Yodel has been saved and acquired by YDLGP
Home delivery giant Yodel has been sold in a deal that secures thousands of jobs and which its new owners say will create a ‘disruptive logistics powerhouse’
The Liverpool business which delivers more than 190m parcels a year for companies including Gousto and Argos, has been sold to newly-formed company YDLGP Limited by the Barclay family.
It’s been widely reported in recent days that the Barclays, who also own the Daily Telegraph and Liverpool’s Very Group, had been hunting a buyer for Yodel to save the parcel business – and that it could have faced administration if a sale had failed.
Its new owners also own tech business Shift and delivery company Tuffnells and say the rescued Yodel group now has a bright future ahead.
Yodel was originally known as the Home Delivery Network and was originally formed by Liverpool’s Littlewoods group, later known as Shop Direct and now Very. It reported sales of £561.8m last year and employs more than 10,000 people across the country at 50 sites.
Its clients include Boden, Wren Kitchens, Gousto, Vinted, Whistl and Argos – as well as former sister company very.co.uk.
YDLGP has been formed to buy Yodel by a group of investors including investment bank Solano Partners alongside Jacob Corlett and the team behind Shift, the technology logistics platform he founded. Shift last year bought and relaunched Tuffnells, the transport and logistics company known for its green lorries which had earlier fallen into administration.
As well as the Yodel deal, new company YDLGP will also buy Shift, bringing Yodel and Tuffnells into the same business.
In a statement today, YDLGP said the move would create a “super scale” delivery company, and added: “The Shift leadership team will provide significant technology and operational expertise, having successfully turned around the fortunes of the Tuffnells brand. Furthermore, the deal and the access to capital it facilitates safeguards thousands of UK jobs, providing surety for drivers, suppliers and customers alike.”
Jon Edirmanasinghe, founding partner of Solano, said: “We believe there is a fantastic opportunity to harness the strong brand and scale of Yodel in the UK and take further market share with the support of fresh capital and the innovative technology provided by the Shift team. We’ve seen the Shift team successfully acquire and relaunch the Tuffnells business and believe that forming the enlarged group to house all three creates a disruptive logistics powerhouse.”
Mike Hancox, CEO of Yodel, said: “We’re extremely excited to begin the next chapter of Yodel’s journey, leveraging the scale of our business with the support of new shareholders and the future benefits of the Shift technology platform. Our customers have always been our priority and the transaction announced today allows us to ensure continuity for them, as well as our employees and wider stakeholders.”
Jacob Corlett, CEO of Shift, said: “I am incredibly proud of what we have built at Shift in the last few years, rapidly scaling our tech-logistics platform, and M&A has been a big part of that success. At the heart of this merger is Shift’s revolutionary AI-driven technology platform, promising a future where efficiency and automation become the backbone of logistics operations. I look forward to working with Mike and the Yodel team, and with the support of YDLGP, continuing our journey building and scaling logistics through technology.”
More about Yodel here