Bibby buys ingredients logistics specialist

Bibby Distribution has taken over Atchison Topeka, which provides logistics services for the food manufacturing industry.

Atchison Topeka, which has a turnover of some £26m, describes itself as the “food ingredients network”. It has 150,000 sq ft of warehousing split between Worcester and Droitwich and offers a range of warehousing, palletised transport and bulk road tanker services.

Bibby chief Iain Speak said: “There were a number of key reasons that attracted us to Atchison Topeka. We saw the opportunity to offer an increased range of services to our customers while realising further strategic growth for our own business.”

Bibby will keep the Atchison Topeka brand and aims to exploit the synergies with its existing business. “This new sector of the business, providing bespoke logistics services to the food manufacturing sector, is a natural fit with our existing operations enabling us to offer a truly nationwide food ingredient supply chain capability,” said Speak.

Bibby is also looking for synergies with its returnable packaging business, PLS, which services the food manufacturing, beverage and food can industries.

Atchison Topeka’s managing director, Mike Phillips, and operations director, Darren Cronshaw, will continue with the business.

Phillips said: “We look forward to moving the business to the next level which will now be possible as part of a larger infrastructure. We are confident that with the new backing we will be able to give our existing customers access to a wider range of services without losing any of the focus on quality management, which has been one of the cornerstones of our success. It will also provide the opportunity to expand the food ingredients network to new customers in wider geographic locations.”