Worcestershire freight company eyes expansion with support from HSBC UK

By Peter Davison

15 June 2023

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Steve George, Relationship Manager at HSBC UK and Andrew Johns, Owner of Superior Freight Ltd

An Evesham-based haulage and distribution business has completed a management buyout with support from HSBC UK, paving the way for the company’s fast expansion.

Superior Freight has utilised a six-figure funding package from HSBC UK to fund the purchase of 80 per cent of the shares from the company’s inactive shareholders, giving Managing Director Andrew Johns sole ownership.

Andrew Johns, Owner of Superior Freight, said: “After managing the company from inception, I’m so proud to now own Superior Freight. After just a few weeks, I’ve already been able to take on game-changing new customer deals and I’m looking forward to being able to grow the business to its full potential.

“I was taken aback by how straightforward the switch to HSBC UK was. I was put in touch with my relationship manager, Steve George, right away and we organised an in-person meeting for the next day. Being able to speak with a real person who was passionate about helping me has been completely invaluable.

“I’d also like to extend my thanks to Charlotte Thornton-Smith of Harrison Clark Rickerbys for providing legal support, and Ballards LLP for helping to facilitate the deal.”

Mark Lupton, Area Director at HSBC UK, added: “This is a real life-changing moment for Andrew, who has built the business up and created a company known for its first-class reliability and service.

"HSBC UK is passionate about supporting small businesses in the West Midlands so we’re excited to see Superior Freight expand under Andrew’s ownership, leading to the creation of new jobs in the local area.”

Formed in 2018, Superior Freight is a general haulage company which serves areas across the West Midlands and operates nationally, providing full loads, part loads, and additional services such as storage and warehousing from its 40,000 sq. ft site in Honeybourne near Evesham.

The business is part of the Fortec Distribution Network, one of the UK’s leading palletised freight distribution networks.

By Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country.

An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts.

Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.