Bristol-headquartered fleet management firm ALD Automotive has reported its fourth consecutive year of record growth with turnover for 2013 up by 19% to £334m.
The firm delivered more than 35,000 new vehicles across the UK, a 14% increase on 2012, and now funds more than £1bn of assets.
ALD said growth had been driven by a strong performance in its corporate business, where it has built on existing key accounts including National Grid, Chubb UTC and Smith & Nephew, and struck significant new deals with blue chips including Volvo, Steria and HSS Group.
There was also continued growth in its successful white label division, which it provides services to six major car manufacturers, making ALD the largest operator in the market.
During the year ALD’s total fleet size grew by more than 18% to more than 97,000 – a figure the company expects to exceed 100,000 this year.
The firm employs more than 330 people across the UK, including 215 at its Fishponds headquarters.
Managing director Mel Dawson said: “We have doubled in size in less than five years – the result of a lot of hard work from a great team of people at ALD. It also reinforces the strength of our multi-channel sales strategy which has put us in a great position for continued growth in what remains a very tough market.
“Our focus on customer service continues to be our number one priority, strengthening our partnerships with existing and new customers, within both the corporate and white-label markets. We are continuing to invest in innovative technology, and develop new products and services to help customers manage their fleets more efficiently and we’re also investing significantly in our own systems internally to help us stay ahead of the game.
“It’s an approach which is paying dividends and we anticipate that 2014 will be another very successful year for ALD Automotive.”
ALD Automotive, originally known as Bryan Contract Hire and part of Bristol-based Bryan Brothers Group, was established in 1958. It is now the UK operational leasing and fleet management division of the French bank Société Générale.
ALD’s growth has established it among the top-four players in the UK vehicle leasing market with the business offering a wide range of vehicle funding options for plcs, SMEs and individual consumers.
