Stobart Group confident of years ahead

Iconic transport firm Stobart Group Limited is confident of delivering strong results over the next few years, following a period of significant investment and restructuring.

The Carlisle-based firm issued an interim management statement to coincide with its AGM and said it “steady” start to the year.

Stobart expected the summer weather would reverse a trend of lower volumes among FMCG customers.

The firm was less sure about its civil engineering division and said the external rail market was likely to remain flat for the rest of the year.

Stobart’s airport facilities businesses has strengthened with the extension of Southend Airport and the firm said it was in discussions to add new routes and build passenger numbers.

Plant outages among biomass customers had disrupted some of Stobart’s services in the sector, but “take or pay” agreements were said to have reduced the impact of these interruptions.