Stobart to complete acquisition of Carlisle Airport
Logistics giant Stobart will rubber-stamp the £14m takeover of Carlisle Airport on 30 May.
Shares in Stobart rose 11% to 109p, valuing the company at £235m, by mid-afternoon following a strong set of financial results and news of the latest acquisition.
Land at the airport will make way for a new cross-dock facility, "resulting in significant operational efficiencies and the creation of a Northern logistics hub".
Scaled down plans for the redevelopment of Carlisle Airport were approved by Carlisle and Cumbria councils after the original, larger plans were called in for public inquiry.
Stobart will acquire Carlisle Airport from Stobart Air Holdings, a company controlled by Andrew Tinkler, chief executive of Stobart, and William Stobart.
In its financial results published today, Stobart announced annual turnover of £431.1m in 2008/09, compared to £108.8m a year earlier. Stobart made four acquisitions during the 12-month period.
Pre-tax profit leapt to £23.9m from £3.5m in 2008. The group will pay a total dividend for the year of 6.0p.
Tinkler said: "We have achieved a great deal in our first full year as a listed company towards realising our vision of becoming the UK's leading provider of multimodal logistics solutions. In particular, the difficult economic climate has provided us with opportunities to make opportunist and strategic acquisitions that are fully aligned to our strategy."
