Miniclipper enters its sixth decade having recently invested £2.7m in a new four-acre site in Dunstable where it will relocate its entire transport operation, including a mixed fleet of forty trucks at 7.5-tonne, 12-tonne, 18-tonne and 44-tonne, and 30 trailers. After spending a further £400,000 on IT, telecoms, security and site improvements, the transport operation is set to relocate on 12 April 2021.
This relocation will be topped off in late Spring with the delivery of two new 12-tonne MAN rigids and five new Lawrence David trailers, which add to the 11 MAN tractor units it took delivery of in June 2020, at the end of the first lockdown. This is part of Miniclipper’s £500,000 investment in its fleet.
This fleet relocation frees up Miniclipper’s Billington Road site in Leighton Buzzard to expand its warehouse capacity in the area, which previously housed the trucks and trailer fleet.
Miniclipper has ridden the pandemic storm very well, with strong profitable growth, in particular across its pharmaceutical and industrial sectors. This was further boosted by landing one major new account in the print and graphics sector which required the complete outsource of storage, fulfilment and distribution services.
It has maintained its three-year truck and seven-year trailer replacement strategy to service this growth as it heads towards its strongest ever trading year in 2020/21. It looks set to beat the £15.2m it delivered in 2018/19 with a year-end forecast turnover of £16.1m as of 31 May 2021.
The company, founded by Mick Masters in 1971 in Leighton Buzzard, remains a family business with his son Peter and daughter-in-law Jayne currently at the helm as managing director and sales director, and his two grandchildren part of the 140-strong workforce.