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Gloucestershire Business News

Famous Downton brand is here to stay say new owners

The investors who took over Gloucestershire's CM Downton haulage company earlier this year have pledged to keep the famous brand name in the future.

Family-owned Downton is one of the county's biggest business success stories and the name on haulage trucks is familiar to road users everywhere.

This year Downton renewed its long running sponsorship deal which sees the Downton logo emblazoned on Gloucester Rugby's first team playing shirts.

Earlier this year Moreton Valence based CM Downton was taken over by EmergeVest, an international private equity investor, in a £75 million deal.

It has now been announced that Downton will "join forces with sister companies to work under EV Cargo brand."

However, a spokesman for EV Cargo told Punchline today that the Downton brand was safe, although there was the option for dual branding on some vehicles in the future.

According to the official press release: "Multi award-winning family firm CM Downton is set to benefit from business growth opportunities and secure the long-term future of the business after joining forces with five of its sister logistics companies to work under a new brand called EV Cargo.

"All six businesses are owned by specialist logistics investor EmergeVest and the partnership will allow Gloucestershire-based Downton to offer an extended mix of services to its current customers and benefit from new business opportunities as part of the wider group."

EV Cargo is one of the UK's largest providers of transport, logistics and freight forwarding services and logistics technology - which will see Adjuno, Allport Cargo Services, Downton, Jigsaw, NFT and Palletforce all working together.

"Individually, the six companies are acknowledged experts in their respective fields with deep logistics heritage, strong recognition and market goodwill. Each will retain its own identity livery and operations, continuing to manage supply chains for the world's leading brands," said the company.

"The move will allow Downton to maximise opportunities for efficiency and growth across existing and new markets, helping to secure long-term success for the future.

"A key benefit of the increased scale of EV Cargo will be new opportunities for Downton employees with enhanced development paths and career prospects across the wider group."

Andy Downton, CM Downton managing director, said: "This is a very proud moment for our family firm as we begin to work more closely with the group companies under the new EV Cargo brand.

"It's very much business as usual at a local level, however, operating alongside the other companies will give us the strength to offer a wider range of services to our customers under a fully-integrated and seamless model. Consolidation of the six companies brings some exciting business growth opportunities for us, our staff and customers."

Heath Zarin, EV Cargo chief executive, said: "We are excited to announce the creation of EV Cargo, bringing together our UK logistics and technology platform. EV Cargo will continue our existing strategy of delivering mission-critical supply chain services powered by people, technology, innovation and sustainability. By working closer together and creating additional capabilities, we will provide new and existing customers with access to a wider range of leading-edge integrated solutions."

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