Fastway Group announces increased turnover

July 2009 - The Fastway group of companies has achieved a positive sales growth result despite trying economic times, with the announcement of their 2008/2009 annual turnover figure of $458 million. This is up 3.8% from $441 million in 2007/2008.

Fastway Group managing director Brem Ellingham said that the global financial crisis has presented both challenges and opportunities. 'A positive spin off has been the preparedness of businesses to change to another supplier if a better service and price mix can be achieved. We've gained some large customers because of this, whereas a year ago they probably wouldn't have considered comparing suppliers or changing.'

On a less positive note, Mr. Ellingham said that some of the existing customers are sending lower volumes of freight. 'It really depends on the type of business. Some industries are experiencing an upturn in sales because their products or services are suited to the current climate, but many industries have been adversely affected. The flow-on effect to our business is immediate; the transport industry is a good gauge for the economy generally.'

The Fastway strategy has been to bring a strong focus back to their basic business model and drive this through every level of their franchise network.

'We've been retraining staff and franchisees in our core sales and marketing procedures, and we've kept our marketing simple and clearly targeted on key areas that we know we are best at,' said Mr Ellingham. 'Not only is it working for us now, but we will be that much better poised for ongoing growth when the economy becomes more buoyant.' (see Brem Ellingham's comments in our article Coping With Recession)

The company's franchise arm, Fastway Couriers, has experienced an ever stronger upwards shift since the financial crisis which Mr Ellingham puts down to redundancies and cut-backs creating interest in franchise opportunities. 'We've not only had an increase in franchise enquiries throughout our global network, we've also seen a higher number of prospective franchisees proceed. In fact, in New Zealand we are almost fully franchised, with far less opportunities available than we had a year ago."

Further afield, Fastway Global commenced operating in Pretoria, South Africa this year and the opening of their Johannesburg Regional Franchise is planned for September.

Plans for Fastway in the coming year include a continuation of their current back to basics strategy, and ongoing development of technological tools to enhance and aid the customer experience as well as streamline franchisee procedures. 'Our board is fully committed to ongoing technological development and this year is no exception,' Mr Ellingham said.