FAMILY-owned transport and logistics group Woodside in Ballyclare posted higher revenues and profits in the year to March 2020 in what it said was a “satisfactory performance in a challenging environment”.
One of the north's biggest transport and logistics operators, whose business encompasses freight haulage, distribution, warehousing and services, Woodside increased sales from £67.3 million to just shy of £70 million.
The group's retain profit rose from £2.8m to £3.6m, and Woodside's equity funds at the end of the trading year swelled to £29.5m.
Accounts filed at Companies House show the group's payroll rose from 518 staff to 536, made up of 405 drivers and 131 office/management staff.
Woodside's overall wages bill has risen to £19.7 million as a result.
But the accounts also show that the salary package for Woodside's principal directors leapt seven-fold from £343,475 in 2019 to more than £2.5 million last year.
The directors who served during the full trading year were Robert Woodside (83) and his wife Maureen (76).
Four further members of the Woodside family - Timothy, Mark, Simon and Robert - were appointed directors in June 2019, along with Mark Grain.
Woodside, whose green-liveried lorries are a feature of the roads network across Ireland, was founded at the family brothers' farm in the 1960s.
The business currently operates from depots in Ballynure, Belfast, Dublin, Liverpool and Preston, offering it easy access to all major ports in Ireland and Britain including Heysham, Birkenhead, Cairnryan and Holyhead.
