Main Feature Logistics Property
Unloading or offl oading?
Capital investment: Yodel is looking to offl oad 40 warehouses.
Unloading is Yodel’s business, but these days it’s not its parcels delivery that’s attracting attention – it’s its campaign to offl oad more than 40 warehouses and distribution centres, writes David Thame.
From Liverpool to Taunton, from Belfast to Telford, Yodel is in the midst of one of the biggest property sell-offs
the UK parcels business has yet seen. Formed when the DHL and Home Delivery networks merged in 2010, the business faces the task of removing duplication and muddle from its property portfolio. Up to 45 UK depots will go in an effort to cut a spiralling £28m/year property rents bill. That much is good business sense – but fathoming the details of the Yodel property strategy is not so easy. A recent acquisition
50 June 2012 Storage Handling Distribution
in the North Manchester suburb of Mid- dleton has raised questions about exactly what Yodel has in mind. It has made some commentators wonder if the right hand (in charge of disposals) knows what the left hand (in charge of acquisitions) is doing. The disposal programme was unveiled in October last year. Moving to a single operat- ing platform would improve profi tability. Jonathan Smith, chief executive, said at the time: “This is not a decision we have taken lightly. We have to make these changes to meet the needs of our customers and create a sustainable and profi table business model.
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We have been running two operational networks since early 2010 with limited fl exibility. Having concluded the planning process we are now able to communicate how we will move to one operation.”
DISPOSAL STRATEGY
The list of properties intended for disposal has left some observers puzzled. Jonathan Atherton, Manchester-based warehouse property specialist with surveyors Savills, says: “Looking at the list of properties Yodel have slated for disposal, it’s hard to see a common theme among the good
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