JW Filshill increased operating profit by £0.8m to £5m, with profit before tax also increasing by 22.8% to £4.9m for the year ending January 31, 2025.
Turnover remained stable at £214m in what the company calls ‘challenging market conditions’ for the wholesaler which turns 150 this year.
Keith Geddes, chief financial and operating officer, explaend the company’s drive to increase efficiency across operations: “This improved efficiency is more essential than ever given the increase in costs driven mainly by changes to fuel, living wage and employers’ national insurance costs.
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“The company has also invested heavily in the upskilling of many employees to take full advantage of advancements in artificial intelligence and ensure that we make use of these tools across all areas of the business,” he said. “We also continue to push forward with heavy investment in other areas of technology such as the innovative use of data, tracking software, and industry-specific opportunities such as electronic shelf-edge labels.”
On the company’s environmental commitments, Mr Geddes said: “During the year, our environmental team worked on several initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint and identify areas where we can positively influence a reduction in our carbon impact and work towards a net-zero emissions position.
“We made number of key changes to improve our impact on the environment, including switching our delivery fleet fuel from diesel to hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) at our Westway site, and now have two fully electric 19-tonne vehicles out delivering every day.
