Logistics (UK), is only 27 years old, but he has already applied for the national pallet distribution and contract logistics company founded in Coalville for 14 years. Son of founder and CEO Lee Christopher, the younger.
“I started washing trucks and sweeping bridges when I was thirteen and I haven’t had a summer vacation since!My father instilled in me that you will only get out of life what you put into it. »
Christopher, pictured, worked his way up the ranks at company spaces until he was 19, when he took the “leap of faith” upon entering the office.
He says he never had the ambition to get behind the wheel. “I was worried it would be ‘Mac has his license, let’s send it,'” he says. “It’s something I’ve avoided. “
In 2020, a “return to basics” helped Premier get out of a Voluntary Enterprise Agreement (CVA), which it had signed in 2018 after an era of “unprecedented monetary stress,” and give it a solid foundation to compete. The market.
Christopher’s current role is to win new business and serve existing customers.
“About six years ago, we were generating £25 million a year with five or six deposits across the UK,” he says. “We grew very temporarily through ad hoc work, basically on a pallet network, and we didn’t allow ourselves to build the right culture within our company.
“So we had to make the difficult decision to close some depots and move to AVC. Suppliers voted in favor and we were paid through the CVA in 18 months. It’s a wonderful accomplishment because it’s a five-year contract. My father is a very honorable guy and he didn’t need to close the business on the first day and restart it on the second day.
Christopher Sr. was also looking to pass on a solid business to his two sons, who at the time were running for Premier.
Today, the carrier is founded on a 10-acre site with 200,000 feet of warehouse space in Coalville, Leicestershire, as well as a few satellite depots, and generates a turnover of £12 million a year with a healthy profit margin. Pallet network activity now accounts for 35% of turnover, which is much more sustainable, compared to 70% before CVA.
“My goal for the longevity of the business is to grow our contract logistics business and have the warehouses full,” says Christopher. “The warehouse in Coalville is full, which is fortunate because there have been a lot of empty warehouses lately. This volume fuels our trucks and gets us to the right places to recharge.
The relative profitability of wheels and sheds fluctuates depending on source and demand, but at present storage will pay more than the haul fleet.
“The fleet depends on volume and we haven’t reached the desired capacity yet,” says Christopher. “We are participating in a large tender for a highly reputable company that would increase our night-time business by 40-50%. We would like to load some cars as we have most of the fleet, so the contract would be a wonderful charge for us.
“We’re making money, but we still need to make the money we need. “
The warehouse is multi-user but has 3 consumers in the food, healthcare, and packaging industries because Christopher doesn’t need to work with “20 other consumers. “
“It creates too much administrative work,” he says. This generates five to ten per day for our fleet. We then called members of the Transportation Association (TA) to evaluate in Coalville.
For five years, the warehouse was engaged with Jaguar Landrover. Christopher appreciates the five-year partnership and wishes them the best of luck for the future.
The shipping fleet basically transports food, construction, rehabilitation, packaging and sanitary products.
“We spread our threat pretty well,” says Christopher. When we look at new prospects, we ask, “Are they recession-proof?”
Premier has continued to upgrade cars during Covid-19 and the oldest truck in the fleet is 3 years old. This means it has avoided hyperinflation in new truck costs caused by car shortages during the pandemic.
Premier’s truck of choice at the moment is the Volvo FH, which accounts for 70% of the fleet, with the rest being a combination of DAF, Mercedes-Benz and Iveco.
“Volvo is a prestige car and our drivers love it,” says Christopher. “They also check the MPG and our dealership, Volvo Truck and Bus Centre Leicester in Bardon, is in our advertising domain for any warranty work. “
As the U. K. enters recession, margins become tight as consumers look to cut prices and rates.
“We work harder for less,” says Christopher. We have difficult conversations with consumers about costs. We will allow ourselves to embark on a race to the bottom.
“A lot of corporations are going bankrupt right now and we’d be willing to acquire a company if it was in the right field. Now we’re on a solid foundation with a strong culture and if we were to win again, I know it would work. »
For now, Premier rarely spreads its wings too far and an ideal acquisition would be 30 miles from Coalville.
“That would be a smart position to start,” says Christopher. “What we discovered by challenging with past acquisitions to other cultures in other parts of the country. If we stay local, we can touch it, feel it, and know what other people in our domain think.
“It would create volume and then we could take a look at strategic acquisitions across the UK. “
Premier left another pallet network to register with Palletforce in 2016 and has covered the maximum LE postcodes. Since then, its square footage has shrunk, but it remains among the top five sensitive in terms of volume of access to the center and Chrismaximum sensher is satisfied to be a user of the network.
“I don’t need to deliver a lot of products,” he says. It’s a business with very tight margins. If we were located in the country, having a massive income and underperforming wouldn’t work. But as we are only 40 minutes from Palletforce, 80% of our cargo arrives directly at the centre. This avoids a lot of handling and reduces potential damage.
Premier operates 15 double-decker trailers on the pallet network, but one is a longer semi-trailer (LST).
“Because we’re so close to the center, we don’t see any primary benefit from LSTs,” says Christopher. “Maybe it would be a focus for later if we open our trunks. “
The company also joined the Transportation Association in January 2023.
“Harry Campey [Campeys, Selby’s Chief Commercial and Operations Officer] has helped us, so we thank him very much,” says Christopher. “It’s been a great credit to us. We meet once a quarter to discuss demanding industry situations with a large number of like-minded family businesses.
“We do a lot of painting with Campeys and Farrall’s; if we are in their areas, they will recharge our trucks in Coalville. It’s a wonderful support network.
The self-help aspects of TA are expanded for members to share a policy of safe parking, refueling, and breakdowns when their vehicles are off base.
“There are still pedestrians going out at night and gas stations are not safe,” says Christopher. “We make sure they look for a TM site because we know it’s safe and they have all the facilities. We have our own workshop, bunkers and AdBlue on site and supply those facilities to TA members.
The concept of the TA forming some sort of purchasing organization to package truck and trailer purchases has been discussed in recent meetings, and while it has been tricky so far to agree on a popular specification that suits members, the concept is gaining traction. the purchase – and probably charging – of electric vehicles.
“Manufacturers have come to the organization in the afterlife and asked us why we don’t do it,” says Christopher. “It’s something that can come to fruition. Costs are a huge challenge and we have 4,000 cars on the network, which gives us ample purchasing power.
At its well-attended parliamentary reception at the Palace of Westminster in January, the RHA unveiled its “Driving Growth, Acting for the Country” manifesto for the upcoming elections, widely scheduled for the autumn of this year.
Selby’s Campeys made headlines in February 2023 when it became the first haulier in the UK to procure a 19-tonne battery-electric DAF LF for its pallet network operation.
J. S. Davidson, formerly Chiltern Cold Storage, replaced its name in 2022 to mark a change in ownership and emphasize that in addition to being a frozen food storage company, the company is a full-service provider covering ambient and refrigerated distribution.