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Robert Lea, Industrial Editor
The Times
The most famous name in trucking, could disappear from the roads of Britain in a wrangle over who owns the rights to the Eddie Stobart brand.
The chief executive of Eddie Stobart Logistics has warned he could rebrand the whole of his 2,500-strong fleet in a dispute over whether he has to pay up to £50 million to put the words “Eddie” and “Stobart” on the side of his trucks.
The legal roadblock is that the hauliers’ former parent company, Stobart Group, is a separately-quoted business and retains the rights to the Eddie Stobart name.
[post_ads]The original Eddie Stobart started the company in the Lake District in the 1940s. The business was transformed into a national haulier from the 1970s by the founder’s son, Edward. Stobart Group listed on the Stock Exchange in 2007 and, having diversified into airports and renewable energy, subsequently demerged the trucking business which took its own £550 million Stock Exchange listing last spring as Eddie Stobart Logistics (ESL).
Stobart Group retained the brand rights and a 12.5 per cent stake in ESL. A brand-use agreement ends in 2020 and ESL, which made profits of £10 million last year, has been told it can continue to use the brand at a cost of £3 million a year, acquire use of the brand in the UK in perpetuity for £15 million, or gain exclusive usage for £50 million.
A fourth route, branded the “nuclear option” by both sides is that ESL abandons the name. “I am passionate about the brand,” Alex Laffey, chief executive of ESL, said. “But . . . my shareholders expect me to do the right thing. We replace the fleet over a three-year cycle so the fleet could have another name on it in three years at no additional cost.”
Eddie Stobart is reckoned to be one of the most powerful business brands in the UK. If ESL were to drop the brand it could use iForce, the name of its e-commerce subsidiary.
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That would be a disaster, according to Warwick Brady, chief executive of Stobart Group. “The name is ingrained in popular culture. It’s the backbone of the British economy,” he said.
“There is a real attachment to it. It is a household name and has more intangible valuable than you think.”
The Times
The chief executive of Eddie Stobart Logistics has warned he could rebrand the whole of his 2,500-strong fleet in a dispute over whether he has to pay up to £50 million to put the words “Eddie” and “Stobart” on the side of his trucks.
The legal roadblock is that the hauliers’ former parent company, Stobart Group, is a separately-quoted business and retains the rights to the Eddie Stobart name.
[post_ads]The original Eddie Stobart started the company in the Lake District in the 1940s. The business was transformed into a national haulier from the 1970s by the founder’s son, Edward. Stobart Group listed on the Stock Exchange in 2007 and, having diversified into airports and renewable energy, subsequently demerged the trucking business which took its own £550 million Stock Exchange listing last spring as Eddie Stobart Logistics (ESL).
Stobart Group retained the brand rights and a 12.5 per cent stake in ESL. A brand-use agreement ends in 2020 and ESL, which made profits of £10 million last year, has been told it can continue to use the brand at a cost of £3 million a year, acquire use of the brand in the UK in perpetuity for £15 million, or gain exclusive usage for £50 million.
A fourth route, branded the “nuclear option” by both sides is that ESL abandons the name. “I am passionate about the brand,” Alex Laffey, chief executive of ESL, said. “But . . . my shareholders expect me to do the right thing. We replace the fleet over a three-year cycle so the fleet could have another name on it in three years at no additional cost.”
Eddie Stobart is reckoned to be one of the most powerful business brands in the UK. If ESL were to drop the brand it could use iForce, the name of its e-commerce subsidiary.
[post_ads_2]
That would be a disaster, according to Warwick Brady, chief executive of Stobart Group. “The name is ingrained in popular culture. It’s the backbone of the British economy,” he said.
“There is a real attachment to it. It is a household name and has more intangible valuable than you think.”
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Business