31.3% of transport & storage firms have no cash reserves – worse than any other sector
Concerning results from the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) Business Insights survey reveal that 31.3% of transportation & storage sector companies have no cash reserves. The transportation & storage sector is the category that includes logistics, parcels, haulage and warehousing firms, and it has a higher number of companies with no cash reserves than any other industry, says the home delivery expert Parcelhero.
Parcelhero’s head of consumer research, David Jinks, a Member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, says: ‘From 15- 29 June, British businesses were quizzed by the ONS about their cash reserves. The results are very concerning for transport & storage companies. Of all the companies that responded and categorised themselves as “not permanently stopped trading”, a whopping 31.3% of transport & storage firms had no cash reserves. In comparison, only 12.6% of transport companies’ manufacturing partners whose trading status is “not permanently stopped trading” said they had no cash reserves and only 15.8% of retailers.
‘The story is equally concerning when it comes to assessing how many companies have more than six months of cash reserves. Only 16.4% of transport & storage companies reported that they have more than six months of cash in the kitty. Compare that to 27.9% of their manufacturing and 27.1% of retail partners. Out of any comparable business sectors, at 11.7% only the construction industry has a lower number of companies with reserves of more than six months.
‘The ONS figures list “currently trading” companies separately to “not permanently stopped trading”. The results for this category are similar. 27.1% of transportation & storage sector firms currently trading admit to having no cash reserves, compared to 13.2% of manufacturers and 15.9% of retailers. Likewise, only 17.8% of transport & storage companies were able to say they have more than six months of cash, compared to 27.2% of manufacturers and 27.2% of retailers describing themselves as currently trading.
‘While transport & storage companies are clearly strapped for cash, there is a glimmer of hope in these figures. When asked the same question back in December 2024, 37.8% of transportation & storage firms that described themselves as “not permanently stopped trading” said they had no cash reserves, as did 36.8% of companies in this category that described themselves as “currently trading”.
‘Compared to December’s results, it seems the number of transport & storage companies that currently have some cash in hand has improved in the first half of this year. Nonetheless, compared to other industry sectors, there is still much to do to ensure they have a safety net if the economic news continues to worsen.
‘One certainty is that it will be those transport & storage companies that are partnered with retailers with strong in-store and online sales that will ultimately triumph. Parcelhero’s influential report “2030: Death of the High Street” has been discussed in Parliament. It reveals that retailers must develop an omnichannel approach, embracing both online and physical store sales. Read the full report at: https://www.parcelhero.com/content/downloads/pdfs/high-street/deathofthehighstreetreport.pdf