Autumn 2006

Paul Carvell, the colourful chief executive of parcel carrier Business Post until last November, has taken over as chief executive of Business Direct (a completely separate company, despite the similarity in name). He replaces Tim Houstoun, who is staying as an executive director.

Business Direct operates the ParcelXchange network of electronically-controlled drop-off box banks for the engineering and parts delivery market. It also runs its own express delivery network.

Carvell joined the company as non-executive chairman in June, but has quickly progressed to his new, more active position, and the company is now seeking a replacement chairman. Carvell said on his appointment that he sees opportunities at Business Direct "to build another substantial logistics business."

Business Express says it expects to announce a pre-tax loss of some £0.7 million on turnover of £7.8 million for the half-year ending this June. This reflects and improvement from a loss of £1.3 million last year, while turnover was up from £6.6 million. The company says the ParcelXchange operation is proving more profitable than more traditional "in-boot" delivery services.

Alongside its B2B drop-off business, the company has been working on a B2C drop-off service for home shopping deliveries, basing it at mainstream supermarkets. We understand this project will continue to be developed under Carvell's leadership, but Tim Houston told us no decision will be taken until Carvell has had the chance for a full review of all operations.