Toll Group has announced the sale of the Australian interstate linehaul and warehousing operations of its Toll Refrigerated business to Automotive Holdings Group Ltd, owners of Rand Refrigerated Logistics, for $6.5 million.
Toll Refrigerated’s interstate linehaul and consolidated warehousing operations have revenues of around $75 million. According to Toll, they have made “a small operating loss in the financial year to 30 June 2012.”
As was previously announced by Toll Group Managing Director Brian Kruger (pictured), Toll has been conducting strategic reviews of some of its businesses since May.
“Due to the challenging market conditions and margin pressure faced by this business, we concluded that, in this case, divestment was the best option,” Kruger says. “It is encouraging that we have been able to complete the review and conclude a positive result for both parties in such a short period of time.”
The sale does not include Toll's cold storage warehouses in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, but Automotive Holdings will lease some of that warehouse space in the short term, The West Australian reported. According to the newspaper, the sale price is $4.5 million, including goodwill of $3.3m and tangible assets of $1.2m.
Approximately 100 Toll staff will transfer to Automotive Holdings Group as part of the sale.