Stephen Turner is the new owner of the Dumfries based company, originally founded by Norman Currie. He has been the managing director since 2010 but ownership has been his long term ambition, having been with the business most of his working life.
Stephen said: “I am delighted, as someone who’s lived in Dumfriesshire man and boy, it’s been a huge part of my life working with Curries, and to finally be in the position to acquire the company is a real privilege. My vision is simply to ensure that we become the business of choice for our customers and staff to work with and in doing so we enable the growth of business in Scotland, the rest of the UK and Europe.”
The buyout was prompted by the firm working through its plan for the years ahead and Stephen said: “Tom Barrie (owner) and I, felt it was the right time for him and the right time myself to make this change, more importantly, we both believed it was important for the business. “I am now ready to take this great business on its next exciting journey.”
Whilst the transport sector has faced challenges recently, Stephen believes the sector is ready for change and evolution, with consolidation and collaboration for haulage businesses to get back into a profitable and more sustained business environment. He said: “Like many, our results have not been easy on the eye in recent years. Most transport businesses have had challenges through increasing fixed costs and variable costs, without the margin increase in revenue to offset. Importantly though, we are not sitting around to wait on the next set of results, we have a strategy that is centred around the consolidation and collaboration that needs to take place in the market – and we will drive forward with that strategy.”
Looking ahead, he says they will make progressive decisions, adding: “We see an opportunity to expand our footprint in Scotland pretty quickly and beyond that there are wider, longer term plans for us to work towards.”
