A SMALL drop in turnover for a North Yorkshire cold storage and transport business has been put down to the expected loss of a big customer partway through the year.

The Boroughbridge-based Reed Boardall Group Limited said it had continued to build on its solid foundations, with revenues remaining close to the previous year at £64.3 million in the year to March 31, 2016, compared with £65.9 million in 2015.

Serving leading retailers and food manufacturers throughout the UK the company, whose Boroughbridge cold storage facility is one of the largest in Europe, said it had put in another strong financial performance despite an increasingly competitive market.

It attributed the slight fall in turnover compared to 2015 to a minor decrease in volumes due to the expected loss of a large customer part way through the financial period.

However, Reed Boardall said it had very quickly made up the volume of stock in store.

It said the transport division continued to face a tough climate with costs increasing during the year which were difficult to recover.

Due to increased efficiencies within the business, profit before taxation saw a slight rise from £3.2 million in 2015 to £3.4 million in 2016.

Marcus Boardall, deputy chief executive of The Reed Boardall Group, said: “After more than 20 years as partners to some of the leading players in the British food sector, we have a tried-and-tested formula for cost-effectively and reliably providing the integrated cold storage and transport services they need.

“With consumers shopping more frequently at outlets with restricted storage space, our customers are demanding smaller and swifter deliveries. This fits well with our business model of a 142,000 pallet storage facility operating on a single site, enabling us to respond quickly with ‘order today, delivery tomorrow’, as well as providing excellent value as we are able to combine products from various customers.”

Sarah Roberts, finance director, said: “With our solid track record providing these niche services, we are able to run an extremely efficient operation to the benefit of our customers in what is a very competitive sector.”

Reed Boardall is one of the largest temperature-controlled food distribution businesses in the UK, storing and delivering frozen food from manufacturers across Britain, Europe and further afield to all the UK’s best-known supermarkets.

Operating round the clock, its 180-strong fleet of vehicles moves an average of 12,000 pallets a day and it stores around £100 million-worth of products on behalf of its customers.

It employs more than 750 staff at its single site in Boroughbridge.