The struggling parcel courier Yodel is preparing to call in administrators as hopes of a rescue deal fade, threatening disruption to online shopping.
Insolvency experts at Teneo have been lined up after efforts to find a buyer for a company which provides delivery services for some of the high street’s biggest names began to flounder.
Yodel’s customers include John Lewis, Argos, Zara and AO World, according to its website.
No decision to appoint administrators has been made and Yodel said on Wednesday it was “business as usual”.
An insolvency would deal a fresh blow to the Barclay family, who own Yodel and The Telegraph, and have been struggling under heavy debts. The courier is a crucial contractor to the online retailer Very, the biggest of their companies.
A source close to negotiations over Yodel’s future said its looming financial obligations mean an urgent cash injection is required within two weeks. The business had never made a profit until the Government-imposed coronavirus lockdown massively boosted online shopping.
Although the company has enough cash to pay its delivery drivers the week after next, it is expected to struggle to cover future costs after this. Liverpool-based Yodel employs 12,000 nationwide during its busiest periods and around 10,000 the rest of the year, it said on its website.
It is understood takeover interest has come from several rivals including the Polish logistics outfit InPost and delivery upstart Shift, as well as a small handful of private equity and turnaround funds but appetite is said to be waning. The Delivery Group, another rival, pulled out of the process a month ago, sources said.
The boss of another major rival who is not among the bidders said “they missed their chance to sell a few years ago” when the parcels market was growing more quickly.
A Yodel spokesman said: “A process to review strategic options is nearing its conclusion with a number of parties looking to acquire the business. In the meantime Yodel is focused on business as usual.”
The search for new owners started last summer and is being led by corporate finance advisers Clearwater.
Yodel’s predicament will be of particular concern to HSBC. The bank is its single biggest creditor and is understood to be owed around £140m by the company.
Owned by the Barclay family since 2010, Yodel has struggled in the face of fierce competition.
Britain’s parcel market is dominated by five carriers – Royal Mail, Hermes, Amazon Logistics, DHL and UPS – who together accounted for 71pc of the 14m parcels that were shipped in 2022, according to the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index. Yodel’s reported market share is 6pc.
It has also repeatedly fared badly in customer satisfaction polls. Yodel was named joint-worst courier company in the country last year, along with Evri, by Citizens Advice in its annual league table of couriers. 40pc of recipients reported problems with Yodel – the highest of all.
Potential administration for Yodel is the latest sign of upheaval in the Barclay family businesses. The Telegraph was put into receivership by Lloyds Banking Group last year following a dispute about overdue debts of £1.2bn which had been secured against the business.
The Barclay family repaid the debt in full in December with new borrowing mostly sourced from the United Arab Emirates. The Gulf state aims to convert £600m of the lending into ownership of The Telegraph for RedBird IMI, a media fund in which it is the majority investor.
The complex deal is currently under review by regulators as a potential threat to press freedom. The Barclay family are barred by law from exercising any control over The Telegraph, which remains profitable, while its ownership is in question.
The most recently published financial accounts for Yodel’s parent company Logistics Group Holdings show the company made a pre-tax profit of £17.6m in the year to the end of June 2021 – its first ever year in the black.
Turnover jumped from £521m to £676m over the same period as it benefitted from the pandemic parcels boom. The previous year, it racked up losses of £41.8m.
It is unclear how the business has performed since. Accounts for both Yodel and Logistics Group Holdings for June 30, 2022, were due to be filed with Companies House by the end of 2023 but are now more than one month overdue.
In a newspaper interview last July, chief executive Mike Hancox said he expected Yodel to be “close to breaking even” over the previous 12 months.
HSBC declined to comment.
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2024-02-07 19:00:00Z
CBMiaGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRlbGVncmFwaC5jby51ay9idXNpbmVzcy8yMDI0LzAyLzA3L3BhcmNlbC1jb3VyaWVyLXlvZGVsLXByZXBhcmVzLXRvLWNhbGwtaW4tYWRtaW5pc3RyYXRvcnMv0gEA
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