Strong sales and financial performance across GWP Group businesses

Sales and turnover have increased by more than £1m at GWP Group during our latest financial year.

This is despite the ongoing restrictions surrounding the Coronavirus pandemic affecting many parts of the economy.

The results have been hailed as “fantastic” and have set a new record for revenue, in the year that the business celebrates trading for 30 years (having been formed in 1990).

GWP Group are delighted to announce that sales have increased by more than £1m over the previous 12 months.

This saw a record turnover across the 5 trading divisions of £13.25m for the financial period ending October 2020, up from just under £12m for the preceding year.

All divisions within the business – which produces a range of ecommerce, transit, and protective packaging, alongside specialist items including foam, anti-static and returnable containers – have now seen growth of 40 percent since 2015. Combined turnover was just under £9.5m five years ago.

Ruth Cook, Managing Director at GWP Group, commented:

We are obviously delighted with the financial performance this year, particularly against the backdrop of the Coronavirus pandemic and the unprecedented economic uncertainty. This is far and away the strongest performance we have recorded in our 30 years of trading, providing us with great confidence as we move towards 2021 and beyond.

Celebrating our 30th Birthday in August, GWP continued trading throughout the national lockdown earlier this year. Supplying a number of food producers, medical and pharmaceutical companies with their packaging GWP therefore plays a key role in these critical supply chains.

Ian Heskins, GWP Group Business Development Director added:

What has been really pleasing is that we have seen growth throughout all areas of our business. This includes our main corrugated packaging division just outside of Swindon, but our specialist foam and cases division in Salisbury as well. Sales of reusable packaging and handling products have performed better than expected too.

He added;

And whilst our 2020 results continue the underlying trend we have been seeing for some time now, this years’ figures have been achieved in incredibly difficult circumstances. It is a tribute to the hard work and commitment of all our staff, a number of which have been with us from when we began trading 30 years ago.

Although plans for celebrating the landmark 30^th Birthday had to be postponed due to ongoing restrictions around gatherings and social events, being able to achieve such positive results during a tough period is a reflection of the hard work and effort put in by everyone at all levels of the business.

GWP’s successful year has been picked up by a number of news outlets.

This includes industry press, including The Packaging Portal, as well as business focused publications including Insider and Business Biscuit.

Please see below for links to the various press coverage:

Insider
The Packaging Portal
Business Biscuit
Manufacturing Global

When lockdown measures were originally announced back in March (2020), GWP Group remained trading at close to full capacity. This was due to supporting a number of businesses that are part of critical supply chains within the medical, pharmaceutical and food and drink industries.

However, GWP were also able to support many customers that successfully pivoted to online sales during this period – and required new or increased amounts of packaging as a result.

GWP also designed, manufactured and supplied “workplace screens” to help businesses that were unable to close to protect their staff and maintain social distancing during the initial lockdown period.

All of this was set against the backdrop of logistical challenges posed by the virus, with an obvious focus on ensuring that all of our staff were kept safe and well during this period.

Despite the strong sales, GWP found time to branch out and provide assistance in a number of other areas as well.

This includes supplying a large number of boxes to the local food bank, Swindon Food Collective (a charity GWP has supported for many years, including in its previous form as the Swindon Foodbank).

As the charity experienced a surge in requests due to COVID related redundancies and furloughed workers (plus those that missed out on Government support), this extra help provided by GWP allowed them to be more efficient to meet the increased demand.

The GWP Protective division also manufactured a significant volume of foam parts for visors. Originally working in conjunction with local engineering company Orthotropic, the first batch of visors were donated to local health care workers on the front line of the crisis.

Subsequently, GWP began manufacturing foam visors for a customer that itself was supplying directly in to the NHS.

Whilst 2020 has proven to be an incredibly challenging year, both the financial performance and the wider assistance GWP has ben able to provide over the last 12 months means that we can look towards 2021 with cautious optimism.

Although the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, alongside Brexit, may cause ongoing difficulties, GWP remain positive that we will be able to continue providing the highest level of service and quality of products to all of our customers.