Maxi Caledonian has reported turnover in excess of £100 million for the first time as its long-standing owner revealed details of succession planning at the haulage and construction group.

The Irvine-based company, which is more than 50 years ago old, reported a rise in profits and turnover during “increasingly difficult trading conditions”, new accounts reveal.

The accounts, which are expected to be lodged at Companies House this week, were revealed as Gerry Atkinson confirmed details of his semi-retirement. Mr Atkinson’s son Richard has been appointed deputy chairman of all the group's companies and has taken responsibility for Maxi’s haulage division, as well as IT, insurance matters, and logistics contracts agreements.

However Mr Atkinson, who has owned the business for more than 40 years and turned in 80 in February, declared he has “no plans to retire”.

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Maxi, which includes businesses involved in haulage, construction, and warehousing, increased pre-tax profits to £4.44m from £4.35m for the year ended September 30, 2023, as turnover was hiked to £101.8m from £89.2m.

The company’s dominant haulage division, which serves supermarkets and commercial vehicle parts suppliers, increased turnover to £80.9m from £75.5m, although its pre-tax profits dropped to £2.7m from £3.6m. That came amid challenging conditions which saw a number of firms go out of business.

Maxi Construction, meanwhile, reported a “satisfactory” pre-tax profit of £2m, up from £847,785, as turnover surged to £20.7m from £13.4m.

“We are pleased to report that all group companies had a successful year’s trading, successfully managing increasingly difficult trading conditions," state the directors of Max Caledonian in the accounts.

"Maxi Construction Ltd’s turnover grew significantly up to normal levels and results remain very satisfactory.

“Maxi Haulage Ltd’s turnover grew significantly and profits remain satisfactory in a market which now has more supply than demand. Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to fully recover inflationary increases to costs and this continues into the following period.

“Overall group turnover increased from £89m to over £100m and pre-tax profits were £4.4m. We maintain a very strong balance sheet and our financial strength greatly aids the confidence customers and potential customers have in us.”

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Mr Atkinson has been with Maxi since 1976, and has owned the company since buying out its other shareholders in 1983.

While he has reduced his working commitments, he told The Herald that he remains closely involved.

He said would reduce his operational involvement “but I don’t intend retiring”, noting: “I’ll still keep my finger on my pulse. Richard has been with us for many, many [years] since he left university really. He has been through the training, and he knows the business inside out. I am 80 now and have to cover for me not being here [and have a] succession plan.”

Commenting on trading, Mr Atkinson said there had been a “deterioration in the haulage industry”. “These things happen, they come, and they go," he said. "At the moment you have a huge amount of insolvencies, probably because of Covid and also the taxman looking for his money now which he wasn’t before.”

He added that the industry had also gone from “driver shortage to driver excesses”.

Asked to elaborate on the market conditions facing hauliers, Mr Atkinson said: “Obviously, from a profit point of view, costs are the problem. You cannot pass those costs on by increasing your prices. We have already improved our efficiency as much as we can. We keep trying, we keep finding ways to cut costs, but at the end of the day you have got to put prices up, and that is difficult just now.”

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He added: “It is difficult to see where the market is going with the [general] election coming. We just don’t know.”

Asked if the company would consider acquisitions, Mr Atkinson said: “Yes, we would look at it. My son Richard reckons he gets about one [opportunity] a day from people looking to sell businesses just now. We are not actively pursuing it, but like all commercial situations, if the right opportunity came along we would take advantage of it. But I am not pursuing it. There a lot of companies on the market just now. Obviously, you are buying someone else’s problems [if you acquire]."

Commenting on the firm’s construction division, Mr Atkinson said: “We are doing very nicely. We have maintained a good business and continue to do so. We are an economical and high quality construction company and regularly get congratulated on the quality of our projects. I think that helps a lot.”

The accounts show Maxi Caledonian employed an average of 375 staff during the year, up from 350.