Transport group, DX, making around a hundred million deliveries a year, reports that adjusted pre-tax profit is expected to materially exceed current market expectations for the financial year in a trading update issued this morning, Monday 1st Feb.

Chief Exec, Lloyd Dunn comments,

DX Is pleased to provide an update on trading for the 27 weeks ending 2 January 2021, the first half of its current financial year. Trading over the period continued to track materially ahead of last year up until Christmas. Since then momentum has remained encouraging although B2B volumes have been modestly impacted by the national lockdown imposed in December. Nonetheless, the Board now anticipates that DX will materially exceed current market expectations for adjusted profit before tax for the financial year.

The outperformance reflects continuing strong progress at DX Freight, where both volumes and margins have improved over the same period last year. Volumes at DX Express were slightly better than management expected but margins have softened. This was due to the business mix, with a greater proportion of B2C deliveries as B2B volumes were impacted by the coronavirus restrictions. Net new business across both divisions remains encouraging and the new business pipeline is very healthy.

The Group’s delivery network has been expanded with three recent depot openings at DX Freight. This will support DX’s continuing growth and improve productivity. Plans to expand the network with a further three sites over the second half of the financial year are well under way, reflecting management confidence and new business opportunities. The Group’s financial position remains strong, with high levels of liquidity and significant headroom within DX’s invoice discounting facility. The Board expects to report interim results in early March 2021 and will provide further details on trading at that time.