stobart group limited
isabelle chambers route isabelle st peter port
guernsey channel islands  gy1 3tx
wwwstobartgroupcom
registered in guernsey registered number 39117
printed on environmentally friendly paper ©2010 stobart group designed and produced by carne whitney 01228 596 895 photography david mulholland 07770 676766
annual report and accounts 2010
annual report and accounts 2010 introduction business review financial review corporate governance financial statements
introduction
chairman’s statement                                                     2
business highlights 20092010                                       3
chief executive officer’s statement                              11
business review
stobart group operations                                             17
corporate responsibility                                                29
financial review
business performance                                                   31
risk management                                                          37
corporate governance
directors’ profiles                                                           38
directors’ report                                                            40
corporate governance report                                      43
directors’ remuneration report                                    46
financial statements
independent auditor’s report                                       50
consolidated income statement                                   51
consolidated statement 
of financial position                                                       53
consolidated statement of 
changes in equity                                                          55
consolidated cash flow statement                              56
notes to the 
consolidated financial statements                               57
independent auditor’s report                                       90
company financial statements                                    91
1        stobart group limited
39
revenue growth
425
eaffc growth
a
597
pbt growth
b
431
eps growth
c
a comprising underlying operating profit of £350m 2009 £314m and net disposal profit on
widnes assets of £82m less fleet financing costs of £34m 2009 £32m and share based
payments of £07m 2009 £07m
b normalised pbt is before restructuring costs of £27m and includes net disposal profit
on widnes assets of £82m
c eps is based on a pbt of £368m with a normalised tax charge of 28 eps excluding the
net disposal profit on widnes assets is 86p
d reflects five months of trading for eddie stobart division
2010 2009 2008
d
£m £m £m
revenue 4477 4311 1018
earnings after fleet financing costs 391 275 54
profit before t ax continuing 368 231 35
earnings per share continuing 110p 77p 21p chairman’s statement
rodney bakerbates group chairman
                                                                                                                                                                        report and accounts 2010     2
performance
we have achieved significant contract wins in the past financial
year particularly a major new win with unilever we have
improved our margins by delivering synergies through tight cost
control and by driving further efficiencies in our core trucking
business we are utilising our assets better as is demonstrated
by the development programme at the widnes inland port and
similar schemes will follow
this past year has also seen an improvement in the funding of the
business we have repaid facilities due within 12 months and
improved the asset and liability matching within the balance sheet 
other highlights include the completed successful integration of
recently acquired businesses such as james irlam and innovate
renamed eddie stobart chilled these integrations have seen
significant synergies and efficiency savings which should yield
further benefits going forward
dividend
the group maintains a progressive dividend policy which takes
into account underlying growth in group earnings capital require
ments and cash flows while maintaining an appropriate level of
dividend cover
an interim dividend of 2p was paid in december 2009 the board
is proposing a final dividend of 4p per ordinary share bringing the
total dividend for the year to 6p 20096p the final dividend will be
paid to shareholders on 21 june 2010
people
on 1 july 2009 jesper kjaedegaard and daniel dayan were
appointed as nonexecutive directors replacing richard burrell
and nigel rawlings who guided the group through the transition
from the westbury property fund to the stobart group we are
grateful for their input
jesper and daniel have the skills and experience to help guide the
group through this exciting time in its growth and development
jesper brings a wealth of experience in multimodal logistics espe
cially in ports and shipping daniel has solid operational experience
that gives him a strong customer perspective
outlook
the economic climate is still tough as andrew tinkler’s statement
makes clear however the board remains convinced that the group
has the market strategy systems and people in place to prosper we
are very positive about the continued future growth potential across
all the divisions 
we approach 201011 in a buoyant mood forecasting better mar
gins further cost management opportunities additional turnover
from new contracts and substantial further progress in some of our
recent acquisitions such as london southend airport asset devel
opment opportunities will continue to bring good project returns
whilst at the same time strengthening our core transport and ware
house businesses  
rodney bakerbates nonexecutive chairman
on behalf of the board i am
pleased to report on a period
of both good progress and
consolidation within the
group the group has
strengthened all aspects of
the business despite the
tough trading year 3        stobart group limited
introduction
eddie stobart business highlights 20092010
success with bluechip business
the award of the new unilever contract is yet another example
of how stobart group is growing through its ability to win major
contracts from headline brands
it’s been another strong year for new business at the stobart
group there have been important wins with both small and large
clients notably a new contract with unilever
“one reason why unilever were attracted to stobart is due to our
highly efficient ‘pooling of customers’ which delivers substantial
cost savings over the traditional revenue driven ‘open book’
model” said william stobart “another reason is stobart’s multi
modal service offering road rail sea and air they recognised
that the stobart group’s cutting edge technology and operating
systems are superior to any rival
executive director david irlam’s long
experience in high level negotiations
has been invaluable in consolidating
and expanding existing key client
relationships and securing valuable
new contracts with bluechip names
like johnson  johnson
left stobart’s johnson  johnson contract manager peter kelly with 
executive director david irlam on the right                                                                                                                                                                         report and accounts 2010     4
like them we also have a carbon cutting agenda and this environ
mental innovation appealed to unilever they also liked the stobart
culture it is different from competitors we can offer the financial
security of a ftse 250 company with an underlying ‘family busi
ness’ attitude”
eddie stobart’s key relationship with t esco plc has been further
consolidated with a major new £25m per annum transport contract
serving the retail giant’s north east distribution centre at t eesport
stobart ireland continues to show significant growth with the award
of a €13m transport contract for t esco’s donabate dc
warehousing continues to perform impressively with new contracts
awarded by danone £4m per annum and sca packaging £2m
per annum the integration of the chilled operation has also been
reflected in new business with dale farm del monte and coop
totalling £7m per annum arla foods is now one of chilled’s largest
customers generating around £3m revenue per annum
new contracts have been matched with extensive renewals across
the eddie stobart transport and warehousing operation the
group’s relationships with leading names gerber knauf mcbride plc
and forest garden have all been renewed and extended
finally and significantly a new nine year contract with stobart’s
longeststanding client crown has been agreed building on a 40
year relationship it takes advantage of the new development now
underway at carlisle airport this justintime transport and ware
housing contract will generate revenue over the contract totalling
circa £150m
the unilever contract is
worth circa £20m annually
and is a major bonus to the
group as a client unilever is
particularly attractive because
many of its headline products
sell irrespective of recession 
or season stobart rail business highlights 20092010
5        stobart group limited
introduction the innovative new valencia ‘fresh’ rail service which was
launched in september 2009 is likely to increase from one to
three services per week during 2010
national and international 
rail freight solutions
stobart rail began its innovative ‘fresh’ train service from valencia
in southern spain to barking in london last october the weekly
service provides for the first time a lowcarbon alternative for
retailers and customers for the import of fresh spanish produce 
the pioneering spanish train is the longest train route provided
by a single european operator at 1100 miles the new train
also marks the first time a refrigerated service has operated
through the eurotunnel 
it is also faster than an equivalent journey by road improving the
‘shelf life’ of the products – mostly fruit and vegetables the service
is also considerably more environmentally friendly than a similar
road service reducing co2 emissions annually by 5502 tonnes
and cutting 692 million kilometres of road journeys per year  
in line with stobart’s ongoing drive to reduce waste throughout
the business the return journey is full of pallets cutting out
empty running
“plans are well advanced for the extension of the route from
barking on to stobart’s multimodal hub at widnes where there
is an extensive chilled warehouse distribution facility” said sto
bart group chief operating officer william stobart “widnes is
an ideal hub for distribution into the heartland of the uk”
                                                                                                                                                                        report and accounts 2010     6 stobart’s inland port
was developed by
the group’s inhouse
team generating new
operating revenue
streams and then two
parts were sold at a
significant profit
inland port asset
development and disposal
across its four divisions the group performs operational services for customers and
during this past year has seen the first results of a profitable new complementary
business stream for the stobart group asset development and disposal
existing underutilised assets such as the port facilities – or new assets in convenient
locations near major roads ports or airports – will be developed generating operational
profit streams and then potentially disposed at a capital profit 
prior to year end the group sold part of its inland ports asset at widnes to legal and
general assurance pension management limited for £61 million the disposal pack
age included the outright sale of the new t esco chilled distribution site and the sale
and leaseback of the adjoining inland port terminal this represented an initial return on
investment of 196 percent 
a key part of the sale was the 528000 square foot distribution centre developed by the
group and recently announced as the new northern distribution centre for t esco’s
’fresh’ operations the group has also been confirmed as transport contractor further
more the group will generate additional revenue streams from rail freight and ports
storage and handling the centre is superbly placed alongside a major inland port
good road network a rail terminal and liverpool airport stobart’s existing valencia
‘fresh’ rail service will soon be extended to the widnes site allowing fresh fruit and veg
etables to be delivered for t esco directly from southern spain when stobart fully
develops the widnes site it will double in size and will increase the company’s total
warehousing capacity to nearly seven million square feet
“this asset disposal illustrates a fundamental strategy of our group which is to invest in
assets in order to develop existing and new customer relationships and then realise the
value of the asset at a profit to reinvest elsewhere within the business” said chief
executive officer andrew tinkler
stobart ports business highlights 20092010
7        stobart group limited
introduction 90 acres approved 
for development
currently under 
negotiation with a
number of clients 
42 acres already
developed
31 acres already
developed
    
                                                                                                                                                                        report and accounts 2010     8 airport development ontarget
with planning permission granted for the new runway extension
at southend and development work well underway the nearby
london olympics will ensure there’s huge potential for the site
stobart’s air division has made huge progress in the past year
thanks mostly to developments at london southend airport the
long established airport once the third busiest in the uk was
acquired by the stobart group in december 2008 
stobart plans to greatly increase capacity and will work with existing
and new operators to boost both passengers and freight the goal
is to welcome at least 600000 passengers to southend by 2012
the year of the london olympics rising to two million by 2020
stobart air business highlights 20092010
with planning permission now
granted for the important runway
extension at london southend 
airport construction of the new control
t ower is moving ahead fast whilst the
dedicated rail station is rapidly ap
proaching completion by stobart rail
9        stobart group limited
introduction
dedicated rail station 
and carpark
under construction
site of new t erminal
dubai ports’ new shell haven 
deep sea port development
new control t ower 
under construction
recently approved
runway extension
dover
  
    government approval for the runway exten
sion forms a key stage in stobart’s £30 million
development plans with work already under
way on a new railway station and control
tower which will be completed during 2010 
southend is closer to mainland europe than
any other london airport reducing flying time
by 20 minutes the airspace over southend
is less congested than other london facili
ties reducing the likelihood of delay and
improving passenger flow
london southend airport
 prestigious dedicated railway station will be completed september 2010 providing
a quick route into central london for local people as well as airport customers
 new control t ower will be completed november 2010
 new passenger t erminal will be completed september 2011
 existing 1605m x 37m runway approved for extension to 1905m giving a take off
distance of 1799m
 runway extension will be completed by october 2011
 the extended runway will easily handle popular 160 seat short haul aircraft such
as the airbus a319 and boeing 737
 commercial operations should serve two million passengers each year by 2020
    
                                                                                                                                                                        report and accounts 2010   10
m25
  
   
  
  stratford 42min
rail to london
liverpool
street 49min  
city of london and
millennium dome
airport industrial complex 
and development land
fuel farm chief executive officer’s statement
andrew tinkler chief executive officer
11     stobart group limited
vision
our vision is clear to be the uk’s leading provider of multimodal
transport and logistics solutions t o do so we need to expand all
forms of transport especially rail sea and air we need infrastruc
tures in the best places to service the maximum number of
customers we have made a good start and are outperforming the
market but we still have some way to go
our divisional operations are supported by a profitable new area
of our business logistics asset development which continues to
grow and is exemplified by our ongoing development at our
widnes inland sea port we set up a desirable infrastructure sold
part of the assets at a capital gain generating a return on invest
ment for our shareholders 
in addition we have secured a threeyear road transport revenue
stream with t esco a rail freight revenue stream for inbound goods
and a storage and handling revenue stream for the inland port
terminal this demonstrates how operational services and devel
opment of our logistics assets are linked
stobart group is a ftse 250 company comprising four main divi
sions road rail ports and air while eddie stobart remains the
core of our business – responsible for about 85 percent of turnover
– i am confident in the growth potential of our other divisions
andrew tinkler chief executive officer
strategy
our strategy is underpinned by our brand people and systems
 forming new partnerships with customers to further drive
efficiencies
 t o seize the opportunities operationally as the economy comes
out of recession building on our key competitive advantages
such as load utilisation and pooling our customers
 t o market and develop our assets to our customers and then
sell these assets where appropriate at a profit to be reinvested
in the business
 t o develop systems and technologies that protect the business
from operational and financial risk
 t o grow organically with both existing and new customers
 t o take waste out of the system waste adds to cost and
damages the environment 
 t o increase business in the uk ireland and mainland europe
 t o leverage the high value in our brand
ceo andrew tinkler explains how an exciting ambitious vision for the group
to become the uk’s leading name in multimodal transport and logistics is
rapidly coming to fruition despite the background of a tough economic climate
introduction                                                                                                                                                                         report and accounts 2010   12
answering the key questions
you are now offering two service streams across the divisions
the operational side and the asset development as epitomised
by your recent sale of part of the giant widnes site this marked
a strategic shift in 2009 can you explain in more detail
across all of our divisions we have an operating business that is
performing well and another asset development business that is
also giving a good return 
let me explain the latter in more detail a lot of underutilised exist
ing assets in key locations will put value into the respective
divisions in the coming years equally we will buy land in the right
locations preferably next to road rail sea and air facilities
we develop this land and we sell it to our customers as a business
concept because it’s in the right location we develop it for them
then we generate revenue streams for the operational side of the
business be it road rail warehousing etc and ultimately we sell on
the asset at a profit it’s a lowrisk profitable model 
the sale of the first phase at our widnes inland port part of the
merseyside multimodal gateway is a good example of how this
works this is not speculative asset development rather it is low
risk and very well integrated with the operational side the asset
development helps the operational side and vice versa
how multimodal are you really
if a customer wants road rail sea or air transport we can deliver
we have the infrastructure if we don’t have the transport for a par
ticular journey we can partner with someone to do it we are
developing our own assets and infrastructures to be more cost
effective and more multimodal
the aim is certainly to grow the rail port and air divisions there
are big environmental benefits but you will always need a truck at
the end of every journey for that final delivery you have to under
stand what type of truck to use and how to use it a radius of up to
about 100150 miles is the ideal journey for a truck but no more
we’d like to replace truck with train on some of those longer journeys
if we can do multidrops on the rail network – loading and unloading
at major stopover points by having our assets on the rail network at
the right place – then that helps t ypically with rail now you have one
big loading and one big unloading we’re trying to change that 
with sea the big container ships have one dropoff point such as
rotterdam southampton or felixstowe we want to use feeder
ships from those vast ports we need volume for that and stobart
group have enough customers to potentially make that work
that’s where inland ports can also work they’re ideal for smaller
feeder vessels and they’re typically nearer other transport hubs
how would you sum up 2009
we have taken big strides in achieving our goal of being true multi
modal providers with substantial progress made in rail air and
ports but it’s been a difficult year because with the recession the
flow of the work has been upanddown there has clearly been
pressure on rates as customers strive for better deals yet we’ve
done well we haven’t gained materially on overall turnover but we
have been able to consolidate and reduce our own waste
the tough weather conditions this past winter also proved a chal
lenge but by working in partnership with our customers and thanks
to the commitment of our drivers we have continued to deliver a
comprehensive service we estimate the extreme conditions cost
the business in excess of £05m however the longerterm benefits 
pictured andrew tinkler right discusses the new rail station and control
t ower being constructed at london southend airport with stobart air md
alastair welch far left and steven harker stobart rail’s site engineer centre chief executive officer’s statement  
continued
13     stobart group limited
should far outweigh this cost as the conditions once again high
lighted the inflexible nature of the open book model under which
this cost would have been borne by the customer our core busi
ness model and customer focus is comparatively recession
resistant and during this challenging period we have managed to
outperform the industry
a good strong business model helps in a recession and i believe
we have it compared with most rivals we are comparatively reces
sionresistant because of our ’shared‘ trucks and our ability to treat
all customers as ’one‘ we can maximise efficiency and our utilisa
tion of trucks most of our deliveries are in the food and drink sector
and that is also more recession proof than most other forms of
transport delivery our new contract with unilever is also good news
a lot of their products sell irrespective of recession and season
after all you still need bathroom cleaner or washing powder no mat
ter what the state of the economy or whether it’s summer or winter
what have been the highlights
there have been many highlights firstly our development and sub
sequent asset disposal of part of our widnes inland port this has
given a good return on investment – around 20 initially – and that
will be reinvested elsewhere in the business including our expan
sion plans for london southend airport the widnes phase one site
development and subsequent sale includes the new northern distri
bution centre for t esco’s ’fresh‘ operations which was developed
by the stobart group we were recently confirmed as transport con
tractor from this distribution centre which is excellent news 
secondly the planning approval for the runway extension at london
southend airport this is a key part of our plans which include a
new railway station terminal and control tower work starts soon
and will be finished a year in advance of the london 2012 olympics
london southend is the nearest operational airport to the olympic
site and will have an excellent rail link so it is superbly located
next we are delighted to have won the transport contract with
another blue chip company unilever this is a further endorsement
of our ’pay as you go‘ cost model – in which the customer only 
pays for what they need if they require 50 trucks one day and 100
the next stobart group can do that we also pool our customers’
needs improving efficiency for us and for our customers 
finally the launch of the spanish ‘fresh’ train service from valen
cia to barking in london was also special it’s the longest train
journey in europe by a single operator is faster and much more
environmentally friendly than similar journeys by road and proves
the potential of rail for longer journeys
you’re enjoying continued success at winning big name customers
adding unilever to the portfolio how have you achieved this
i think we have been innovative in bringing all our customers
together into a shareduser transport system to reduce empty
miles one customer controlling their own fleet hasn’t got our
national coverage or our efficiencies noone has quite the same
partnerships or sharedusers as we do by pooling customers we
can view them as one large customer
is that why you’ve also had success with small customers
yes our policy of pooling customers means that no job is too
small if you can fill one empty leg you are saving money an
empty truck or an empty leg that could be used by another cus
tomer is an unnecessary waste of money
what challenges face the transport and logistics industry
the price of fuel is a huge issue for consumers as we are forced to
pass on the cost to our customers it adds to the costs of our cus
tomers’ goods and to consumers’ cost every train service we
establish reduces our fuel usage significantly
customers of course generally don’t care how their goods get
there just as long as they get there being able to offer all four
modes of transport increases choice and efficiency 
as fuel costs rise reducing waste becomes an even greater issue
for the industry it’s a big challenge the other big issue is traffic
and road congestion we need to do more to utilise our railroads
and our waterways i think we’re taking the lead here 
introduction
financial                                                                                                                                                    2010                         2009                 change
business revenue                                   from continuing operations                                                      £4477m              £4311m                  39
eaffc
a
                                                    earnings after fleet financing costs                                           £391m                £275m                425
earnings per ordinary share
b
                 normalised from continuing operations                                           110p                    77p                431
environmental
fleet utilisation                                         reflecting low efficiency of integrated businesses                         837                  841                  048
euro 45 compliance                                t otal fleet                                                                                               88                    81                  86
people
accidentincident rate riddor            new measure more appropriate to group                                          053               043                  233
a comprising underlying operating profit of £350m 2009 £314m and net disposal profit on widnes assets of £82m less fleet financing costs of £34m 2009 £32m and share based
payments of £07m 2009 £07m
b eps is based on a pbt of £368m with a normalised tax charge of 28 eps excluding the net disposal profit on widnes assets is 86p
key performance indicators                                                                                                                                                                         report and accounts 2010   14
finally one of our specific challenges as we continue to acquire
and take on more businesses is integrating the stobart culture we
need these businesses we acquire to understand our core values –
our attention to detail our customer service our drivers’ tidy
appearance our environmental commitments our job satisfaction
and the extraordinary following we have from the members’ club
how have you dealt with the economic uncertainty
we have to continually check our costs people are buying more
sporadically now they are buying more at the last minute this
causes peaks and troughs in demand which can make life difficult
for businesses
the it infrastructure that stobart has developed over the years
helps keep utilisation rates on an even keel minimising the swings
in demand
business conditions are still quite flat we are predicting a boost
this summer because of the football world cup especially in drink
sales a hot summer would help too when the sun shines it boosts
the economy stobart group have outperformed the market keep
ing level operationally and hitting our targets t urnover is reasonably
flat but our margins have improved we have also developed assets
to give a return to shareholders that showed the actual assets were
undervalued
we have outperformed the market partly because 85 percent of
our customers are in food and drink or recessionresistant retail
sectors for instance we weren’t reliant on the motor industry
which has been badly hit but people still have to eat and drink
they may buy cheaper brands of orange juice and cheaper
chocolate biscuits but they still need to be transported 
your capacity utilisation is higher than the industry standard
how have you achieved this
by sharing customers and putting it systems in place that allow us
to monitor it all ’live‘ and anticipate it before it even happens during 
this year our uk capacity utilisation was 837 percent it was rea
sonably flat because of integrating new business that wasn’t up to
our efficiency standard and the recession i don’t believe you can
get much better than 90 percent because you will always have
some empty miles 
you are still acquiring still expanding how will you expand
moving forward
we certainly see growth in road rail air and sea transport mostly
at the expense of less efficient competitors we also see growth
and great investment potential in our asset development widnes
this year is a good model 
southend airport has been a highlight this year t ake us through
the rationale of your involvement
it’s part of our multimodal strategy look at air 82 percent of all air
freight coming into london comes on passenger planes so what’s
the point of buying transport planes when the passenger airlines
are already struggling if stobart group can get an operator to use
our airport and help him fill his plane with freight we’ve won
twofold we’ve got freight business and passenger business
by developing an airport that has a fast rail service for both passen
gers and freight stobart group has a big advantage over all those
other london airports that are further from town we can also pro
vide air transport from mainland europe that is 20 minutes faster
than any other london airport or 40 minutes faster on a round trip
that’s a massive time and fuel saving 
if you take southampton airport as a model it has two million pas
sengers now and the same length of runway and a rail station
nearby we have a station right next to the air terminal itself and
much quicker links to london and i believe that we can be a
‘southampton’ quite easily we certainly predict two million passen
gers by 2020 for london southend and if the right airline operators
come in we could have a million passengers by 2012 thanks to
the olympics there may be even more chief executive officer’s statement   
continued
we have taken a controlling interest in the newlyformed
stobart biomass products limited together with marketleader
aw jenkinson the new company sources and distributes
biomass fuel for renewable energy production in the uk it is 
a market that could increase tenfold in the next three years
15     stobart group limited
you have also just invested in the biomass market through a
new venture with a biomass supplier why
we have taken a controlling interest in the newly formed stobart bio
mass products together with market leader aw jenkinson the new
company sources and distributes biomass fuel to the uk renewable
energy market at the same time we have secured a ten year major
transport contract with aw jenkinson’s existing business
we anticipate that the biomass business market could increase
tenfold in the next three years not least because eu law mandates
that 15 percent of electricity must come from renewable resources
such as biomass by 2020 and the uk has set an even higher tar
get of 30 percent
our expertise in transport logistics clearly helps transport and logis
tics is a major cost and headache for biomass suppliers and
stobart’s expertise will bring improved efficiencies to the whole bio
mass logistics and supply chain
one further point to build a biomass generator you need the raw
material to feed it we have some of the raw material such as 
packaging in the trucks using it also reduces empty running it
gives customers another level of service plus there is the environ
mental benefit
the business is coming up to 40 years old does the stobart of
today have anything in common with the stobart of the 1970s
it’s a similar company – the cleanliness you’ll never see a grubby
stobart vehicle on the road the professionalism the customer
service it has the same values the same culture people who have
been here for years would still recognise stobart obviously there
are differences – we’re a listed company for example – but we still
have those family values
we need to continue to increase our investment in the brand to put
the stobart name even more ‘on the map’ we have clearly been
successful here stobart is already listed as a uk ‘superbrand’
32nd in a list of 500 business brands for 2010 we can continue to
build the brand by emphasising our core characteristics and of
course supporting the marvellous stobart members’ club
 
 
introduction
the biomass process
biomass fuel
biowaste is chipped 
to form biofuel
transport by 
eddie stobart
boiler
generates
steam
surplus low pressure 
steam often used for 
domestic or 
industrial heating
steam turbine
generates electricity
green 
electricity                                                                                                                                                                         report and accounts 2010   16 17     stobart group limited
business review stobart group operations
william stobart chief operations officer
                                                                                                                                                                        report and accounts 2010   18
introduction
this business review includes information on our various stobart
group divisions – eddie stobart road transport distribution and
warehousing stobart rail stobart ports and stobart air it also
covers the recent investment by eddie stobart into stobart
biomass products there is information on the markets in which we
operate and our corporate responsibilities  
our goal to become the uk’s leading provider of multimodal trans
port and logistics solutions means providing our customers with a
choice of the most efficient and most environmentally friendly solu
tions to meet their needs 
t oday we are a true multimodal provider stobart group continues
to succeed in its core road transportation business attracting new
customers who appreciate the superior load utilisation efficiencies
and resulting cost savings we can offer despite the recession the
group achieved several important business wins from bluechip
clients including unilever t esco and nestlé
this past year has seen substantial progress in our rail port and air
operations culminating in the planning permission received for
london southend airport superbly positioned to benefit from the
increased utilisation heading into the 2012 olympics 
we employ around 5000 people in more than 40 sites in the uk
ireland and mainland europe the group operates more than
1800 trucks and six million square feet of warehousing five rail
freight services including the new spanish service to the uk a civil
engineering business inland port sea port and now two airports
in conclusion stobart is increasingly a ‘onestop shop’ to anyone
who needs transport and logistics we not only offer every possible
mode of transport all carefully linked but we offer a variety of stor
age and handling facilities which we can develop to our customer’s
specification through our inhouse teams this is indeed why so
many new customers choose stobart and our existing customers
stay loyal our asset developments generate a variety of revenue
streams ultimately creating profit and an attractive return on invest
ment on disposal
built around four coherent operational divisions stobart group
continues to demonstrate resilience and growth by providing 
its customers with a choice of the most efficient and most
environmentally friendly solutions to meet their needs
celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2010 eddie stobart forms
the centrepiece of this successful group which also covers
rail sea and air transport and related activities stobart group operations
19     stobart group limited
eddie stobart
this covers our road transport general chilled environmental
international and ireland and warehousing and is the biggest
element of the stobart business
it includes the successful integration of the james irlam business all
irlam transport operations depot network operations and front and
back office functions have now been fully integrated without any
interruption to our customers due to the growth in the business over
the past few years we now have a managing director and a finance
director for each transport fleet and the warehousing operation
recently stobart placed a large order with scania gb mostly to
replace current vehicles stobart and aw jenkinson a stobart
customer and business partner for its new biomass joint venture
together ordered 1000 new vehicles over the next 24 months sca
nia’s largest order to date the deliveries commenced in march
2010 the trucks all comply with the latest euro 5 environmental
legislation and will both replace some existing vehicles and
expand the size of the stobart fleet reflecting anticipated growth
eddie stobart road transport has many important competitive
advantages not least its ‘pay as you go’ shared user system which
increases efficiency reduces costs and helps the environment 
the specialist and primary fleets are each controlled by their own
dedicated national traffic planning control centres these state of
the art facilities operate the latest in planning and satellite tracking
so operators know the exact location of each vehicle gts planning
screens give an instant realtime picture of load status including
estimated time of arrival eta and the exact speed and direction of
travel of the vehicle this ‘efficiency through technology’ is a major
corporate asset 
eddie stobart drivers offer another real advantage smartly turned
out and well trained stobart longhaul drivers known as ‘trampers’
can spend up to six days at a time on the road because they do
not have to return to a stobart depot at the end of the day they
offer maximum flexibility
the fully equipped tramper cab offers a comfortable bed a night
heater fridge microwave cooking and tv  in addition stobart
depots have full driver welfare facilities including cafeteria wash
room and showers 
business review                                                                                                                                                                         report and accounts 2010   20
eddie stobart general distribution
this operates the biggest fleet in the eddie stobart division and
provides uk transport solutions for a wide variety of retail food
consumer manufacturing industrial and defence sectors 
general distribution’s road freight capacity is supported by a
national network of about 30 depots strategically located at key
transport hubs throughout the uk
now that the irlam business has been successfully integrated the
general operation runs to 1250 trucks and 2400 trailers 
eddie stobart’s uk utilisation efficiency is 837 percent compared
with the industry average of 70 percent and less for ‘own account’
operators this means only 163 percent of our trucks are not carry
ing a load this is a slight reduction compared with a year ago and
is due to the integration of the irlam business which has lower utili
sation levels the integration and synergies have led to annualised
savings of around £11 million
new business wins have included a £25 million per annum contract
for t esco in t eesport to distribute imports from china this
became fully operational in the new financial year
unilever was also a major win at around £20 million per annum
stobart was chosen for its full multimodal offering and the com
pany’s ability to move goods cost effectively and in an
environmentally friendly manner 
scottishbased ag barr best known for its irnbru soft drink
awarded stobart a threeyear £6 million per annum distribution and
warehousing contract starting in may 2010 stobart rail will move
goods from the ag barr factory in cumbernauld to the new central
warehouse in crick from where stobart trucks will distribute to
retailers throughout the uk
it’s also been a strong year on business retention the group has
signed a new nineyear deal with crown which will have a new
warehouse at stobart’s carlisle lake district airport site to act as
distribution centre for the uk crown is stobart’s longest standing
customer and has been using stobart for its haulage since the
early 1970s
a new nineyear deal with
crown will see stobart’s
longest standing client utilise
a purposebuilt warehouse
at the group’s carlisle lake
district airport which will act
as its uk distribution centre stobart group operations  
continued
21     stobart group limited
eddie stobart environmental transport
stobart’s relatively new environmental transport fleet division
distributes environmentally friendly biomass – mostly expired
timber forestry residues and compostable material this fast
growing market carries the chipped wood to the new generation of
‘green’ lowcarbon power stations that burn renewable fuels
stobart’s large fleet of ‘chipliner’ and ‘walking floor’ trailers are
ideal for carrying this bulky loose material 
a new area of business for the group is the joint venture with aw
jenkinson the uk’s leading supplier of woodrelated biomass
fuels newly formed stobart biomass products has been created to
source and distribute supplies of biomass fuel to the uk renewable
energy market a significant amount of the cost of biomass fuel
relates to its transport and logistics and stobart’s multimodal
model can offer big savings and efficiencies 
the biomass market is set to boom following directives that in the
eu 15 percent of energy must come from renewable sources by
2020 while in the uk the target is even higher at 30 percent
in 2008 85 percent of renewable energy generated in the uk was
from biomass – substantially more than other highly publicised
renewable generators such as wind turbines
stobart has secured a tenyear contract with aw jenkinson to
transport hundreds of tonnes of its biomass from collection and
processing sites to energy generation stations
in addition to this contract stobart will control all future transport
requirements of the new joint venture company
eddie stobart international
the group’s international fleet serves continental europe with a
dedicated high specification fleet and is controlled using the same
advanced it system that monitors and ensures the timeliness and
efficiency of stobart’s uk haulage operations on mainland
europe the main warehouse is sited in lokeren belgium while the
uk’s distribution logistics are also widely utilised additional
features include making key data available instantly to international
customers by email online or via dedicated directly linked screens
new volume this year includes substantial growth to support the
new spanish train service from valencia trucks are used on those
days when the train doesn’t run to build volume when cargo
volume is sufficient more train services will be introduced 
early in 2010 stobart invested in a fleet of new schmitz cargobull
refrigerated trailers reflecting the growth of the international operation
eddie stobart ireland
there has been strong growth in stobart’s irish operation in the
past year of particular note was the major win from t esco in
donabate to handle irish ambient distribution this €13 million
contract trebles stobart’s irish turnover and justifies stobart’s
decision to make a strategic standalone investment in ireland in
2008 the operation has its own office and depot in dublin
including warehousing and crossdocking 
the irish fleet works especially closely with other stobart fleets to
ensure efficient planning of irish import and export work
business review
the market for biomass is set to boom following 
directives that in the eu 15 percent of energy 
must come from renewable sources by 2020 while 
in the uk the target is even higher at 30 percent                                                                                                                                                                         report and accounts 2010   22
eddie stobart chilled distribution
stobart bought innovate’s chilled business in july 2008 and it has
now been totally and successfully integrated into the group 
a restructure saw two sites close with a saving of £1million per
annum the introduction of stobart’s advanced it systems has
greatly improved efficiencies payroll costs have been reduced
load fill has increased from 70 percent to 76 percent and revenue
has grown by 18 percent compared with last year chilled
distribution continues to focus on improving load fill
key customers have been retained and major new business has
been added including the coop in all £7 million of new business
was won in the past year generating good return on investment
and moving the chilled operation significantly into profit
the operation utilises chilled crossdocking facilities throughout the
uk and in dublin and includes around 300 highspecification artics
with the latest dualcompartment multitemperature trailers the
units operate 247 handle all categories of chilled food and are
fully approved to the highest level of the stringent european food
safety inspection service efsis standards
eddie stobart warehousing
operating over six million square feet of quality stateoftheart
storage facilities eddie stobart’s warehousing operation is trusted
by many of the bestknown names in uk retailing and
manufacturing it comprises a full range of chilled ambient and
specialist storage in a variety of racked stacked and mixed layouts
facility use is highly flexible and can be operated as singleuser
partuser or multiuser format
the warehouses are all controlled using a fully trackable 100
percent accurate system that uses barcode tracking to give clients
realtime stock data through web email or direct communication
they play a key role in fulfilling the wider multimodal logistical
offerings of the group
there is potential for several major new warehouse developments at
our inland port in widnes 15 million square feet and at carlisle
lake district airport 400000 square feet work is set to start shortly 
stobart’s new site in bardon leicestershire has come on stream
giving the group one of the most advanced automated warehousing
facilities in the uk this site comprises both chilled and ambient
storage to a capacity of 115000 pallet locations a tenyear contract
sees the group handle 75 percent of nestlé’s uk confectionery
distribution and is worth approximately £11 million per annum
the new 360000 square foot purposebuilt facility in daresbury
accommodates stobart’s expanding relationship with johnson 
johnson who have now signed a new longterm contract for
warehousing and transport this is only three miles from the
widnes terminal and is another great example of a multimodal
revenue stream for the group using road warehousing rail and
ports this site has achieved accreditation with the mhra medical
healthcare regulation agency for overthecounter and
prescriptiononly medicine along with bsi 90012008 placing
stobart at the forefront for meeting specific customer requirements
danone water a former irlam transport customer has now
engaged stobart for its warehousing under a threeyear deal
showing how the group can grow newly integrated business
organically thanks to its extended service offerings
in july 2008 stobart acquired innovate’s
chilled business renamed ‘stobart
chilled’ it has now been totally and
successfully integrated into the group  stobart group divisional profile  version 4
continued
23     stobart group limited
stobart rail
stobart rail freight distribution
stobart’s first dedicated rail freight service
was launched in 2006 and since then has
grown rapidly stobart now has a further
three uk trains running between five and
six days a week and an additional route
from barking to wakefield is due to com
mence later in 2010
rail is ideally suited to long distance jour
neys with minimal stops for loading and un
loading it is also ideal for large volumes
uk and scottish governments continue to
support rail services making grants avail
able they reduce congestion on the uk’s
crowded roads and are environmentally
friendly reducing carbon emissions
in the past year stobart has launched a
new european service from valencia in
southern spain to barking near london in
partnership with db schenker europe’s
largest rail freight operator the dedicated
train links the fruit vegetable and salad
growing areas of spain to the uk’s major
grocery retailers and the journey takes only
53 hours – faster than could be achieved
by road the new service provides maxi
mum flexibility customers may place regu
lar bookings of single or multiple contain
ers paying only for space utilised 
the weekly service is due to expand to
three trains a week at the end of 2010 ex
panding to five times a week as takeup
further increases the route is also due to
be extended north to widnes site of sto
bart’s new multimodal hub with potential
for over two million square feet of storage
and crossdocking facilities linked to road
rail sea and air
business review
stobart rail infrastructure engineering
stobart is one of the uk’s leading names in
rail network maintenance repair and im
provement and is active across the uk a
network rail principal contractor’s licence
enables it to work independently on net
work rail assets providing further revenue
for the group
infrastructure engineering also provides
civil engineering services for all group de
velopments it is playing a key role in the
development of the new rail station at
southend airport at the widnes inland port
and the giant bardon warehousing site for
nestlé and daresbury warehouse for john
son  johnson                                                                                                                                                                         report and accounts 2010   24
stobart developments
this has been an especially fast growing element of the stobart rail di
vision it is responsible for the development and improvement of assets
for the group and its customers during the week stobart develop
ments utilises labour and plant which is also used on the division’s rail
infrastructure projects at the weekend
the biggest current project is the mersey multimodal gateway 3mg at
widnes which will boost the company’s total warehousing capacity to
over seven million square feet seventythree acres have already been
developed including the new chilled distribution centre for t esco a
further 90 acres are awaiting development and will be marketed to cus
tomers looking for a convenient location combined with the benefits of
direct access to all four forms of transport offered by the group 
when complete most of the energy requirements will be supplied by an
onsite biomass powerplant water recycling and other environmentally
friendly measures are also being developed 
the development team responsible for widnes will also be responsible
for delivering the expansion plans at london southend airport and a
number of other specific civils projects directly for customers
stobart developments has
been an especially fast
growing part of the business
it is active in developing and
improving group property
holdings and specialises in the
regeneration of brownfield sites
into valuable business space  stobart group operations  
continued
25     stobart group limited
stobart ports
the ports division comprises two main
operations an inland port container
handling facility at widnes and the nearby
mersey gateway port 
the inland widnes facility also known as
the mersey multimodal gateway 3mg is
one of the group’s biggest projects it has
direct access to the west coast mainline
and is close to major waterways and liver
pool airport and just four miles from the m6
and m56 it manages nearly 1000 vehicle
movements a day with an average turn
around time of only 12 minutes per vehicle
widnes handles over 120000 containers a
year there is secure storage for more than
6000 containers a new 528000 square
foot chilled distribution centre was com
pleted on time and on budget in july
2009 and now handles northern distribu
tion for t esco’s fresh operations stobart
has been confirmed as the transport con
tractor using its multimodal skills
nearby stobart ports is also developing
the mersey gateway port at the manches
ter ship canalriver mersey junction when
finished this onceunderutilised port may
handle oceangoing container ships bulk
dry cargoes palletised products bonded
goods steel coil bulk liquids or imported
biomass products it is within easy reach of
manchester and liverpool and close to the
m6 m62 m56 motorway hub
stobart ports operates its own fleet of spe
cialist ‘skeletal’ units for carrying containers
which rely on stobart’s renowned it  track
ing and planning systems
the volume of work for the ports division
has increased over the past year especially
as far eastern imports have grown
stobart air
stobart air operates two airport facilities at
london southend airport and at carlisle
lake district airport these airports will
grow in both passengers and freight
london southend acquired by stobart in
december 2008 has huge potential
because of its proximity to central london
and to the new olympic park planning per
mission has been granted for a runway
extension that will enable london southend
to handle popular passenger and freight
planes such as the boeing 737 and airbus
a319 the extension will be completed well
in advance of the 2012 olympics
a new railway station currently under con
struction alongside the planned new
passenger terminal will be finished later in
2010 and will provide up to eight train serv
ices an hour direct to stratford the site of
the olympics in 42 minutes and to lon
don liverpool street in 49 minutes 
many hightech companies are also based
at london southend airport including
many involved in aircraft maintenance
business jet operations and aviation related
manufacturing there are more than 1000
people currently working on site 
carlisle lake district airport acquired by
stobart in may 2009 has long been over
due for development as a valuable tourist
route into the popular destinations of the
lake district hadrian’s wall and the scot
tish borders region currently the nearest
large airport is 70 miles away
stobart will also develop the area as a busi
ness site and plans to combine the
group’s seven locations currently dotted
around carlisle into a single highly efficient
facility an important regional crossdocking
warehouse will also serve scotland
plans are well advanced to link carlisle lake
district airport to london southend airport
part of the development plans for stobart’s
london southend airport the 28m high
control t ower is now under construction
business review                                                                                                                                                                         report and accounts 2010   26 eddie stobart 40 years in the making
27     stobart group limited
eddie stobart looks forward 
to its 40th anniversary 
as an incorporated business 
on 23 november this year
business review                                                                                                                                                                         report and accounts 2010   28
eddie stobart started as a private agricultural contractor in the early
’60s based in the isolated lake district village of hesket newmar
ket “my father began eddie stobart limited so my older brother
edward and i could operate it as a business and allow him to con
tinue as a sole trader” said son william now chief operating
officer of the stobart group  
“we had four vehicles and employed six or seven drivers we
mostly transported and spread lime and fertiliser then we got into
haulage and that’s when my dad went limited haulage was riskier
a limited company protected us in case people wouldn’t pay that
really concerned my dad”
“i was nine years old when it started and remember it well i remem
ber the signwriter putting ‘ltd’ after ‘eddie stobart’ on our four trucks”
is the culture still similar “absolutely the business is steeped in our
core values first and foremost they are about house keeping  in
every sense including professional administration and the appearance
of the drivers vehicles personnel warehousing and premises a dri
ver’s truck is his home he keeps it immaculate and hands it freshly
cleaned to the next driver these values get handed from manager to
manager from driver to driver from generation to generation” 
eddie stobart is now without doubt the bestknown name in uk
road transport and even has its own members’ club of 15000
people ‘eddie spotters’ are also familiar sights near motorways
why such warmth to a haulage company there must be no other
transport brand so loved “the warmth reflects the professionalism
of the brand” says william who spent four years driving for the
company in his early 20s “we personalised our trucks all with
girls’ names and we were one of the first operators to have our
own livery you always know when you overtake an eddie stobart
truck we were very good at attention to detail and we still are peo
ple can’t imagine just how much effort goes into nurturing
protecting and developing the brand” 
william stobart chief operating officer
an original early 1970s atkinson borderer makes
the slow haul up newlands hill to the site of the
original eddie stobart yard leaving the cumbrian
hill village of hesket newmarket behind corporate responsibility
29     stobart group limited
environmental responsibility
 stobart rail makes a major contribution to reducing carbon
pollution and road traffic each year compared with road trans
port stobart’s trains save 15500 tonnes of co2 149 million
road miles and cuts fuel usage by 67 percent
 at 837 percent stobart’s load utilisation is the best in the
haulage industry making journeys more economically and envi
ronmentally efficient
 the new fleet of scania trucks are all euro 5 compliant more
than 88 percent of the current stobart fleet complies to either
euro 4 or euro 5 pollution regulations
 a new 18tonne volvo dieselelectric hybrid has been trialled
and will begin making deliveries from stobart’s park royal hub
into central london next year
 the proposed new envirotrailer developed by stobart and
currently awaiting eu approval will deliver much greater fuelto
load efficiency the envirotrailer will reduce pollution and cut
the haulage industry’s carbon footprint this new more
efficiently proportioned semitrailer can offer up to a 13 percent
increase in carrying capacity 
less than a metre longer than a standard trailer –
and actually shorter when the existing trailer
has a forklift mounted on the back – the
envirotrailer remains within the 44tonne
weight limit the new rearwheel steering
actually reduces road wear and improves
manoeuvrability fuel consumption is not
increased boosting efficiency with the
new trailer already approved by mira a
proposal for its use is now before gov
ernment
 stobart’s environmental transport
offering is at the cutting edge of
sourcing and distributing biomass
fuels a major factor in sustainable
power generation
 stobart air’s revamped airport at lon
don southend offers a 20minute
shorter air journey from mainland
europe than other london airports a
40minute saving for a round trip with
commensurate reductions in fuel use
and carbon emissions
 stobart drivers get efficiency training to
reduce their fuel use saving the environ
ment and reducing waste 
stobart people
stobart has excellent training programmes for all employees the
company’s drivers’ training programme includes an on going
level 2 nvq in driving a heavy goods vehicle which 50 of sto
bart drivers have already successfully completed every driver will
have completed their cpc or equivalent training programme on
ssow safe systems of work and safed safe and fuel effi
cient driving skills by 31 august 2010 safed will help to reduce
the groups carbon footprint and cut costs 
cash incentives are offered for drivers who ‘keep the revs in the
green’ maximise use of cruise control cut wasteful engine idling
and minimise harsh use of brakes
as the group has grown so have the number of new employees 
often integrated from other companies which the group has pur
chased each one is trained to understand the stobart culture of
professionalism good housekeeping and excellent standards of
presentation
stobart is committed to promoting from within and encourages
career development the management development programme
mdp is creating and nurturing the future management team and
directors strengthening the business several of divisional direc
tors started off as juniors within the business
business review
stobart group takes its corporate and social responsibilities seriously 
the company has been responsible for numerous positive environmental
initiatives and is widely active in the communities associated with its facilities                                                                                                                                                                         report and accounts 2010   30
health and safety
health and safety is a key performance indicator in the past year
there was an excellent safety performance record with
accidentincident rate at 053 2009 043 these figures are arrived
at by dividing the number of riddors by the number of hours
worked x100000 009 of the movement in the riddor rate can be
explained by the extreme bad weather in january and february
2010 by integrating safety systems we are confident all accidents
are correctly reported
working smarterworking safer initiative developed to include
poster and credit card campaign positive performance pyramid
including workforce engagement to encourage the reporting of
near misses in order to further reduce the number of riddors
within the group
following a recent full site tour at our major 450000 sq ft daventry
site northampton fire service commented how impressed they
were with “the site controls implemented and the high operational
standards attained” 
the dedication and commitment to business systems quality
within the group has unified systems within the divisions ensuring
that all sites and customer locations are audited on an at least
annual basis positive progress and improvements are evidenced
at all depots with compliance continuing to improve overall audit
results have been aligned with health and safety to provide an
overall balanced scorecard approach
managing risk
commentary on our internal control and risk management is included
within the corporate governance report on page 43 however we
have specifically identified the climate reduction commitment
energy efficiency scheme ‘crcees’ as a key consideration to our
environmental approach
the legislative pressures are all aimed at “encouraging” compa
nies to reduce the environmental impact of their activities by
introducing and implementing good energy management
techniques which complements the group objectives of reducing
environmental waste and reducing it’s carbon footprint
further significant potential is offered by stobart biomass products
limited which could provide impetus to develop bi or trigenera
tion utilising biomass as a fuel source at a number of sites
especially sites with chilled warehousing requirements
for any energy and environmental strategy to succeed it is impor
tant to enlist the support and active participation of staff members
to maximise the benefits of manual control opportunity identifica
tion and procedure implementation we therefore plan to promote
and support an energy and environmental strategy ess encom
passing kpi’s action plans and information dissemination
social responsibility
stobart group understands the importance of helping people both
in our local communities and nationally through sponsorship
donations and direct involvement we have a varied programme in
place with our super brand status playing a major part in support
ing worthwhile charities such as local hospices and large charities
such as cancer research 
some examples of our achievements include
auction of truck name at the emerald 
and ivory ball in aid of cancer research raising £6000
support for local charitable trust race day donation £1500
support for muscular dystrophy campaign donation £8000
support for cancer research ltd
marie curie cancer care donation £8000
support for local hospices £6600
stobart group have supported the madeleine mccann campaign
by creating awareness of the campaign through the livery on one of
the trailers ‘tramping’ around the uk 
we sponsor carlisle united fc and also their local school of excel
lence which offers young people the opportunity to be part of the
future their local football club in addition we sponsor widnes
vikings rlfc supporting our presence in the community
a stobart professor of logistics has been created through a part
nership with the university of cumbria launching a groundbreaking
national project for logistics and transport stobart group brings its
worldrenowned brand and years of experience to the project
stobart group also recognise the importance of offering young
people the opportunity to learn about our activities as part of this
positive drive we are aiming to attract high calibre candidates
aged between 16 and 18 to join stobart group as apprentices business performance
ben whawell chief financial officer
31     stobart group limited
results
this is the second full financial year since the group became a
multimodal logistics operation and i am pleased to report another
strong performance and in particular a strong improvement in
profitability despite a background of difficult national economic
conditions
this is also the first year in which we have realised value in our
strategic assets by a major disposal of part of our widnes site
which we had developed
following major acquisitions in the prior year we have consolidated
restructured and integrated these businesses increasing profitability
and putting us in an excellent position to grow further
t otal revenue from continuing operations increased to £4477m
2009 £4311m
underlying earnings after fleet financing costs eaffc increased to
£391m 2009 275m and underlying profit before tax from continu
ing operations increased to £368m 2009 £235m both measures
include a net profit on disposal of the widnes assets of £82m £10m
before associated share based payment charge
continuing profit before tax increased to £341m 2009 £221m
restated after impairment of investment property of £18m was
reclassified to continuing operations 
earnings per share
adjusted earnings per share increased to 110p from 77p this
includes the profit on disposal of assets at widnes but excludes
restructuring costs credit for purchase of london southend air
port 2009 only impairment of investment properties 2009 only
and is normalised for a tax charge of 28 the weighted average
number of shares in the period increased to 2464m shares from
2156m shares
basic earnings per share from continuing operations increased to
121p from 90p
divisional performance review and acquisitions
eddie stobart
the eddie stobart road transport and warehousing business has
contributed revenue of £3815m 2009 £3873m and underlying
eaffc of £264m 2009 £245m
the profitable james irlam  sons ltd business which was
acquired in the prior year was fully integrated in to the eddie sto
bart fleet in the early part of the year
financial review
t otal revenue from continuing operations
increased to £4477m from £4311m in 2009
whilst underlying profit before t ax increased 
to £286m in 2010 from £231m in 2009
 underlying eaffc is calculated as the underlying operating profit of £350m 2009 £314m plus the profit on disposal of widnes assets of £82m 2009 £nil less share
based payment costs of £07m 2009 £07m and fleet financing costs of £34m 2009 £32m                                                                                                                                                                         report and accounts 2010   32
ben above left and group deputy ceo richard butcher right were integral to
raising £29m funding for the phase one development at widnes they then managed
the combined sale of this asset and the sale and leaseback of the adjoining terminal
generating £82m profit for the group after a sharebased payment charge
the chilled business of innovate logistics which was also acquired at
low cost in the prior year has already recovered the cost of acquisition
and restructuring costs spent
the division suffered disruption caused by the extreme weather condi
tions in the uk in january 2010 which cost the business in excess of
£05m and which is included in the figures quoted this is expected to
be a oneoff cost but highlights our supportive culture and reaffirms
our efficient ‘pay as you go’ model to our customer base
after the balance sheet date we have secured a 50 investment in
newly set up stobart biomass products limited for £30m half in
shares and half in cash this venture in conjunction with aw jenkin
son has been formed to distribute biomass products to the
fastgrowing uk renewable energy market
at the same time we have secured a tenyear contract with aw jenk
inson which is expected to deliver additional pretax profit in excess of
£19m over five years the investment and new contract together will
provide substantial strategic opportunities across the stobart group
including rail and ports
stobart rail
the rail division has continued to perform very well since its acquisition
in the prior year for £103m including costs the division contributed rev
enue of £648m 2009 £382m and underlying eaffc of £50m 2009
35m out of this £191m 2009 £107m of revenue and £10m 2009
£03m of profit was earned on group development projects £07m of
this profit was ultimately realised on disposal of the widnes assets
the strong performance reflects a steady demand for rail infrastructure
engineering work and an increasing demand for other civil engineering
developments works including external and intragroup projects
external projects included major development of a stateoftheart ware
house facility at bardon which handles 75 of nestle’s confectionery
distribution and also construction work on a warehouse at daresbury for
johnson and johnson another customer of the business this latter
development helped secure a longterm contract with the customer
the results are stated after a writedown of £03m of debtors when one
of our customers jarvis plc went into administration this is not
expected to materially affect the business going forward  33     stobart group limited
business performance
continued
revenue
£4477m
notes
20082009 revenue
£4311m
20072008 revenue
£1018m
eaffc
earnings after fleet financing costs
£391m
notes
 normalised comprising the underlying operating profit of £350m
2009 £314m plus profit on disposal of widnes assets of £82m
2009 £nil less fleet financing costs of £34m 2009 £32m and
share based payments of £07m 2009 £07m
 2010 eaffc before profit on disposal of widnes assets of £82m
was £309m
20082009 eaffc
£275m
20072008 eaffc
£54m
financial review
the ideal solution revenue profit
1 find ideal location preferably with 
road rail sea and air links
2 agree development with customer
3 develop using 
stobart’s inhouse team
3
4 secure road transport contract
33
5 secure warehouse contract
33
6 move goods by rail freight
33
7 inbound goods moved 
on feeder vessels
33
8 store and handle goods 
though port facilities
33
9 provide air freight option 
for fast moving goods
33
10dispose of asset at a profit
3
business model using assets to generate growth unearthing the hidden value in our assets
a unique aspect of our business strategy is the interaction of our
asset developments and our multimodal operations we own several
valuable sites which can be enhanced by using our inhouse devel
opment expertise enhancement of assets in turn provides further
opportunities for development of operations with our customers
which further enhances the asset values this strategy is set out in
the table opposite
an excellent example of how this model has worked successfully
is the chilled distribution centre at widnes which was completed
on time and on budget project managed by our stobart rail
developments team
this project converted 42 acres of mostly empty brownfield site
in to a new 528000 sq ft chilled distribution centre which is now
occupied by t esco our eddie stobart chilled fleet has since won
the transport contract to service the requirements of this major
site we hope to move goods by rail to the site as an extension of
our chilled goods rail service from valencia spain and the goods
will be handled by our inland port facility
the site and the adjacent terminal land subsequently leased
back to the group were sold by the group in february 2010 for
£61m realising a net profit on disposal after costs of £100m
reducing to £82m after associated share based payment
charge and allowing us to pay down a significant amount of
debt the return on investment before the share based payment
charge of this disposal is 196  
stobart ports
the ports division has contributed revenue of £139m 2009
£146m and underlying eaffc of £124m 2009 £26m including
a profit on disposal of the assets at widnes of £82m
the division has successfully reduced its costs to match the
reduced container volumes driven by the economic slowdown
as described above the first phase of the development of the
widnes site was completed in the year the terminal operation is
able to handle more than double the current container volumes so
this development the johnson  johnson daresbury warehouse
and further potential developments on our inland port site are
promising for the terminal operation
stobart air
the air division contributed revenue of £66m 2009 £17m and
underlying eaffc of £02m 2009 £01m this includes a full year
of london southend airport 2009 3 months and 9 months of
carlisle lake district airport which was acquired in the year
the development of london southend airport is progressing well
the new onsite railway station will be completed in july 2010 and
planning approval has been confirmed for the runway extension
we have secured funding for the capital expenditure required to
fully develop the airport
carlisle lake district airport was acquired on 30 may 2009 for a
total consideration of £99m including costs the acquisition was
funded by issue of 90m shares and a new £5m bank loan
                                                                                                                                                                        report and accounts 2010   34
pbt
profit before t ax from continuing operations
£368m
notes
 normalised pbt including profit on disposal of widnes assets of £82m
2009 £nil but stated before restructuring costs of £27m 2009
£27m credit for purchase of london southend airport of £nil 2009
£36m and impairment of investment property of £nil 2009 £18m
 2010 normalised pbt before profit on disposal of widnes assets of
£82m was £286m
20082009 eaffc
£231m
20072008 eaffc
£35m
eps
earnings per ordinary share
110p
notes
 eps based on normalised pbt of £368m 2009 £231m and 
allowing for a 28 tax charge
 2010 normalised eps before profit on disposal of widnes assets of
£82m 2009 £nil was 86p
20082009 eps
77p
20072008 eps
21p eddie stobart 2010 2009
revenue £3815m £3873m
eaffc £264m £245m
pbt £256m £221m
stobart rail
revenue £648m £382m
eaffc £50m £35m
pbt £50m £34m
stobart ports
revenue £139m £146m
eaffc before disposal £42m £26m
eaffc on disposal £82m 
eaffc after disposal £124m £26m
pbt before disposal £32m £09m
pbt on disposal £82m 
pbt after disposal £114m £09m
stobart air
revenue £66m £17m
eaffc £02m £01m
pbt £02m £01m
notes
eaffc is normalised comprising the underlying operating profit less fleet financing costs and share based payments
pbt is normalised before restructuring costs credit for purchase of london southend airport 2009 only and impairment of
investment properties 2009 only
eddie stobart £256m
stobart ports £114m
made up of £32m operational profits
plus £82m profits from disposal
stobart air £02m
stobart rail £50m
enhancing assets and earnings
profit before tax 2010
eddie stobart £3815m
stobart ports £139 stobart air £66m
stobart rail £648m
revenue 2010
business performance
continued
35     stobart group limited
financial review   
                                                                                                                                                                        report and accounts 2010   36
discontinued activities
discontinued activities contributed revenue of £00m 2009 £07m
and a loss before tax of £07m 2009 £299m loss
the joint venture property related assets are written down to nil in the
balance sheet and are classified as held for sale and included in
discontinued activities as they are noncore business assets and
part of a coordinated disposal plan the group has been unable to
sell these assets in the last year due to the fall in the commercial
property market and the difficulty in coordinating joint venture part
ners for a disposal of the asset we continue to look for opportunities
to dispose of these assets on reasonable commercial terms and
expect to sell them in the next 12 months the property at debden
has been reclassified into continuing operations in the year as it is
expected to be held for more than 12 months before disposal the
prior year comparatives have also been restated where appropriate
taxation
£14m of tax is payable for the year due to the availability of trading
losses brought forward capital allowances and land remediation
relief available in connection with the widnes development the tax
charge of £51m includes deferred and noncurrent tax of £36m
and adjustment to prior year current tax of £01m giving an overall
effective tax rate on continuing operations of 149 which has also
been reduced by the available losses and land remediation relief
relief of 150 is available for certain land remediation costs this
has resulted in a tax saving of approximately £15m in addition
capital allowances on the widnes development have resulted in a
tax saving of approximately £14m 
statement of financial position
we have a strong balance sheet with net assets of £3054m 2009
£2792m including operational fixed assets of £2109m 2009
£2116m freehold property held includes five operational road
transport sites land at the mersey multimodal gateway 3mg in
widnes the port of weston at runcorn london southend airport
and carlisle lake district airport
funding
the net debt of the group has reduced to £968m from £1207m at
28 february 2009 and reduced by £58m from £1548m at the
interim position at 31 august 2009 this is principally due to the pay
down of the £25m revolving credit facility and specific £29m
development funding following the disposal of the assets at widnes
the finance lease liabilities have reduced to £504m from £534m due
to 2009 being a low year for vehicle replacements 2010 and 2011 are
both high replacement years on the three year replacement cycle
the gearing ratio is 317 2009 432 and more importantly the
gearing ratio ignoring fleet assets and fleet financing is 152 2009
241 following the disposal of the assets at widnes
there is £539m of net debt due within one year at the balance
sheet date of this £320m was working capital and finance lease
debt which revolves on normal cycles of the remaining £219m
£42m has been repaid since the year end £36m of the income
shares have been converted and £5m refinanced into a longer facil
ity the final £91m is income shares £09m vendor loan notes on
london southend airport £6m and normal amortising term debt
repayments £22m the group is reviewing its funding
requirements with a view to implementing a suitable structure for
further strategic development our bankers remain supportive and
we have strong interest from other banks and funding institutions  
cashflow
cash generated from operations was £398m 2009 £479m operat
ing cash flow after fleet financing repayments which can be regarded
as operating was £209m 2009 £299m this reduction is due to an
increase in working capital from a low base in the prior year
cash outflow for capital expenditure in the year totalled £633m
2009 £547m including assets backed by finance leases of
£177m 2009 £339m this included the following principal items
 development of the chilled distribution site at widnes funded by
a £29m loan which was also repaid on disposal of the assets
 development of the railway station and control tower at
southend funded by a new loan facility
cash received from disposal of property plant and equipment
was £728m 2009 £48m including £61m from disposal of the
widnes assets of the remaining amount £51m 2009 £10m
related to the buyback and resulting repayment of finance lease
balloons on vehicles
the net repayment of borrowings excluding finance lease liabilities
was £296m 2009 £19m increase in borrowings
dividends paid totalled £130m 2009 £146m reflecting a reduction
of the annual dividend rate to 6p 2009 8p as previously announced
outlook
the group expects to grow its operational business and develop
certain important strategic assets over the next year
within the eddie stobart division there will be a full year of the new
£20m per annum unilever contract the new £6m per annum ag barr
contract and the valencia train we also expect to start transport
services for the chilled distribution centre in widnes in the first half
the railway station at london southend airport will be completed in
july 2010 giving a 49 minute connection to central london which
will significantly help the airport to attract passenger services we
have planning approval for extension of the runway and expect to
complete this by autumn 2011 we already have funding in place
for these developments
at the carlisle airport site we await certain final site planning
approvals and then we expect to start construction of a purpose
built distribution centre to replace the current sites this will make
our carlisle operation much more efficient
dividends
as indicated at the interims the board proposes a final dividend of
4p 2009 33p reflecting the normal one thirdtwo thirds split
bringing the total dividend for the year to 6p 2009 6p
conclusion
we have had a successful year consolidating our acquisitions
developing our multimodal strategy and have demonstrated that
we can add significant value to our assets by development of the
operations and infrastructure around them
we have further growth and development plans which we believe
have excellent potential and we look forward to enhancing our
earnings and asset values in the coming years
ben whawell chief financial officer risk management
37     stobart group limited
risk management
the group operates an internal risk control system to evaluate and
manage risks as described in the section ‘internal control’ on page
45 of this report besides general risk factors a nonexhaustive
summary of specific risks affecting the group’s operations and
industry is outlined below
consumer confidence
as a key supplier to uk retailers the group’s revenues are not as
sensitive to general economic and consumer spending conditions
this is because a large proportion of loads carried are within the
fast moving consumer goods fmcg sector 
where volumes decline the group operates a fleet financing and
recruitment policy which allows it to flex its operations in response
to both increases and decreases in demand 
seasonality and abnormal weather
supplying uk retailers the group’s revenue has been seasonally
linked with its customers with demand peaking in the summer
months and the buildup to christmas january and february have
typically been the slowest trading months 
the group has grown nonseasonal business to minimise these
peaks and troughs but revenues will still flex in response to strong
or weak retail trading particularly in the buildup to christmas the
ability to flex the fleet in response as outlined above also mitigates
this risk 
extreme weather such as high winds can disrupt the group’s
business as the fleet and rail terminals can have difficulty operating 
government legislation and regulation
operating in the transport and distribution sector the group is sub
ject to a number of areas of legislation and regulation 
legislation and regulation in areas such as working time health and
safety road duties fuel costs and environment can have an impact
on a number of operational areas management have worked within
these constraints through the introduction of appropriate systems
and controls
information technology
the group’s business model is dependent on certain information
systems and databases these are backed up and the group has
inhouse it services
airport safety and security
there are inherent safety and security risks involved in operating an
airport the airport management and staff are well equipped to
manage fire and other safety and security related risks london
southend airport and carlisle lake district airport are regulated by
the civil aviation authority and the department for transport  
demand for integrated and outsourced transport and logistics
the transport and logistics industry in the uk has seen a general
trend towards an increased demand from customers for an inte
grated transport and logistics service from suppliers with national
and international operations as opposed to companies providing
only one service on a limited regional basis
the board believes that the group is well positioned to take advan
tage of this move towards integrated and outsourced transport and
logistics with both national and international capabilities offering a
more operationally efficient service
people
the strategic and operational management of the group depends
on certain key management management are retained by competi
tive performancebased remuneration and key man insurance
policies are in place
competition
the transport and logistics industry remains highly polarised with a
large number of small regional operators competing for general
transport work and a small number of national and international
businesses capable of offering fully outsourcedintegrated solu
tions to major uk customers 
the group is targeting national transport and logistics contracts
worth in excess of £10m per annum this will increase its direct
competition with the small number of international businesses also
looking to target this market segment 
however due to the nature of the innovative cost model the group
will also seek other business to complement its traffic flows
nature of lease obligations
stobart group has a number of warehouse and operating depot
leases which represent a significant cost commitment and con
tribute to material fixed costs 
where possible the group sublets facilities in backtoback
arrangements with end customers to minimise financial risk the
warehouses are predominantly on standard commercial property
terms and include periodic upwards only rent reviews 
fuel prices
fuel prices represent a high cost in the group the impact of fuel
price movements on financial performance in 20072008 and
20082009 have been negligible due to the use of fuel price escala
tors within all customers contracts
commercial property
the group currently holds a number of property assets held for
sale through associated companies and joint ventures although
the group is seeking to exit these arrangements the properties are
subject to the general property market climate the carrying values
have been largely written down in the year and previous periods
acquisitions
the enlarged stobart group was formed by a merger in september
2007 and has since then completed a further five major acquisitions 
the synergistic benefits from the merger and acquisitions will be
derived from successful integration of the various interests the
group has adopted detailed integration plans to ensure the inte
gration is successful
capital expenditure
the successful development of the group’s current assets at
widnes rail connected distribution park london southend airport
carlisle lake district airport and the port of weston at runcorn will
depend on securing funding for the proposals the group currently
has a reasonably low level of gearing and believes it is in a strong
position to realise the potential of these assets
financial review                                                                                                                                                                         report and accounts 2010   38
the board of directors executives
andrew tinkler
chief executive officer
in 1988 andrew formed wa tinkler building
contractors later to become wa developments a
very successful business focussed on civil
engineering and railway infrastructure it is now
part of the group and is known as ‘stobart rail’
in 2004 andrew acquired eddie stobart group with
colleague william stobart and was appointed ceo
he was instrumental in developing the strategy and
vision that is today’s successful stobart group
a past winner of the iod north west director of 
the year award his proven risk management
experience has played a valuable role in building a
solid foundation for implementing the group’s
multimodal strategy
william stobart
chief operating officer
longtime director of eddie stobart limited william
started his career with the haulage company 
he carried out a broad spectrum of roles including
hgv driver planner and manager within stobart
during his early career this comprehensive
experience has given him an indepth understanding
of every level of the business
william left eddie stobart in 2001 to join wa
developments as a shareholding director and in
2004 following the acquisition of eddie stobart
group he returned to the company as coo
as coo william continues to be closely involved in
delivering the group’s strategy
ben whawell
chief financial officer
qualified chartered accountant ben spent nine
years at grant thornton before joining eddie stobart
in 2004
ben is responsible for finance hr it and business
systems his primary focus is on the financial
performance of the group’s operations ben
oversaw the company’s merger with westbury
property fund forming stobart group and the
acquisitions of james irlam innovate chilled wa
developments london southend airport carlisle
lake district airport and more recently stobart
biomass products
ben received the north west financial director 
of the year award in 2009
david irlam
executive director business development
david irlam joined the stobart board with the
acquisition in april 2008 of james irlam logistics
david started his career in the family business 30
years ago as a driver he held a variety of
management positions within irlam before becoming
md and later ceo of james irlam 
he was instrumental in expanding the irlam business
leading contract negotiations and building relationships
with bluechip clients more recently he has been active
in business development strategies and systems 
as an executive director david’s extensive
experience at the cutting edge of the logistics
industry is a valuable asset to stobart group 
trevor howarth
legal director and company secretary
trevor howarth joined the company as group legal
director and has over 20 years’ legal experience
within a matter of weeks trevor became bsb
licensed to instruct counsel direct on behalf of the
group resulting in substantial savings on legal fees 
since joining stobart group trevor has overseen a
review of the company’s insurances and has
brought the management of all claims inhouse
t revor’s legal expertise has provided the company with
immediate legal advice on a wide range of legal issues
trevor is legal director and company secretary 
of stobart group 39     stobart group limited
corporate governance
the board of directors nonexecutives
rodney bakerbates
group nonexecutive chairman
rodney has held numerous senior positions within
the finance sector including md of uk banking at
the midland bank and ce of prudential fs he has
also been a member of the bbc’s management
committee 
he holds a number of board positions with bedlam
asset management plc cooperative financial
services eg solutions ltd and g’s group holdings
ltd rodney is also a nonexecutive director of
choare  co and is chairman of assura group 
nick watts
nonexecutive director
nick has a long history working at senior level within
the investment industry currently stobart group’s
senior independent director he chairs the stobart
remuneration committee
nick is sid and chairman of the corporate
governance committee at lgim h he also holds
trustee directorship of cable  wireless pension
fund and chairs its investment committee he is
also a trustee board director for a school for children
with special needs 
daniel dayan
nonexecutive director
daniel was appointed in 2009 he is chief executive
officer of fiberweb plc and a trustee of the human
rights charity the medical foundation daniel has
also been a novar plc board director
a chartered mechanical engineer by profession
earlier in his career he also worked in manufacturing
management at ici plc and has been a
management consultant with arthur d little 
jesper kjaedegaard
nonexecutive director
jesper has more than 30 years’ experience in
transport and logistics he has held several senior
positions within ap  mollermaersk group and was
appointed chief executive of the maersk company
uk ltd in 2004 
leaving in 2008 he cofounded mercator
international an independent ports and
infrastructure consultancy currently he is also
president of the british chamber of shipping and
chairman of maritime uk
michael kayser
nonexecutive director
michael is a fellow of the chartered institute of
management accountants he has extensive
experience in corporate transactions both in quoted
and private markets
michael has also held a variety of senior finance
appointments at laporte plc doncasters ltd
amey plc unilever and guinness brewing
worldwide                                                                                                                                                                          report and accounts 2010   40
directors’ report
year ended 28 february 2010
principal activities 
stobart group is a multimodal logistics business which operates a
range of transport and logistics solutions the principal subsidiary
undertakings associates and joint ventures of the group are con
tained in the notes of the consolidated financial statements 
results and dividends 
a review of group activities analysis of revenue and profit indica
tion of future developments and principal risks and uncertainties
and a review of the kpis are included in the business and financial
reviews
an interim dividend of 20p per share was paid on 10 december
2009 subject to shareholders’ approval at the agm to be held on
friday 18 june 2010 at 1030am at the fermain valley hotel fer
main lane st peter port guernsey gy1 1zz a final dividend of 40p
per share will be paid on 21 june 2010 to shareholders on the regis
ter at 21 may 2010 the exdividend date is 19 may 2009
policy and practice on payment of creditors 
the group agrees payment terms with its suppliers when it enters
into a binding agreement in this way suppliers are made aware of
these terms 
directors
biographies of the directors who are currently serving are shown
on pages 38 and 39
directors’ and officers’ insurance
the group maintains an appropriate level of directors’ and offi
cers’ insurance whereby directors are indemnified against liabilities
to third parties to the extent permitted by guernsey company law
directors’ responsibilities
the directors are responsible for preparing annual financial
statements in accordance with applicable guernsey law and
international financial reporting standards applicable in the eu
guernsey company law requires directors to prepare financial
statements for each financial period which give a true and fair
view of the state of affairs of the group and company and of the
profit or loss of the group and company for that period and are
in accordance with applicable laws 
in preparing those financial statements the directors are required to
 select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently
 make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
 prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis
unless it is inappropriate to presume that the group and
company will continue in business
 state whether applicable accounting standards have been
followed subject to any material departures disclosed and
explained in the financial statements
the directors are responsible for keeping proper accounting
records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the
financial position of the group and company and enable them to
ensure that the financial statements comply with the companies
guernsey law 1994 they are also responsible for safeguarding
the assets of the group and company and hence for taking rea
sonable steps for the prevention of fraud and other irregularities
the board and senior executives of the group are accountable to
the shareholders and communicate with them on a regular basis in
a number of ways these include
 annual general and extraordinary meetings
 announcements on the london stock exchange
 regular briefings on the group’s website
 presentations to institutional shareholders on a semiannual basis
directors’ interests in shares
the directors and their immediate families had the following benefi
cial interests as at 23 april 2010 in the group’s ordinary shares
director no of ordinary shares
rodney bakerbates 381000 
andrew tinkler 35620367
william stobart 12991927
ben whawell 97906
david irlam 2546620
nick watts 73135
michael kayser 40000
daniel dayan 40000
jesper kjaedegaard 30000
director no of share options
ben whawell 275000
 25000 shares held in the name of laura tinkler 25000 shares held in the name of adam tinkler and 40000 shares held in the name of alison schmutz
 10554 shares held in the name of april stobart 20329 shares held in the name of edward stobart
the individual interests of the directors in share options are shown above with further details to be found in the remuneration report on pages 46 to 49 substantial shareholdings
at 23 april 2010 directors were aware that the following sharehold
ers owned three per cent or more of the issued ordinary shares of
the group
director no of ordinary shares  of ordinary shares
invesco asset 
management limited 64942663 245
directors and related 51820955 195
artemis investment 
management limited 27767879 105
aviva plc 16182334 61
legal  general investment
management limited 10474598 39
alan jenkinson 11278195 43
moor capital management 9327076 35
steve o’connor 8185768 31
    shares held in the name of cenkos channel islands nominee limited
share capital and reserves
details of the authorised and issued share capital and reserves of
the group are shown in note 25 of the financial statements on
page 86 the share capital of stobart group limited is made up of
265164912 ordinary shares of 10p as at the date of this report
the shares are listed on the london stock exchange and the
channel islands stock exchange 
going concern
the group’s business activities together with factors likely to affect
its future performance and position are set out in the chief execu
tive officer’s statement and business review on pages 13 to 30 
the financial position of the group its cash flows and funding are
described in the business performance review on pages 31 to 36
in addition note 22 to the financial statements includes the group’s
objectives policies and processes for managing its capital its
financial risk management objectives details of its financial instru
ments and its exposure to credit risk and liquidity risk
the group has considerable financial resources together with long
term contracts with a number of customers and suppliers the finan
cial forecasts show that borrowing facilities are adequate such that
the group can operate within these facilities and meet its obligations
when they fall due for the foreseeable future as a consequence the
directors believe that the group is well placed to manage its busi
ness risks successfully despite the current economic climate
41     stobart group limited
corporate governance
the results for the year are shown in the consolidated
income statement on page 51
during the period under review the group has declared and
paid the following dividends to its income shareholders
dividend date declared rate
first interim 18 march 2009 20p
second interim 17 june 2009 20p
third interim 19 september 2009 20p
final dividend for 2009 17 december 2009 20p
during the period under review the group has declared and
paid the following dividends to its ordinary shareholders
dividend date declared rate
final for 2009 12 may 2009 33p
interim dividend 22 october 2009 20p
a final dividend of 40p was declared on 12 may 2010 and
will be paid on 21 june 2010
results and dividends
directors’ report
continued after making enquiries the directors have a reasonable expectation
that the group has adequate resources to continue in operational
existence for the forseeable future accordingly the financial state
ments have been prepared on a going concern basis 
responsibility statement of the directors in respect
of the annual report and group financial statements 
the board confirms to the best of its knowledge
the financial statements prepared in accordance with international
financial reporting standards as adopted by the eu gives a true
and fair view of the assets liabilities financial position and profit or
loss of the group 
the directors’ report includes a fair review of the development and
performance of the business and the balance sheet position of the
group together with the principal risks and uncertainties
auditors  
a resolution to reappoint ernst  young llp as auditors of the
company and for the approval of their remuneration are to be pro
posed at the 2010 agm 
the directors who held office at the date of the approval of this
directors’ report confirm that so far as they are each aware
there is no relevant audit information of which the group’s audi
tors are unaware and each director has taken all the steps that
he ought to have taken as director to make himself aware of any
relevant audit information and establish that the group’s auditors
are aware of that information
by order of the board
trevor howarth company secretary
stobart group limited
stretton green distribution park langford way 
appleton thorn warrington wa4 4tz 
directors officers and advisers
executive directors
andrew tinkler chief executive officer appointed 01 march 2008
william stobart chief operating officer appointed 01 march 2008
ben whawell chief financial officer appointed 01 march 2008
david irlam executive director appointed 04 april 2008
nonexecutive directors
rodney bakerbates appointed 10 april 2002
nick watts appointed 01 february 2007
michael kayser appointed 01 march 2009
daniel dayan appointed 01 july 2009
jesper kjaedegaard appointed 01 july 2009
company secretary
trevor howarth appointed 01 march 2009
registered office
isabelle chambers route isabelle 
st peter port guernsey channel islands  gy1 3tx
administrator
morgan sharpe administration limited
po box 327 isabelle chambers route isabelle 
st peter port guernsey channel islands  gy1 3tx
auditors
ernst  young llp 
100 barbirolli square manchester  m2 3ey 
bankers
the royal bank of scotland plc
1 spinningfields square spinningfields 
manchester  m3 3ap 
sponsor financial adviser and brokers
cenkos securities limited
678 t okenhouse yard london  ec2r 7as
investec securities
2 gresham street london  ec2v 7qp 
                                                                                                                                                                        report and accounts 2010   42
 
          
            
 
      
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
 
   
  
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        corporate governance report
year ended 28 february 2010
good corporate governance assists in the promotion of this growth
by ensuring that there is effective authority and accountability
throughout the organisation the base that the group uses for this
is the 2008 combined code issued by the financial reporting
council and appended to the listing rules and which sets out best
practice of how a company should be run
whilst the group was incorporated in guernsey and hence was not
required under law to comply with the combined code the board
is committed to its standards 
the purpose of this report is to show how the group complies with
the code and on the rare occasions where it does not explain the
reason for noncompliance
the board  chairman and chief executive officer
the positions of chairman and chief executive officer are held by
different individuals in order to provide segregation of roles 
the chairman’s role is to manage the board of directors ensure
that the nonexecutives are committed to their positions and are
able to contribute to the management of the group as a whole 
the chief executive officer’s role is to implement strategy laid down by
the board of directors and to manage the group and its operations
the board of directors is collectively responsible for the success of
the group
board balance and independence
the board now consists of nine individuals five of whom including
the chairman are independent nonexecutive and four are execu
tive directors over the past year this board has had the
appropriate balance and skill set to advise on the group’s growth
it was recognised that the board would benefit from nonexecutive
directors who have more operational and industryspecific knowl
edge 
during the year richard burrell and nigel rawlings stepped down
from the board and were replaced by daniel dayan and jesper
kjaedegaard daniel is a chartered mechanical engineer and is
chief executive officer of fibreweb plc 
jesper was chief executive of the maersk company uk ltd until
recently and now runs his own ports infrastructure consultancy
business he is also president of the british chamber of shipping
and chairman of maritime uk
senior independent director 
nick watts is group senior independent director his role is to 
 be available to shareholders if they have concerns which cannot
be dealt with by the chairman chief executive officer or chief
financial officer
 attend institutional and analyst briefings in addition to the chief
executive officer and his team
 meet with the nonexecutive members of the board at least
once a year without the presence of the chairman or the execu
tive directors in order to review the chairman’s performance in
his role and also the chairman’s relationship with the chief
executive officer
company secretary and independent advice
the company secretary’s role is to act as advisor to the board on
matters relating to corporate governance and in conjunction with
the chairman to ensure good information flows between the
board its various committees the nonexecutive and executive
directors and senior members of the executive t eam
the nonexecutive directors have access to his advice and serv
ices in addition to independent professional advice if required at
the group’s expense
matters reserved for the board and how it operates
in accordance with the code the board has agreed a formal
schedule of matters requiring its decision this schedule is avail
able on the group’s website in summary those matters reserved
to the board include
 strategy of the group
 being alert to market and other prevalent conditions and their
potential consequence on the group and the environment in
which it operates
 continuing review of group performance against its forecasts
 consideration and approval of financial results dividend policy
and payments
 capital structure and any debt funding of the group
 approval of financial and other commitments above those dele
gated to the executive
 monitoring internal control and risk management
 appointment of the executive directors on the recommendation
of the nomination committee
43     stobart group limited
corporate governance
above all other objectives the board is there to ensure that
the group provides long term and sustainable growth for
its shareholders                                                                                                                                                                         report and accounts 2010   44
the board has met for eight scheduled meetings during the course
of the 12 months under review and attendance at such board
meetings by individual directors is set out below 
in addition it has met with members of the senior management
team on 14 october 2009 to discuss the group’s vision and strat
egy and review business planning and risk mechanisms
director number of number of
meetings attended meetings possible
rodney bakerbates 88
andrew tinkler 88
william stobart 88
ben whawell 78
david irlam 68
nick watts 78
michael kayser 88
richard burrell resigned 30 june 2009 33
nigel rawlings resigned 30 june 2009 33
daniel dayan appointed 01 july 2009 45
jesper kjaedegaard appointed 01 july 200955
board meetings are an opportunity for example for the nonexec
utive directors to challenge performance of the various divisions
against targets and kpis set to review transactions which have
taken place since the preceding meeting and to receive reports
from the board’s committees
board proceedings are recorded in comprehensive minutes which
permit any director to record their views if they have any concerns
which the board cannot satisfactorily resolve no such concerns
were voiced during this period
appointments to the board
the board has established a nomination committee which is
required to meet at least once a year or more often if so required
in order to make recommendations to the board on the composi
tion balance and membership of the board 
the nomination committee
the nomination committee leads the process for board appoint
ments and makes recommendations to the board on the structure
size and composition of the board and succession planning for
directors and senior executives 
the committee’s members are rodney bakerbates chairman
andrew tinkler and nick watts for new potential nonexecutive
board members the nomination committee meet and agree to
appoint an external consultant to assist with the selection of a
shortlist of potential nonexecutive directors 
once this shortlist is presented the nomination committee meet
and undertake a formal rigorous and transparent procedure for the
appointment of new directors to the board
during 2009 the board engaged an external consultant to advise
and assist on the selection and recruitment of two nonexecutive
directors
careful consideration is given by the nomination committee to
ensure that any appointees to the board have enough time avail
able to devote to the role and that the balance of skills knowledge
and experience on the board is maintained 
when dealing with the appointment of a successor to the chair
man the senior independent director will chair the committee
instead of the chairman when the committee has found a suitable
candidate the chairman of the committee will make the proposal
to the whole board and the appointment is the responsibility of the
whole board following recommendation from the committee 
information induction and professional development
the chairman is responsible for ensuring all directors receive com
prehensive information on a regular basis to enable them to
perform their duties properly board papers are normally distributed
five days in advance of scheduled board meetings 
new directors receive appropriate induction on joining the board
typically including meeting members of the senior management
team and visits to operational sites all directors have access to the
advice and services of the company secretary who is responsible
to the board for ensuring that board procedures are complied with 
boarddirector evaluation and training
the chief executive officer conducts annual appraisals with executive
directors and has regular onetoone discussions about their perform
ance with them as does the chairman with the chief executive 
the board has also appointed an independent consultancy to
undertake a review of the effectiveness of the governance arrange
ments this evaluation included the following
 a review of the board and key committee papers for the preced
ing 12 months and other background materials
 interviews of current board members the former nonexecutive
director nigel rawlings and the company secretary
 observation of the board meeting on 29 july 2009
a report of findings was presented to the board in september 2009 the audit committee
the audit committee is to establish formal and transparent
arrangements for considering how to apply the financial reporting
and internal control principles and to maintain an appropriate rela
tionship with the external auditors 
the audit committee monitors the integrity of the financial state
ments internal financial controls and internal audit functions the
committee also makes recommendations to the board in relation
to the appointment of the group’s external auditors 
audit committee membership
the audit committee is chaired by michael kayser and its other
members include rodney bakerbates nigel rawlings resigned
30 june 2009 and daniel dayan appointed 01 july 2009 the
company secretary acts as its secretary
michael kayser is considered by the board and the nomination com
mittee to hold the requisite recent and relevant financial experience
the quorum for an audit committee meeting is any two members
only members of the audit committee and the company secretary
are permitted to attend meetings however the chief financial offi
cer and the group’s external auditors will normally be invited to
attend meetings 
at least once a year the audit committee will meet with the external
auditors without the chief financial officer or any other executive
directors present 
attendance at audit committee meetings
the terms of reference of the audit committee from 1 march
2008 which are available on the group’s website require it to
meet at least three times per year during the period under
review the audit committee met on four occasions with atten
dance as set out in the table below
number of audit committee meetings in the period 4
member number of meetings attended
michael kayser 4
nigel rawlings 2
rodney bakerbates 4
daniel dayan 1
shareholder relations
the company is committed to maintaining good communications
with shareholders senior executives including the chairman chief
executive and chief financial officer have dialogue with individual
institutional shareholders in order to develop an understanding of
their views which are periodically fed back to the board 
t wice a year general presentations are given to analysts and
investors covering the annual and half year results in addition
members of the board meet with institutional investors and ana
lysts on a periodic basis
the company secretary generally deals with enquiries from individ
ual shareholders wwwstobartgroupcom contains published
information and press releases 
whistleblowing policy
the board has prepared and approved a whistleblowing policy
which has been circulated within the company this policy
includes arrangements for employees to raise concerns about
possible improprieties in financial or other matters arrangements
include independent investigation of such matters and appropriate
followup action
internal control and risk management
the directors’ responsibilities in connection with the financial state
ments are set out in the directors’ report on page 40 the board
through the audit committee is responsible for the group’s system
of internal control and for reviewing its effectiveness
the board considers risk assessment implementation of mitigating
actions and internal control to be fundamental to achieving the
group’s strategy internal control gives the board reasonable but
not absolute assurance the board has an ongoing process for
identifying evaluating and managing significant risks faced by the
group and maintains a risk register 
the system of internal control is based upon
 the board’s overall responsibility
 the group has an organisational structure with established lines
of accountability as well as clearly defined levels of authority
 regular and at least annual review by the board and the audit
committee
 compliance with the t urnbull guidance 2005
 support by company policies in other areas such as finance
 management rather than elimination of the risk of failure to achieve
strategic objectives it can also only provide reasonable and not
absolute assurance against material misstatement or loss
the audit committee and the board have reviewed the effective
ness of internal control including financial operational and
compliance controls together with risk management in accordance
with the code over the period of this report and to the date of its
publication and confirm that no significant failings or weaknesses
have been identified if they had been the board confirms that the
necessary actions would have been taken to remedy them
the audit committee review the independence of the auditors at
the interims and at year end
corporate responsibility
david irlam executive director takes board level responsibility for
developing and implementing the group’s policy and approach for
corporate responsibility 
this includes its arrangements for matters relating to people soci
ety and the environment 
corporate governance report
continued
45     stobart group limited
corporate governance                                                                                                                                                                         report and accounts 2010   46
directors’ remuneration report
year ended 28 february 2010
the remuneration committee
the remuneration committee the committee makes recommen
dations to the board on the company’s framework for executive
remuneration and its cost it approves on the board’s behalf the
general recruitment terms remuneration benefits employment
conditions and severance terms for executive management 
the committee’s members include nick watts chairman rodney
bakerbates richard burrell resigned as a director 30 june 2009
and jesper kjaedegaard appointed as a director 01 july 2009 all
the nonexecutive directors are determined by the board to be
independent in accordance with the combined code
the committee has retained hewitt new bridge street hnbs to
advise it on executive remuneration
the remuneration committee met once during the period ended
28 february 2010 
number of remuneration committee meetings in the period 1
member number of meetings attended
nick watts 1
rodney bakerbates 1
richard burrell resigned june 2009 0
jesper kjaedegaard 1
policy statement on 
executive directors’ remuneration
the board’s policy for executive directors and key executives’
remuneration is to
 keep salaries and fixed pay at below market levels but move
them towards a market level over a period of years and to
reward performance through variable pay arrangements
 use short and long term incentives to encourage executives to
outperform targets thereby linking their rewards to the interests
of shareholders and other stakeholders and giving them the
opportunity to increase their earnings
 encourage executives to hold shares in the group and
 overall reward executives fairly and responsibly for their contri
bution to the group’s short and longterm performance and
avoid paying more than is necessary for achieving this objective
the company repays reasonable expenses to nonexecutive
directors which are incurred to carry out their duties as directors 
policy statement on 
nonexecutive directors’ remuneration
the group’s policy is to pay annual fees that reflect the responsibil
ities placed upon nonexecutive directors fees are reviewed each
year when account is taken of the level of fees paid in companies
of similar size and complexity additional fees will be paid to the
chairman of the audit committee remuneration committee and
nomination committee 
nonexecutive directors will not participate in any annual bonus or
incentive plans the pension scheme healthcare arrangements and
the company longterm incentive plans 
during the period to 28 february 2010 there was no increase given
to the fees paid to nonexecutive directors 
share options awarded to directors 
at the time of the westbury property fund merger in september
2007 the board decided to award a share incentive award to
richard burrell and nigel rawlings
in respect of richard burrell this relates to an option of 902472
shares in the group at an exercise price of 1662p per ordinary
share in respect of nigel rawlings this relates to an option of
601648 shares in the group at an exercise price of 1662p per
ordinary share both richard burrell and nigel rawlings resigned
from the board in the year and they retain their options there are
no performance conditions attached to these options
in march 2008 and august 2009 respectively ben whawell was
awarded 300000 and 125000 share options under the stobart’s exec
utive equity incentive plan seeip in february 2010 150000 of the
first granted options were fully vested 61500 of the shares issued after
vesting were sold by the employee benefit t rust to pay the income tax
and employee’s national insurance payable on issue of these shares
the other executive directors were not awarded share options under
the incentive plans as they hold significant shareholdings in the
group 
no other directors’ share options were exercised or lapsed in the
period ended 28 february 2010
nonexecutive directors’ fees for the period to 28 february 2010
director t otal fees 2010 t otal fees 2009
£’000 £’000
rodney bakerbates 900 900
nick watts 447 400
michael kayser 420 420
richard burrell resigned june 2009 146 350
nigel rawlings resigned june 2009 146 350
daniel dayan appointed july 2009 204 
jesper kjaedegaard appointed july 2009 204 
tim chesney resigned august 2008  116 executive directors’ elements of remuneration
the executive directors’ total remuneration consists of salary
annual bonus long term incentives pensions and other benefits
such as company car allowance and health care 
salary 
the board has agreed to pay all its executive directors a salary of
£100000 in the year the salary is lower than that of executives paid
in companies of comparable size and complexity the committee
feels that it is appropriate to increase salary levels towards market
levels over a period of years and to reward executives through the
variable pay arrangements 
for 2010 the committee has reviewed salary levels and awarded a
salary of £125000 for executive directors for the current year
annual bonus 
the groups bonus policy is to pay a self funded cash bonus
based on individual performance assessment when the groups
performance for the year is ahead of budget as well as a cash
bonus for the year the board agrees a stretching upside target
significantly ahead of budget which if met in full will trigger
awards based on individual performance under the ltip scheme
the executive directors participate in an annual performance
related bonus scheme and the remuneration committee review
targets and levels of eligibility annually
bonus payments are determined by the committee and are based
on targets the maximum bonus level is 100 of base salary of
which 75 is based on the attainment of headline profit before tax
and 25 is based on the attainment of other corporate operational
objectives such as business wins fleet utilisation health and
safety and efficiency savings
stobart executive equity plan seeip
long term incentives have been awarded under the stobart exec
utive equity plan seeip the rules for the seeip were approved
by shareholders in september 2007 and the group made awards
under the seeip to ben whawell of 300000 options in march
2008 and of 125000 options in august 2009 awards under the
seeip are also made to certain other senior management and
seek to reward performance measured over a three year period
the awards under seeip are conditional based on performance
measured over a period to a fixed point in time the performance
period for the eps based options is for the year to 28 february
2010 march 2008 options to 28 february 2011 july 2008
options and to 28 february 2012 august 2009 options the
performance period for the tsr based options is a three year
period from the date of grant of the options
there are two performance measures associated with the seeip 
chosen to align with the best interests of the group and its share
holders these are an earnings per share eps test and a t otal
shareholder return tsr test 
the vesting of 50 march 2008 award 40 july 2008 award
and 40 august 2009 award are dependent on the company’s
tsr performance against the constituents of the ftse small cap
index excluding investment trusts over the three year period from
the date of the grant no award vests for below median perform
ance at median performance awards vest in proportion to full
vesting for upper quartile performance 
the vesting of the remaining 50 march 2008 award 60 july
2008 award and 60 august 2009 award are dependent on eps
growth targets
eps growth march 2008 award
775p 0 vests
between 775p and 1075p pro rata between 0 and 100
1075p 100
eps growth july 2008 award
93p 0 vests
between 93p and 129p pro rata between 0 and 100
129p 100
eps growth august 2009 award
102p 0 vests
between 102p and 133p pro rata between 0 and 100
133p 100
the eps measure will be a normalised eps basis as determined by
the remuneration committee but excluding any charge in relation
to the options under the seeip 
on 28 february 2010 all of the march 2008 eps based options vested 
47     stobart group limited
corporate governance
directors’ remuneration report
continued                                                                                                                                                                         report and accounts 2010   48
the tsr comparatives shown are the ftse small cap excluding investment trusts as that is the comparator group for the tsr based
options under the seeip  and the ftse 250 excluding investment trusts as the group has been a member of the ftse 250 during the year
t otal shareholder return
21 sept
2007
0
20
40
60
value £
80
100
120
29 feb
2008
28 feb
2009
28 feb
2010
stobart group limited
ftse 250 excluding investment trusts
ftse small cap excluding investment trusts
source datastream 49     stobart group limited
for the period to 1 march 2008 to 28 february 2009
executive director base salaries performance benefits t otal pension
and fees payments contribution
2009 2009 2009 2009 2009
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
andrew tinkler 1000 600 729 2329 150
william stobart 1000 600 260 1860 150
ben whawell 1000 600 133 1733 150
david irlam 917 600 304 1821 138
directors’ remuneration report
continued
share option schemes
currently 34 of shares of the company’s issued share capital
have been allocated under share option schemes 
service contracts 
the committee is also under a duty to ensure contractual terms on
termination and any payments made are fair to the individual and
to the group that failure is not rewarded and that duty to mitigate
loss is fully recognised each service contract expires at the normal
retirement date or earlier if notice is given 
the executive directors’ service contracts are dated 8 may 2009
the nonexecutive directors’ service contracts are dated as fol
lows rodney baker bates 21 september 2007 nick watts 21
september 2007 michael kayser 13 august 2008 daniel dayan 1
july 2009 jesper kjaedegaard 1 july 2009
the notice periods are 12 months for executive directors and one
month for nonexecutive directors there are no provisions for fur
ther compensation on early termination
rodney bakerbates andrew tinkler david irlam daniel dayan
and jesper kjaedegaard will all retire and be proposed for reelec
tion at the forthcoming annual general meeting on 18 june 2010
pension and benefits
the executive directors receive a contribution to a personal pen
sion scheme of 15 of annual salary death in service benefits of
eight times annual salary together with standard executive med
ical benefits they are also entitled to a company car of a size and
type deemed appropriate for the proper performance of their
duties or at their discretion a company car allowance of £20000
per annum apart from ben whawell who is entitled to an allowance
of £12000 per annum
trevor howarth company secretary
stobart group limited
stretton green distribution park langford way 
appleton thorn warrington wa4 4tz 
executive directors’ emoluments
for the period to 1 march 2009 to 28 february 2010
executive director base salaries performance benefits t otal pension
and fees payments contribution
2010 2010 2010 2010 2010
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
andrew tinkler 1000 633 422 2055 150
william stobart 1000 633 380 2013 150
ben whawell 1000 633 152 1785 150
david irlam 1046 633 316 1995 151 report and accounts 2010 50
we have audited the group financial statements of stobart group
limited for the year ended 28 february 2010 which comprise the
consolidated income statement the consolidated statement of
comprehensive income the consolidated statement of financial
position the consolidated statement of changes in equity the
consolidated cash flow statement and the related notes 1 to 29
the financial reporting framework that has been applied in their
preparation is applicable law and international financial reporting
standards ifrss as adopted by the european union
this report is made solely to the company’s members as a body
in accordance with section 262 of the companies guernsey law
2008 our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state
to the company’s members those matters we are required to state
to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose t o the
fullest extent permitted by law we do not accept or assume
responsibility to anyone other than the company and the
company’s members as a body for our audit work for this report
or for the opinions we have formed
respective responsibilities of directors and auditors
as explained more fully in the directors’ responsibilities statement
set out on page 40 the directors are responsible for the
preparation of the group financial statements and for being
satisfied that they give a true and fair view our responsibility is to
audit the group financial statements in accordance with applicable
law and international standards on auditing uk and ireland
those standards require us to comply with the auditing practices
board’s apb’s ethical standards for auditors
scope of the audit of the financial statements
an audit involves obtaining evidence about the amounts and
disclosures in the financial statements sufficient to give reasonable
assurance that the financial statements are free from material
misstatement whether caused by fraud or error this includes an
assessment of whether the accounting policies are appropriate to
the group’s circumstances and have been consistently applied and
adequately disclosed the reasonableness of significant accounting
estimates made by the directors and the overall presentation of
the financial statements
opinion on financial statements
in our opinion the group financial statements
 give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s affairs as at
28 february 2010 and of its profit for the year then ended
 have been properly prepared in accordance with ifrss as
adopted by the european union and
 have been properly prepared in accordance with the require
ments of the companies guernsey law 2008
matters on which we are required to report by exception
we have nothing to report in respect of the following 
under the companies guernsey law 2008 we are required to
report to you if in our opinion
 proper accounting records have not been kept by the company
 the company’s accounts are not in agreement with the account
ing records or
 we have not received all the information and explanations we
require for our audit
other matter
we have reported separately on the parent company financial
statements of stobart group limited for the year ended 28
february 2010
stuart watson
for and on behalf of ernst  young llp  manchester
12 may 2010 
independent auditor’s report
t o the members of stobart group limited  financial statements
consolidated income statement
for the year to 28 february 2010
51 stobart group limited
notes year to restated year to
28022010 28022009
£’000 £’000
revenue 5 447661 431062
operating expenses  underlying 3 412642 399711
underlying operating profit 35019 31351
share based payments 23 2504 716
less share based payments associated with the 
disposal of widnes assets 3 1758 
share based payments on underlying operating profit 746 716
profit on disposal of widnes assets net of associated costs 3 8258 
restructuring costs 3 2746 2722
credit for business purchase 12  3609
impairment of investment property 15  1803
profit before interest and tax 3 39785 29719
finance costs 8 6650 8161
finance income 7 928 581
profit before tax 5 34063 22139
income tax 9 5071 2797
profit for the year from continuing operations 28992 19342
discontinued operations 6 770 28113
profit  loss for the year attributable to equity holders of the parent 28222 8771
earnings  loss per ordinary share
from continuing operations
basic 10 1206p 897p
diluted 10 1189p 893p
from continuing and discontinued operations
basic 10 1174p 407p
diluted 10 1158p 407p report and accounts 2010 52
notes year to restated year to
28022010 28022009
£’000 £’000
profit  loss for the year 28222 8771
exchange differences on translation of foreign operations  336
reversal of revaluation of land and buildings  340
cash flow hedge 1608 
t ax on items relating to components of other comprehensive income 9 450 
other comprehensive income  loss for the year net of tax 1158 676
t otal comprehensive income  loss for the year 
attributable to equity shareholders of the parent 27064 9447
consolidated statement of comprehensive income  
for the year to 28 february 2010 financial statements
consolidated statement of financial position 
for the year to 28 february 2010
53 stobart group limited
notes 28022010 28022009
£’000 £’000
noncurrent assets
property plant and equipment
 land and buildings 13 139705 131435
 plant and machinery 13 15835 15302
 fixtures fittings and equipment 13 4131 2922
 commercial vehicles 13 51234 61901
210905 211560
investment property 15 2000 
intangible assets 14 231286 223258
other investments 10 22
444201 434840
current assets
inventories 18 1559 1700
trade and other receivables 19 84411 72104
cash and cash equivalents 13134 7251
99104 81055
assets of disposal groups classified as held for sale 6 241 2900
99345 83955
t otal assets 543546 518795
noncurrent liabilities
loans and borrowings 22 42876 90367
other liabilities 21 10941 15420
corporation tax 4807 
deferred tax 24 34243 34269
92867 140056
current liabilities
trade and other payables 20 74204 57559
loans and borrowings 22 67196 37775
corporation tax  178
141400 95512
liabilities directly associated with the assets classified as held for sale 6 3923 3997
145323 99509
t otal liabilities 238190 239565
net assets 305356 279230 report and accounts 2010 54
notes 28022010 28022009
£’000 £’000
capital and reserves
issued share capital 25 25079 24175
share premium 25 164255 155805
foreign currency exchange reserve 25 468 468
reserve for own shares held by ebt 25 803 803
hedge reserve 25 1158 
retained earnings 118451 100521
t otal equity 305356 279230
the financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the board of directors on 12 may 2010 and were signed on its behalf by
rodney bakerbates chairman ben whawell director financial statements
consolidated statement of changes in equity  
for the year to 28 february 2010
55 stobart group limited
attributable to equity holders of the parent
issued foreign currency reserve for 
share share exchange own shares hedge retained t otal
capital premium reserve held by ebt reserve earnings equity
notes £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
balance at 1 march 2009 24175 155805 468 803  100521 279230
profit for the year     28222 28222
other comprehensive expense for the year    1158  1158
t otal comprehensive income for the year    1158 28222 27064
proceeds on share issue 25 904 8703    9607
share issue costs  253    253
share based payment credit 23     2262 2262
t ax on share based payment     439 439
dividends 11     12993 12993
balance at 28 february 2010 25079 164255 468 803 1158 118451 305356
for the year to 28 february 2009 attributable to equity holders of the parent
issued foreign currency reserve for 
share share exchange own shares revaluation retained t otal
capital premium reserve held by ebt reserve earnings equity
notes £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
balance at 1 march 2008 16063 70535 132 803 340 123142 209145
loss for the year     8771 8771
other comprehensive expense for the year  336  340  676
t otal comprehensive expense for the year  336  340 8771 9447
proceeds on share issue 25 8112 88366    96478
share issue costs  3096    3096
share based payment credit 23     765 765
dividends 11     14615 14615
balance at 28 february 2009 24175 155805 468 803  100521 279230 report and accounts 2010 56
notes year to year to
28022010 28022009
£’000 £’000
cash generated from operations 27 39823 47946
income taxes paid 2384 1183
net cash flow from operating activities 37439 46763
acquisition of subsidiaries and other businesses – net cash paid 240 76451
purchase of property plant and equipment 63250 54738
proceeds from the sale of property plant and equipment 72807 4777
dividends received from joint ventures 256 614
net loans repaid by  advanced to joint ventures 545 2807
interest received 928 650
net cash flow from investing activities 11046 127955
issue of ordinary shares less costs of issue 27 253 83382
dividend paid on ordinary shares 11 12993 14615
proceeds from new finance leases 17683 33860
repayment of capital element of finance leases 20672 15751
proceeds from new borrowings 34000 4581
repayment of borrowings 63574 2684
interest paid 6685 8355
net cash flow from financing activities 52494 80418
decrease in cash and cash equivalents 4009 774
cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year 9114 8340
cash and cash equivalents at end of year 13123 9114
cash
 continuing 13134 7251
 included in disposal group 179 207
overdraft 26436 16572
cash and cash equivalents at end of year 13123 9114
consolidated cash flow statement 
for the year to 28 february 2010 financial statements
57 stobart group limited
1 accounting policies of stobart group limited
basis of preparation and statement of compliance
the principal accounting policies adopted in the preparation of the financial statements
are set out below the policies have been consistently applied to all the years presented
unless otherwise stated
these group financial statements have been prepared in accordance with international
financial reporting standards ifrss and ifric interpretations issued by the
international accounting standards board iasb as adopted by the european union
adopted ifrss the financial statements for the company are presented after the
financial statements for the group
the financial statements of the group are also prepared in accordance with the
companies guernsey law 2008
stobart group limited is a guernsey registered company the company’s ordinary
shares and income shares are traded on the london stock exchange and the channel
islands stock exchange
restatement of prior year income statement
the prior year income statement and certain related notes have been restated
following the reclassification of a property asset in to investment properties which
was classified in discontinued operations in the prior year further details are set out
in note 15 
changes in accounting policy and disclosures
the accounting policies adopted are consistent with those of the previous financial
period except as follows
a new standards amendments to published accounts and interpretations to
existing standards adopted by the group
ifrs 8 operating segments ifrs 8 replaces ias 14 segment reporting ias 14
the group has concluded that its operating segments determined in
accordance with ifrs 8 are the same as the business segments previously
identified under ias 14 ifrs 8 disclosures are shown in note 5 including the
related revised comparative information 
ias 1 presentation of financial statements revisedthe revised standard has
required the reconciliation of movements in equity previously disclosed in the
notes to be presented as a primary statement entitled “consolidated statement
of changes on equity” in addition the consolidated statement of recognised
income and expense has been replaced with the consolidated statement of
comprehensive income the revised standard requires this statement to present
all items of recognised income and expense either in one single statement or in
two linked statements the group has elected to present two statements 
ifrs 7 financial instruments disclosures amendment the amended standard
requires additional disclosures about fair value measurement and liquidity risk
fair value measurements related to items recorded at fair value are to be
disclosed by source of inputs using a three level fair value hierarchy by class for
all financial instruments recognised at fair value the fair value measurement
disclosures are presented in note 22 the group has taken advantage of the
transitional provisions under this amendment and has therefore not provided
comparative information for 28 february 2009 the amendments also clarify the
requirements for liquidity risk disclosures with respect to derivative transactions
and assets used for liquidity management the liquidity risk disclosures are not
significantly impacted by the amendments and are presented in note 22 
ifrs 2 sharebased payment — vesting conditions and cancellations
amendment the amendment to ifrs 2 clarifies the definition of vesting conditions
and prescribes the treatment for an award that is cancelled this amendment did not
have an impact on the financial position or performance of the group
the following standards did not have a material impact on the groups financial
statements
ifrs 1 firsttime adoption of international financial reporting standards —
cost of an investment in a subsidiary jointly controlled entity or associate
amendments
ias 27 consolidated and separate financial statements — cost of an
investment in a subsidiary jointly controlled entity or associate amendments 
ias 32 financial instruments presentation and ias 1 presentation of financial
statements — puttable financial instruments and obligations arising on
liquidation amendments
improvements to international financial reporting standards issued may 2008
ifric 9 reassessment of embedded derivatives and ias 39 financial
instruments recognition and measurement  embedded derivatives
amendments
ifric 13 customer loyalty programmes
ifric 15 agreements for the construction of real estate
ifric 16 hedges of a net investment in a foreign operation
ifric 18 transfers of assets from customers
b new standards and interpretations not applied
the following standards and interpretations have an effective date after the
date of these financial statements 
international accounting standards ias  ifrss effective date 
ifrs 1 first time adoption of international 
reporting standards 1 july 2009 
ifrs 1 amendments to ifrs 1 – additional 
exemptions for firsttime adopters 1 january 2010 
ifrs 1 amendments to ifrs 1 – limited 
exemption from comparative 
ifrs 7 disclosures 1 july 2010 
ifrs 2 amendments to ifrs 2 – 
group cashsettled sharebased 
payment transactions 1 january 2010 
ifrs 3 business combinations 
revised january 2008 1 july 2009 
ifrs 9 financial instruments 
classification  measurement 1 january 2013 
ias 24 related party disclosures revised 1 january 2011 
ias 27 consolidated and separate financial 
statements revised january 2008 1 july 2009 
ias 32 amendment to ias 32 
classification of rights issues 1 february 2010 
ias 39 eligible hedged items 1 july 2009 
improvements to ifrs issued april 2009 various dates 
international financial reporting interpretations committee ifric 
ifric 14 amendment prepayments of a 
minimum funding requirement 1 january 2011 
ifric 17 distributions of noncash 
assets to owners 1 july 2009 
ifric 19 extinguishing financial liabilities 
with equity instruments 1 july 2010 
the effective dates stated above are those given in the original iasbifric standards
and interpretations as the group prepares its financial statements in accordance with
ifrs as adopted by the european union the application of new standards and
interpretations will be subject to their having been endorsed for use in the eu via the eu
endorsement mechanism in the majority of cases this will result in an effective date
consistent with that given in the original standard or interpretation but the need for
endorsement restricts the group’s discretion to early adopt standards 
notes to the consolidated financial statements 
for the year to 28 february 2010 report and accounts 2010 58
the group has not early adopted the revised ifrs 3 and so will apply it prospectively
to all business combinations on or after 1 march 2010 whilst it is not possible to
estimate the outcome of adoption the key features of the revised ifrs 3 include a
requirement for acquisitionrelated costs to be expensed and not included in the
purchase price and for contingent consideration to be recognised at fair value on the
acquisition date with subsequent changes recognised in the income statement and
not as a change to goodwill the standard also changes the treatment of non
controlling interests formerly minority interests with an option to recognise these at
full fair value as at the acquisition date and a requirement for previously held minority
interests to be fair valued as at the date control is obtained with gains and losses
recognised in the income statement 
ias 27 revised is effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 july 2009 in line
with the revised ifrs 3 the revised standard no longer restricts the allocation to
minority interest of losses incurred by a subsidiary to the amount of the minority equity
investment in the subsidiary 
any future partial disposal of equity interest in a subsidiary that does not result in a
loss of control will be accounted for as an equity transaction and will have no impact
on goodwill nor will it give rise to any gain or loss where there is loss of control of a
subsidiary any retained interest will have to be remeasured to fair value which will
impact the gain or loss recognised on disposal 
the directors do not anticipate that the adoption of the remaining standards and
interpretations will have a material impact on the group’s financial statements
summary of significant accounting policies
revenue
revenue from the eddie stobart stobart ports and stobart air business
segments and the rail freight revenue in the stobart rail segment is recognised
in the income statement as the fair value of consideration receivable on the
delivery of services delivered at the statement of financial position date net of
discounts and vat 
stobart rail infrastructure engineering contract revenue is recognised to match
the sales value of work performed up to the statement of financial position date
based on stage of completion
revenue is analysed by segment in note 5
functional and presentation currency
the company’s functional currency is pounds sterling gbp and it has adopted
pounds sterling gbp as its presentational currency
basis of consolidation
where the company has the power either directly or indirectly to govern the financial
and operating policies of another entity or business so as to obtain benefits from its
activities it is classified as a subsidiary the consolidated financial statements
present the results of stobart group limited and its subsidiaries the group as if
they formed a single entity intercompany transactions and balances between group
companies are therefore eliminated in full
business combinations
the consolidated financial statements incorporate the results of business
combinations using the purchase method in the consolidated statement of
financial position the acquirees identifiable assets liabilities and contingent
liabilities are initially recognised at their fair values at the acquisition date the
results of acquired operations are included in the consolidated income
statement from the date on which control is obtained
goodwill
goodwill represents the excess of the cost of a business combination over the
interest in the fair value of identifiable assets liabilities and contingent liabilities
acquired cost comprises the fair values of assets given liabilities assumed and
equity instruments issued plus any direct costs of acquisition
goodwill is capitalised as an intangible asset with any impairment in carrying
value being charged to the consolidated income statement where the fair
value of identifiable assets liabilities and contingent liabilities exceed the fair
value of consideration paid the excess is credited in full to the consolidated
income statement
impairment of nonfinancial assets excluding inventories investment
properties and deferred t ax assets
impairment tests on goodwill and other intangible assets with indefinite useful lives
are undertaken at least annually at the financial year end and also if there are
indicators of impairment other nonfinancial assets are subject to impairment
tests whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that their carrying
amount may not be recoverable where the carrying value of an asset exceeds its
recoverable amount ie the higher of value in use and fair value less costs to sell
the asset is written down accordingly
where it is not possible to estimate the recoverable amount of an individual asset
the impairment test is carried out on the assets cashgenerating unit ie the
lowest group of assets in which the asset belongs for which there are separately
identifiable cash inflows goodwill is allocated on initial recognition to each of the
groups cashgenerating units that are expected to benefit from the synergies of
the combination giving rise to the goodwill 
impairment charges are included in the operating expenses line item in the
consolidated income statement except to the extent they reverse gains
previously recognised in the consolidated statement of comprehensive
income impairment losses except losses relating to goodwill can be reversed
in certain circumstances
an assessment is made at each reporting date as to whether there is any
indication that previously recognised impairment losses may no longer exist or
may have decreased if such indication exists the recoverable amount is
estimated a previously recognised impairment loss is reversed only if there has
been a change in the estimates used to determine the asset’s recoverable amount
since the last impairment loss was recognised if that is the case the carrying
amount of the asset is increased to its recoverable amount that increased
amount cannot exceed the carrying amount that would have been determined net
of depreciation had no impairment loss been recognised for the asset in prior
years such reversal is recognised in profit or loss unless the asset is carried at
revalued amount in which case the reversal is treated as a revaluation increase
after such a reversal the depreciation charge is adjusted in future periods to
allocate the asset’s revised carrying amount less any residual value on a
systematic basis over its remaining useful life
cash and cash equivalents
cash and cash equivalents are defined as cash in hand demand deposits and
highly liquid investments readily convertible to known amounts of cash and
subject to insignificant risk of changes in value
financial instruments
the group uses derivative financial instruments such as interest rate swaps to
hedge its cash flow risks associated with interest rate fluctuations derivative
financial instruments are initially recognised at fair value on the date on which a
derivative contract is entered into and are subsequently remeasured at fair value
at each reporting date derivatives are carried as assets when the fair value is
positive and as liabilities when the fair value is negative
the fair value of interest rate swaps are determined by reference to market values
for similar instruments
for those derivatives designated as hedges and for which hedge accounting is
desired the hedging relationship is formally designated and documented at its
inception this documentation identifies the risk management objective and
strategy for undertaking the hedge the hedging instrument the hedged item or
transaction the nature of the risk being hedged and how effectiveness will be
measured throughout its duration such hedges are expected at inception to be
highly effective in offsetting changes in cash flows and are assessed at the end of
each reporting period to determine that they actually effective throughout the
reporting period for which they were designated
for cash flow hedges the effective portion of the gain or loss on the hedging
instrument is recognised directly as other comprehensive income in the net
unrealised gains reserve while the ineffective portion is recognised in the
income statement amounts taken to other comprehensive income are
transferred to the income statement when the hedged transaction affects the
current period income statement financial statements
notes to the consolidated financial statements 
for the year to 28 february 2010 continued
59 stobart group limited
foreign currency
transactions entered into by group entities in a currency other than the currency
of the primary economic environment in which they operate their functional
currency are recorded at the rates ruling when the transactions occur foreign
currency monetary assets and liabilities are translated at the rates ruling at the
statement of financial position date 
exchange differences arising on the retranslation of unsettled monetary assets
and liabilities are recognised immediately in the consolidated income statement
the assets and liabilities of foreign operations are translated into sterling at the rate
of exchange prevailing at the statement of financial position date the income
statements are translated at the average rate the exchange differences arising on
the translation are taken directly to a separate component of equity
financial assets
unless otherwise indicated the carrying amounts of the group’s financial assets
are a reasonable approximation of their fair values
loans and receivables
these assets are nonderivative financial assets with fixed or determinable
payments that are not quoted in an active market they arise principally through
the provision of goods and services to customers eg trade receivables but also
incorporate other types of contractual monetary asset they are initially recognised
at fair value plus transaction costs that are directly attributable to the acquisition or
issue and subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest rate
method less provision for impairment 
impairment provisions are recognised when there is objective evidence such as
significant financial difficulties on the part of the counterparty or default or
significant delay in payment that the group will be unable to collect all of the
amounts due under the terms receivable the amount of such a provision being
the difference between the net carrying amount and the present value of the future
expected cash flows associated with the impaired receivable
for trade receivables which are reported net such provisions are recorded in a
separate allowance account with the loss being recognised within operating
expenses in the income statement on confirmation that the trade receivable will
not be collectable the gross carrying value of the asset is written off against the
associated provision
financial liabilities
unless otherwise indicated the carrying amounts of the group’s financial liabilities
are a reasonable approximation of their fair values
loans borrowings and the group’s income shares are initially recognised at fair
value net of any transaction costs directly attributable to the issue of the
instrument such interest bearing liabilities are subsequently measured at
amortised cost using the effective interest rate method which ensures that any
interest expense over the period to repayment is at a constant rate on the balance
of the liability carried in the consolidated statement of financial position
trade payables and other shortterm monetary liabilities are initially recognised
at fair value and subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective
interest method
share capital
financial instruments issued by the group are treated as equity only to the extent
that they do not meet the definition of a financial liability the group’s income
shares include a contractual obligation on the company to deliver cash in the form
of the annual preference dividend and in the absence of any other terms that
would indicate an equity element have been classified wholly as a financial liability
see ‘income shares’ below the group’s ordinary shares are classified as equity
instruments
own shares held by ebt
stobart group shares held by the company are designated as own shares held
classified in shareholders’ equity and recognised at cost consideration received
for the sale of such shares is also recognised in equity with any difference
between the proceeds from sale and original cost taken to retained earnings
income shares
income shares which exhibit characteristics of liabilities are recognised as liabilities
in the statement of financial position in accordance with ias32 income shares are
initially recognised at fair value less issue costs after initial recognition income
shares are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest
method the corresponding distributions on these shares are charged as interest
expense in the consolidated income statement over the term of these shares
retirement benefits defined contribution schemes
contributions to defined contribution pension schemes are charged to the
consolidated income statement in the year to which they relate
share based payments
where equitysettled share options are awarded to employees the fair value of
the options at the date of grant is charged to the consolidated income statement
over the vesting period nonmarket vesting conditions are taken into account by
adjusting the number of equity instruments expected to vest at each statement of
financial position date so that ultimately the cumulative amount recognised over
the vesting period is based on the number of options that eventually vest market
vesting conditions are factored into the fair value of the options granted as long
as all other vesting conditions are satisfied a charge is made irrespective of
whether the market vesting conditions are satisfied the cumulative expense is
not adjusted for failure to achieve a market vesting condition
at each statement of financial position date before vesting the cumulative expense
is calculated representing the extent to which the vesting period has expired and
management’s best estimate of the achievement or otherwise of nonmarket
conditions and of the number of equity instruments that will ultimately vest or in the
case of an instrument subject to a market condition be treated as vesting as
described above the movement in cumulative expense since the previous
statement of financial position date is recognised in the income statement with a
corresponding entry in equity
the group has a sharebased long t erm incentive plan accounted for as set out above
leased assets
leases in terms of which the group assumes substantially all the risks and
rewards of ownership are classified as finance leases assets held under finance
leases are recorded in the statement of financial position as tangible assets
initially at fair value or if lower at the present value of the minimum lease payments
and depreciated over their estimated useful lives as detailed in the depreciation
policy below the interest element of leasing payments represents a constant
proportion of the capital balance outstanding and is charged to the income
statement over the period of the lease
where substantially all of the risks and rewards incidental to ownership are not
transferred to the group an operating lease the total rentals payable under the
lease are charged to the consolidated income statement on a straight line basis
over the lease term the aggregate benefit of lease incentives is recognised as a
reduction of the rental expense over the lease term on a straight line basis
the land and buildings elements of property leases are considered separately for
the purposes of lease classification
restructuring costs
restructuring costs comprise costs of integration plans and other business
reorganisation and restructuring undertaken by management including cost
rationalisation brand harmonisation directly related management time asset write
downs and other related costs these are principally expected to be oneoff in nature
separately disclosed items
the group presents separately on the face of the consolidated income statement
material items of income and expense which because of their nature infrequency or
occurrence or the events giving rise to them merit separate presentation to allow
shareholders to better understand the financial performance of the year 
externally acquired intangible assets excluding goodwill
externally acquired intangible assets are initially recognised at cost and
subsequently amortised on a straight line basis over their useful lives the
amortisation expense is included within the operating expenses line in the
consolidated income statement report and accounts 2010 60
intangible assets are recognised on business combinations if they are separable
from the acquired entity or give rise to other contractuallegal rights the amounts
ascribed to such intangibles are arrived at by using appropriate valuation
techniques see section related to significant accounting estimates judgments and
assumptions below
the significant intangibles recognised by the group and their useful economic lives
are as follows
intangible asset useful life
brands indefinite
where there is no foreseeable limit to the period over which a brand is expected
to generate cash flows for the group it will be considered to have an indefinite life
current t axation
current tax assets and liabilities for the current and prior periods are measured
at the amount expected to be recovered from or paid to the taxation authorities
the tax rates and tax laws used to compute the amount are those that are
enacted or substantively enacted by the statement of financial position date
deferred t axation
deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognised where the carrying amount of an
asset or liability in the statement of financial position differs to its tax base except
for differences arising on
 the initial recognition of goodwill
 the initial recognition of an asset or liability in a transaction which is not a busi
ness combination and at the time of the transaction affects neither accounting
or taxable profit and
 investments in subsidiaries and jointly controlled entities where the group is
able to control the timing of the reversal of the difference and it is probable that
the difference will not reverse in the foreseeable future
recognition of deferred tax assets is restricted to those instances where it is probable
that taxable profit will be available against which the difference can be utilised
the amount of the asset or liability is determined using tax rates that have been
enacted or substantively enacted by the statement of financial position date and are
expected to apply when the deferred tax liabilitiesassets are settledrecovered 
deferred tax assets and liabilities are offset when the group has a legally
enforceable right to offset current tax assets and liabilities and the deferred tax
assets and liabilities relate to taxes levied by the same tax authority on either
 the same taxable group company or
 different group entities which intend either to settle current tax assets and lia
bilities on a net basis or to realise the assets and settle the liabilities
simultaneously in each future period in which significant amounts of deferred
tax assets or liabilities are expected to be settled or recovered
government grants
government grants are recognised where there is reasonable assurance that the
grant will be received and all attached conditions will be complied with where the
grant relates to an expense item it is recognised as income over the period
necessary to match the grant on a systematic basis to the costs that it is intended
to compensate where the grant relates to an asset it is credited to deferred
income and released to the income statement to match the depreciation on the
related asset where the related asset is sold the remaining grant balance is taken
in to account in determining the carrying amount of the asset
dividends
dividends are recognised when they become legally payable in the case of interim
dividends to equity shareholders this is when paid in the case of final dividends this
is when approved by the shareholders at the annual general meeting
dividends on the income shares which are classified as financial liabilities are treated
as finance costs and are recognised using the effective rate method when there is a
liability to pay at the statement of financial position date
property plant and equipment
freehold land and buildings and plant and equipment are stated at cost less
accumulated depreciation and any accumulated impairment in value such cost
includes the cost of replacing part of the plant and equipment when that cost is
incurred if the recognition criteria are met
depreciation is provided on items of property plant and equipment other than
land and assets under construction to write off to their residual value the carrying
value of items over their expected useful lives useful lives and residual values are
reconsidered on an annual basis depreciation is applied at the following rates
buildings  2 per annum straight line
modular buildings  7 per annum straight line
long life plant and machinery  5 per annum reducing balance
other plant and machinery  1014 per annum straight line
vehicles and trailers  1433 per annum straight line
fixtures fittings and equipment  20 per annum straight line
an item of property plant and equipment is derecognised upon disposal or
when no future economic benefits are expected from its use or disposal any
gain or loss arising on derecognition of the asset calculated as the difference
between the net disposal proceeds and the carrying amount of the asset is
included in profit or loss in the year the asset is derecognised
borrowing costs attributable to qualifying assets are capitalised
investment properties
investment properties are measured initially at cost including transaction costs
the carrying amount includes the cost of replacing part of an existing investment
property at the time that the cost is incurred if the recognition criteria are met and
excludes the cost of day to day servicing of an investment property subsequent
to initial recognition investment properties are stated at fair value which reflects
market conditions at the statement of financial position date gains or losses
arising from changes in the fair values of investment properties are included in the
statement of comprehensive income in the period in which they arise
investment properties are derecognised when either they have been disposed
of or when the investment property is permanently withdrawn from use and no
future economic benefit is expected from its disposal  any gains or losses on
the retirement or disposal of an investment property are recognised in the
income statement in the period of retirement or disposal
rental income arising from operating leases on investment properties is
spread on a straight line basis over the period of the lease  where an
incentive such as a rent free period is given to a tenant the carrying value of
the investment property excludes any amount reported as a separate asset as
a result of recognising rental income on this basis
inventories
inventories are measured on a first in first out basis and are stated at the lower of
cost and net realisable value
noncurrent assets held for sale and disposal groups
noncurrent assets and disposal groups are classified as held for sale when
 they are available for immediate sale
 management is committed to a plan to sell
 it is unlikely that significant changes to the plan will be made or that the plan
will be withdrawn
 an active programme to locate a buyer has been initiated
 the asset or disposal group is being marketed at a reasonable price in relation
to its fair value and
 a sale is expected to complete within 12 months from the date of classification
or an extended period if the delay is caused by circumstances beyond the
entity’s control but the group remains committed to the plan to sell the asset financial statements
noncurrent assets and disposal groups classified as held for sale are measured
at the lower of
 their carrying amount immediately prior to being classified as held for sale in
accordance with the group’s accounting policy and
 fair value less costs to sell
following their classification as held for sale noncurrent assets including those
in a disposal group are not depreciated
the results of operations disposed of during the year are included in the
consolidated income statement up to the date of disposal
a discontinued operation is a component of the groups business that represents
a separate major line of business or geographical area of operations or a
subsidiary acquired exclusively with a view to resale that has been disposed of
has been abandoned or that meets the criteria to be classified as held for sale 
discontinued operations are presented on the income statement including the
comparative period as a single line which comprises the post tax profit or loss of
the discontinued operation and the post tax gain or loss recognised on the re
measurement to fair value less costs to sell or on disposal of the assetsdisposal
groups constituting discontinued operations
associates
the group’s investments in its associates are accounted for using the equity
method of accounting unless the investment is classified as held for sale
an associate is an entity in which the group has significant influence and which is
neither a subsidiary nor a joint venture
under the equity method the investment in the associate is carried in the
consolidated statement of financial position at cost plus post acquisition changes
in the group’s share of net assets of the associate goodwill relating to the
associate is included in the carrying amount of the investment and is not amortised
the income statement reflects the share of the results of operations of the
associate where there has been a change recognised directly in the equity of the
associate the group recognises its share of any changes and discloses this when
applicable in the statement of changes in equity and the statement of other
comprehensive income profits and losses resulting from transactions between the
group and the associate are eliminated to the extent of the interest in the associate
after application of the equity method the group determines whether it is necessary to
recognise an additional impairment loss on the group’s investment in its associates
the group determines at each statement of financial position date whether there is any
objective evidence that the investment in the associate is impaired if this is the case
and there is a resulting impairment the amount is recognised in the income statement
joint ventures
investments in joint ventures which are jointly controlled entities are included in
the financial statements using the equity method of accounting unless the
investment is classified as held for sale 
under the equity method the interest in the joint venture is initially recorded at cost
and adjusted thereafter for the postacquisition change in the group’s share of net
assets of the joint venture goodwill relating to the joint venture is included in the
carrying amount of the investment and is not amortised the income statement
reflects the share of the results of operations of the joint venture where there has
been a change recognised directly in the equity of the joint venture the group
recognises its share of any changes and discloses this when applicable in the
statement of changes in equity and the statement of other comprehensive income
profits and losses resulting from transactions between the group and the joint
ventures are eliminated to the extent of the interest in the joint venture
after application of the equity method the group determines whether it is
necessary to recognise an additional impairment loss on the group’s investment
in its joint ventures the group determines at each statement of financial position
date whether there is any objective evidence that the investment in the joint
venture is impaired if this is the case and there is a resulting impairment the
amount is recognised in the income statement 
2 summary of significant accounting
judgments estimates and assumptions
the group makes judgements estimates and assumptions regarding the future
judgements estimates and assumptions are continually evaluated based on
historical experience and other factors including expectations of future events
that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances in the future actual
experience may differ from these estimates and assumptions the judgements
estimates and assumptions that have a significant risk of causing a material
adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next
financial year are discussed below
judgements estimates and assumptions
a valuation of investment property
all property related assets held for sale are stated at lower of value at date
of classification and fair value which have been determined based on
valuations performed by independent valuers or a qualified internal valuer
on the basis of open market value
b impairment of goodwill and indefinite life intangible assets
the group is required to test on an annual basis whether goodwill has
suffered any impairment the recoverable amount is determined based
on value in use calculations the use of this method requires the
estimation of future cash flows and the choice of a discount rate in order
to calculate the present value of the cash flows actual outcomes may
vary more information including carrying values is included in note 14
c useful lives of intangible assets and property plant and equipment
intangible assets and property plant and equipment are amortised or
depreciated over their useful lives useful lives are based on the directors’
estimates of the period that the assets will generate revenue which are
periodically reviewed for continued appropriateness changes to estimates can
result in significant variations in the carrying value and amounts charged to the
consolidated income statement in specific periods more details including
carrying values are included in note 13 and note 14
d sharebased payment
the group has equitysettled sharebased remuneration schemes for
employees and directors employee and director services received and the
corresponding increase in equity are measured by reference to the fair value
of the equity instruments at the date of grant excluding the impact of any
nonmarket vesting conditions the fair value of share options granted
without market based vesting conditions is estimated by using a black
scholes model the fair value of share options granted with market based
vesting conditions is estimated by using a monte carlo model these
valuations are based on certain assumptions those assumptions are
described in note 23 and include among others the dividend yield expected
volatility expected life of the options and number of options expected to vest
more details are disclosed in note 23
e determination of fair values of intangible assets acquired in business
combinations
the fair value of brands acquired in a business combination is based on the
discounted estimated royalty payments that have been avoided as a result of
the brands being owned
f t axation
the taxation balances are calculated making certain tax assumptions about
the tax treatment of incomes and costs and the availability of certain losses
for group relief more details are disclosed in note 9
notes to the consolidated financial statements 
for the year to 28 february 2010 continued
61 stobart group limited report and accounts 2010 62
3 operating expenses
operating expenses comprise the following
28022010 28022009
notes £’000 £’000
employee benefits expenses excluding share based payments 149092 147805
depreciation 15668 13430
other purchases and external expenses 247882 238476
operating expenses underlying 412642 399711
share based payments on underlying operating profit 23 746 716
restructuring costs 2746 2722
credit for business purchase 12  3609
operating expenses 416134 399540
profit before interest and tax
depreciation of property plant and equipment 15668 13430
profit on disposal of property plant and equipment 8910 678
release of government grants 302 101
operating lease expense
 plant and machinery 15037 14194
 property 14823 11813
fees charged to the income statement for services provided by group auditors
 statutory audit fee relating to audit of stobart group limited 50 58
 statutory audit fee relating to audit of subsidiaries 125 142
 other taxation services 28 59
 services relating to corporate finance transactions 89 43
 other services 27 28
319 330
restructuring costs
reorganisation and integration of james irlam business 1288 551
reorganisation and integration of chilled business 1090 1510
reorganisation and integration of the ports business  661
reorganisation and integration of the international business 177 
other 191 
2746 2722
restructuring costs include redundancy costs site closure costs certain shortterm duplicated costs and other oneoff costs related to the reorganisation and integration
of acquired businesses financial statements
profit on disposal of property plant and equipment includes a net profit on disposal of the chilled distribution site and terminal at widnes of £8258000 as set out below
28022010
£’000
profit on disposal of widnes assets after direct costs but before directly associated costs 11190
share based payment directly associated with the disposal 1758
other costs directly associated with the disposal 1174
net profit on disposal of widnes assets after costs 8258
the above costs are directly related to the disposal as they are incremental costs that would not have been incurred had the disposal not taken place
4 staff costs
28022010 28022009
notes £’000 £’000
staff costs
staff costs including directors comprise
wages and salaries 135890 133317
social security costs 12330 12520
other pension costs 2046 1968
share based payment 23 2513 716
152779 148521
28022010 28022009
average number of persons employed by the group including directors during the period 4919 4977
directors’ remuneration
28022010 28022009
£’000 £’000
directors’ emoluments 785 774
number of directors accruing benefits under defined contribution pension schemes 44
further details of the directors’ remuneration are set out in the directors’ remuneration report
notes to the consolidated financial statements 
for the year to 28 february 2010 continued
63 stobart group limited report and accounts 2010 64
5 segmental information
the operating segments within continuing operations are eddie stobart stobart rail stobart ports and stobart air including air freight
the eddie stobart segment specialises in haulage distribution warehousing property and process management services and merchandising
the stobart rail segment specialises in infrastructure engineering and rail freight services
the stobart ports segment specialises in inland port and waterport services warehousing and distribution
the stobart air segment specialises in operation of commercial airports including air freight
the board of directors is regarded as the chief operational decision maker codm  the board  monitors the results of its operating segments separately for the purposes
of making decisions about resource allocation and performance assessment segment performance is evaluated based on profit or loss which in certain respects as
explained in the table below is measured differently from profit or loss in the consolidated financial statements the main segmental profit measure is earnings after fleet
financing costs but before restructuring costs
income taxes restructuring costs nonfleet finance costs and certain central costs are managed on a group basis and are not allocated to operating segments
transfer prices between operating segments are on an arm’s length basis in a manner similar to transactions with third parties
the group has overseas operations in europe and ireland which are not considered material for separate disclosure
further details of the discontinued segment are set out in note 6
period ended 28 february 2010 eddie stobart stobart stobart adjustments and
stobart rail ports air eliminations group
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
revenue
external 381539 45636 13919 6567  447661
internal  19115  19115 
t otal revenue 381539 64751 13919 6567 19115 447661
depreciation and amortisation 13446 1327 563 220 112 15668
share based payments 294 197 1811 10 192 2504
less share based payments associated with 
the disposal of widnes assets  1758  1758
share based payment on ordinary operations 294 197 53 10 192 746
fleet financing costs 3185 161 28 3  3377
net profit on disposal of widnes assets 
net of associated costs  8258  8258
segment profit after fleet financing costs 26434 5036 12449 178 4943 39154
restructuring costs 2746
other net finance costs 2345
profit before tax 34063
assets
additions to property plant and equipment 19635 602 33100 23066 999 77403
operating assets 358526 24643 87571 68784 4022 543546
operating liabilities 141464 12234 71628 37287 24423 238190
net assets 217062 12409 15943 31497 28445 305356
intersegment revenues are eliminated on consolidation
included in adjustments and eliminations are central costs of £4629000 2009 £2922000 and intragroup profit of £314000 2009 £347000
also included in adjustments and eliminations are central assets and liabilities inter company balances and held for sale assets and liabilities financial statements
notes to the consolidated financial statements 
for the year to 28 february 2010 continued
65 stobart group limited
period ended 28 february 2009 eddie stobart stobart stobart adjustments and
stobart rail ports air eliminations group
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
revenue
external 387249 27539 14574 1690  431062
internal  10690  10690 
t otal revenue 387259 38229 14574 1690 10690 431062
depreciation and amortisation 11959 768 586 41 76 13430
share based payment 306 128 49  233 716
fleet financing costs 3137 5 14 1  3157
segment profit after fleet financing costs 24471 3532 2617 127 5072 25675
restructuring costs 2722
credit for business purchase 3609
other net finance costs 4423
profit before tax 22139
assets
additions to property plant and equipment 61809 4375 14844 36557 645 118230
operating assets 365113 26728 100795 37880 11721 518795
operating liabilities 145187 13294 101919 13616 34451 239565
net assets 219926 13434 1124 24264 22730 279230
also included in adjustments and eliminations are central assets and liabilities inter company balances and held for sale assets and liabilities
the revenue from one customer amounts to more than 10 of the group’s total revenue the revenue from that customer was £1167m for the year to 28 february 2010 and
this was reported in the eddie stobart segment and the stobart ports segment  2009 £1031m
analysis of revenue
revenue recognised in the income statement is analysed as follows
28022010 28022009
£’000 £’000
rendering of services – continuing operations 447661 431062
rendering of services – discontinued operations  731
finance revenue 928 581
448589 432374 6 discontinued operations
on 21 september 2007 the group disposed of the substantial proportion of its investment property and related business the remaining joint venture and associate
undertakings with investment property interests are classified as discontinued operations the directors intend to sell these properties within one year of the statement of
financial position date and are looking for purchasers these assets remain classified as discontinued operations for an extended period as their potential commercial
disposal has been adversely affected by the downturn in the commercial property market which is outside the control of the group the group remains committed to the
plan to sell the assets and expects to sell them within one year
the investment property at debden was classified as held for sale and included in discontinued operations in the prior year but has been reclassified in to continued
operations in the current year because the property is expected to be held for more than 12 months before it will be disposed the comparative income statement
balances have been restated where appropriate
discontinued rail services are also included in discontinued activities
the results of the discontinued operations are presented below
property trading business discontinued rail services t otal
restated restated
2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
revenue  264  467  731
expenses 64 253  1697 64 1950
finance costsincome net 544 247 3 544 244
writedowns of associates and joint ventures 131 26650  131 26650
loss before tax from discontinued operations 739 26886 1227 739 28113
t axation related to the pretax loss 31   31 
loss for the year from discontinued operations 770 26886  1227 770 28113
the net cash flows incurred by discontinued operations are as follows
2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
operating activities 260 153  175 260 328
investing activities 3  3  6
financing activities 288 250  71 288 321
t otal 28 400  243 28 643
the major classes of assets and liabilities of the disposal groups classified as held for sale as at 28 february 2010 are as follows
property trading business discontinued rail services t otal
2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
assets
investment property  2000   2000
investments in associates and joint ventures 2 641  2 641
debtors 60 52  60 52
cash and short term deposits 165 193 14 14 179 207
assets classified as held for sale 227 2886 14 14 241 2900
liabilities
liabilities directly associated with assets classified as held for sale 3002 2928 6925 6925 3923 3997
net assetsliabilities directly associated 
with assets classified as held for sale 3229 5814 6911 6911 3682 3738
earnings per share 2010 2009
basic and diluted from discontinued operations 032p 1304p
report and accounts 2010 66 financial statements
notes to the consolidated financial statements
for the year to 28 february 2010 continued
67 stobart group limited
7 finance income
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
bank interest receivable 928 581
t otal finance income 928 581
8 finance costs
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
bank loans loan notes and overdraft 2822 4553
distributions on income shares 422 422
amortisation of income shares issue costs 29 29
finance charges payable under finance leases and hire purchase contracts 3377 3157
t otal finance costs 6650 8161
during the year £659000 2009 £229000 of interest was capitalised 
9 t axation
t ax charged in the income statement 2010 2009
£’000 £’000
current income tax
uk corporation tax
 continuing operations 6166 
 discontinued operations 31 
guernsey tax 
adjustment in respect of prior years 103 399
t otal current tax 6300 399
deferred tax
origination and reversal of temporary differences 1198 1149
impact of abolition of industrial buildings allowances  3978
adjustment in respect of prior years 2396 367
t otal deferred tax charge 1198 3196
t otal charge in the income statement 5102 2797 reconciliation of income taxation charge
a reconciliation of the income tax charge applicable to the results from ordinary activities at the statutory income tax rate to income tax expense at the group’s effective
income tax rate for the year is as follows
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
profit from continuing operations before taxation 34063 22139
loss from discontinued operations before taxation 739 28113
net profit  loss before taxation 33324 5974
uk income tax at rate of 28 2009 28 9331 1673
effects of
t ax impact of disposal of land and buildings in the year 488
impact of abolition of industrial buildings allowances 847 3978
income not taxable including interest receivable and share of profits of associates and joint ventures  1062
land remediation relief 1527
losses arising not relievable against current tax  420
expenses incurred not relievable against current tax 951 1166
adjustments in respect of prior years 2293 32
losses brought forward utilised in current period 56 
t ax paid on discontinued operations 31 
5102 2797
with effect from 1 march 2008 the company’s affairs are conducted such that it is likely it will be considered to be resident in the uk for tax purposes wpl investments
limited and wpl ventures limited are subject to taxation in guernsey
the income tax charge is stated after group relief of £58m 2009 £255m which originated from a valuation of property related assets held in stobart properties limited
a trading subsidiary undertaking these propertyrelated assets are principally classified as assets ‘held for sale’ in the consolidated statement of financial position and
the related results are included in discontinued operations in accordance with ifrs group relief has been taken where appropriate for nil payment
westlink group limited stobart holdings limited james irlam  sons limited stobart rail limited previously wa developments limited stobart airports limited stobart
air limited and their respective subsidiaries are subject to corporation tax in the uk
included in the statement of other comprehensive income is a credit of £450000 in relation to a cash flow hedge instrument
10 earnings per share
basic earnings per share amounts are calculated by dividing net profit for the year attributable to ordinary equity holders of the parent by the weighted average number of
ordinary 10p shares outstanding during the period
diluted earnings per share amounts are calculated by dividing the net profit attributable to ordinary equity holders of the parent by the weighted average number of ordinary
shares outstanding during the year plus the weighted average number of shares that would have been issued on exercise of all the dilutive options into ordinary shares
the following table reflects the income and share data used in the basic and diluted earnings per share calculations
restated restated
continuing discontinued t otal continuing discontinued t otal
operations operations operations operations
2010 2010 2010 2009 2009 2009
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
numerator
profit used for basic earnings 28992 770 28222 19342 28113 8771
effect on earnings of dilutive potential ordinary shares 304  304 304 
diluted earnings 29296 770 28526 19646 28113 8771
report and accounts 2010 68 financial statements
notes to the consolidated financial statements
for the year to 28 february 2010 continued
69 stobart group limited
the adjusted earnings per share before the profit on disposal of the widnes assets is 86p 2009 77p the numerator used in calculating the normalised earnings per
share before the profit on disposal of the widnes assets of £20557000 2009 £16600000 is the profit before tax from continuing operations of £34063000 2009
£22139000 less the net profit on disposal of the widnes assets after costs of £8258000 2009 £ nil less the credit for business purchase of £ nil 2009 £3609000
less impairment of investment property of £ nil 2009 £1803000  plus the restructuring costs of £2746000 2009 £2722000 and allowing for tax at 28 of £7994000
2009 £6455000
the adjusted earnings per share after the profit on disposal of the widnes assets is 110p 2009 77p the numerator used in calculating the normalised earnings per share
after the profit on disposal of the widnes assets of £26502000 2009 £16600000 is the profit before tax from continuing operations of £34063000 2009 £22139000
less the credit for business purchase of £ nil 2009 £3609000 less impairment of investment property of £ nil 2009 £1803000 plus the restructuring costs of £2746000
2009 £2722000 and allowing for tax at 28 of £10307000 2009 £6455000
the adjusted earnings per share are shown to give a comparable measure of the underlying earnings per share
denominator 2010 2009
number number
weighted average number of shares used in basic eps 240479372 215585798
effects of convertible income shares 4502013 4502013
effects of employee share options 1420000 

weighted average number of shares used in diluted eps 246401385 220087801
on 21 september 2007 1504120 options with an exercise price of 1662p were granted these are potentially dilutive instruments but were not included in the calculation
of diluted earnings per share because they were antidilutive for the year and prior period as the average market price of the shares was lower than the exercise price 
the income shareholders had an option to convert their income shares into ordinary shares at a rate of 0854 ordinary shares for each income share around 31 march
2010 these are therefore dilutive instruments at the year end date on 9 april 3628158 income shares were converted into 3098440 ordinary shares
on 10 march 2008 3 july 2008 and 20 august 2009 respectively 284m 225m and 24m share options were granted to directors and management under the stobart
executive incentive plan with an exercise price of£ nil 1420000 of these share options are included as dilutive instruments because all of the vesting conditions are met
the remaining share options are not dilutive instruments as the vesting conditions have not been met unconditionally at the year end date
11 dividends
dividends paid on ordinary shares 2010 2010 2009 2009
rate rate
p£ p £
final dividend for 2009 paid 22 june 2009 33 7977629 
interim dividend paid 10 december 2009 20 5015766 
final dividend for 2008 paid 23 june 2008  53 8513146
interim dividend paid 28 november 2008  27 6101808
dividends paid 53 12993395 80 14614954
a final dividend of 40p per share totaling £10606596 was declared on 12 may 2010 and will be paid on 21 june 2010 this is not recognised as a liability as at 28 february 2010 report and accounts 2010 70
12 business combinations
acquisitions in the period from 1 march 2009 to 28 february 2010
acquisition of stobart air limited
on 30 may 2009 the group acquired 100 of the voting rights of stobart air limited an unlisted company based in the united kingdom which operates a commercial airport
the fair value of the identifiable assets and liabilities of stobart air limited as at the date of acquisition and the corresponding carrying amounts immediately before the
acquisition were
fair value recognised on acquisition previous carrying value
£’000 £’000
property plant and equipment 14153 4746
cash and cash equivalents 32 32
trade and other receivables 224 224
inventories 47 47
14456 5049
trade payables 357 357
other payables and deferred income due within one year 8316 6816
noncurrent liabilities 3932 883
12605 8056
net assets 1851 3007
goodwill arising on acquisition 8028
t otal consideration 9879
the total cost of the combination was £9879000 and comprised the following
£’000
cash 
shares issued 9607
costs associated with the acquisition 272
t otal 9879
the group issued 9041957 ordinary shares with a fair value of £10625 each this price was the market value at the date of the acquisition
the goodwill of £8028000 represents the fair value of the future earning potential of the business and other intangible assets which cannot be individually separated and
reliably measured due to their nature in excess of the fair value of net assets identified these intangible assets include expected synergies available through development
of the site including transfer of the carlisle transport depot to the airport site
included in other payables and deferred income were balances owed to the vendor of £46m which were repaid immediately following acquisition under the terms of the
option which stipulated that this part of the consideration was initially allocated to repayment of these balances
the initial accounting for the acquisition is provisional due to ongoing negotiations regarding the airport tenants
stobart air ltd contributed revenue of £08m in the current period and profit before taxation of £00m  if the acquisition had been effective from 1 march 2009 the contribution
to revenue would be £11m and the contribution to profit before tax would be £00m
completion of acquisitions in the previous period where the acquisition accounting was determined only provisionally
acquisition of certain parts of the chilled and ambient operations of innovate logistics limited
the accounting for the acquisition of certain parts of the chilled and ambient operations of innovate logistics limited was completed in the period with no further adjustments
made
acquisition of london southend air company limited
the accounting for the acquisition of london southend air company limited was completed in the period with no further adjustments made financial statements
notes to the consolidated financial statements
for the year to 28 february 2010 continued
71 stobart group limited
acquisitions in the period from 1 march 2008 to 28 february 2009
acquisition of james irlam  sons limited and irlam storage llp
on 3 april 2008 the group acquired 100 of the voting rights of james irlam  sons limited and the trade assets and liabilities of irlam storage llp which together
specialise in haulage distribution warehousing and process management services in the uk
the fair value of the identifiable assets and liabilities of james irlam  sons limited and irlam storage llp as at the date of acquisition and the corresponding carrying
amounts immediately before the acquisition were
fair value recognised on acquisition previous carrying value
£’000 £’000
property plant and equipment 23621 27953
investments 22 22
cash and cash equivalents 678 678
trade and other receivables 13199 13431
inventories 557 557
38077 42641
bank loans and overdrafts 9369 9369
trade payables 5831 5822
other payables and deferred income 2599 2599
finance leases 7843 7843
corporation tax 1080 1
deferred tax 1228 1574
27950 27206
net assets 10127 15435
goodwill arising on acquisition 52311
t otal consideration 62438
the total cost of the combination was £62438000 and comprised the following
£’000
cash 50229
shares issued 10000
costs associated with the acquisition 2209
t otal 62438
the group issued 7692306 ordinary shares with a fair value of £130 each this price was the market value at the date of the acquisition
the goodwill of £52311000 represents the fair value of the future earning potential of the business and other intangible assets which cannot be individually separated and
reliably measured due to their nature in excess of the fair value of net assets identified this has resulted from expected synergies through integration with our existing
business efficient location of properties customer loyalty and the assembled workforce report and accounts 2010 72
acquisition of wa developments limited now renamed stobart rail limited
on 4 april 2008 the group acquired 100 of the voting rights of wa developments limited now renamed stobart rail limited which specialises in transport infrastructure
engineering
the fair value of the identifiable assets and liabilities of wa developments limited as at the date of acquisition and the corresponding carrying amounts immediately before
the acquisition were
fair value recognised on acquisition previous carrying value
£’000 £’000
property plant and equipment 3470 3470
investments 18 18
cash and cash equivalents 
trade receivables 12190 12516
other receivables 1501 1501
inventories 115 115
17294 17620
bank loans and overdrafts 4601 4601
trade payables 2192 2192
other payables and deferred income 3808 3808
finance leases 187 187
corporation tax 361 417
deferred tax 237 228
11386 11433
net assets 5908 6187
goodwill arising on acquisition 4375
t otal consideration 10283
the total cost of the combination was £10283000 and comprised the following
£’000
cash 10000
costs associated with the acquisition 283
t otal 10283
the goodwill of £4375000 represents the fair value of the future earning potential of the business and other intangible assets which cannot be individually separated and
reliably measured due to their nature in excess of the fair value of net assets identified this has resulted from expected synergies with our existing business especially in
managing group engineering projects customer loyalty and the assembled workforce financial statements
notes to the consolidated financial statements
for the year to 28 february 2010 continued
73 stobart group limited
acquisition of certain parts of the chilled and ambient operations of innovate logistics limited
on 30 june 2008 and 4 july 2008 the group acquired certain parts of the chilled and ambient operations of innovate logistics limited which specialises in chilled and
ambient haulage distribution warehousing and process management services in the uk
the fair value of the identifiable assets and liabilities of the business acquired at the dates of acquisition and the corresponding carrying amounts immediately before the
acquisition were
fair value recognised on acquisition previous carrying value
£’000 £’000
other receivables 633 
deferred tax 286 
919 
other payables and deferred income 1656 
1656 
net assets 737 
goodwill arising on acquisition 1684
t otal consideration 947
the total cost of the combination was £947000 and comprised the following
£’000
costs associated with the acquisition 947
t otal 947
the goodwill of £1684000 represents the fair value of the future earning potential of the business and other intangible assets which cannot be individually separated and
reliably measured due to their nature in excess of the fair value of net assets identified this includes synergies with our existing business customer loyalty and the
assembled workforce report and accounts 2010 74
acquisition of london southend airport company limited
on 5 december 2008 the group acquired 100 of the voting rights of london southend airport company limited which operates and manages a commercial airport
the fair value of the identifiable assets and liabilities of london southend airport company limited as at the date of acquisition and the corresponding carrying amounts
immediately before the acquisition were
fair value recognised on acquisition previous carrying value
£’000 £’000
property plant and equipment 36439 2484
cash and cash equivalents 569 569
trade receivables 753 763
other receivables 560 560
inventories 65 65
38386 4441
bank loans and overdrafts 113 113
trade payables 384 384
other payables and deferred income 3466 3233
finance leases 
corporation tax 125 57
deferred tax 9507 
13345 3673
net assets 25041 768
excess of net fair value acquired over cost 3609
t otal consideration 21432
the total cost of the combination was £21432000 and comprised the following
£’000
cash 10020
deferred contingent cash consideration 5000
loan notes issued 6000
costs associated with the acquisition 412
t otal 21432
the excess of the fair value of the assets and liabilities acquired over the cost of £3609000 represents a bargain purchase and has been recognised in the income
statement shown as credit for business purchase
the deferred contingent consideration is dependent upon planning permission for an extension to the runway and ancillary facilities
acquisition of irish trailer operation
on 1 april 2008 the group acquired certain parts of the business which was part of the irish trailer operation of tdg the consideration totalled £347800 comprising cash
of £250000 and fees of £97800 limited disclosures have been made in respect of this acquisition due its immateriality financial statements
13 property plant and equipment
year to 28 february 2010 land and plant and fixtures fittings commercial t otal
buildings machinery and equipment vehicles
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
cost or valuation
at 1 march 2009 132707 18800 4245 86689 242441
acquisition of subsidiaries 13900 246 7 14153
additions 44314 3323 2195 13418 63250
disposals 49068 1302 75 25732 76177
at 28 february 2010 141853 21067 6365 74382 243667
aggregate depreciation and impairment losses
at 1 march 2009 1272 3498 1323 24788 30881
charge for the period 1077 2254 912 11425 15668
disposals 201 520 1 13065 13787
at 28 february 2010 2148 5232 2234 23148 32762
net book value at 28 february 2010 139705 15835 4131 51234 210905
year to 28 february 2009 land and plant and fixtures fittings commercial t otal
buildings machinery and equipment vehicles
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
cost or valuation
at 1 march 2008 72228 10901 1931 53212 138272
acquisition of subsidiaries 43453 5330 940 13807 63530
additions 17518 2751 1387 33044 54700
disposals 152 182 13 13374 13721
revaluations 340  340
at 28 february 2009 132707 18800 4245 86689 242441
aggregate depreciation and impairment losses
at 1 march 2008 338 1456 738 24542 27074
charge for the period 1034 2105 585 9706 13430
disposals 100 63  9460 9623
at 28 february 2009 1272 3498 1323 24788 30811
net book value at 28 february 2009 131435 15302 2922 61901 211560
net book value at 29 february 2008 71890 9445 1193 28670 111198
notes to the consolidated financial statements
for the year to 28 february 2010 continued
75 stobart group limited certain land and buildings were acquired through the business acquisitions and were subject to independent valuations as part of the fair value exercise or were acquired
during the period at market value
bank borrowings are secured on the groups freehold land and buildings
included in land and buildings at 28 february 2010 are assets under construction of £107m 2009 £75m
the balance as at 1 january 2007 consisted only of land and buildings at weston point docks in runcorn which were acquired through the acquisition of westlink group
limited in the year ended 31 december 2006 these properties were revalued by knight frank an independent valuer in prior periods and a revaluation uplift of £340000
was recorded following the acquisition of the eddie stobart business in september 2007 the group’s policy is not to revalue operating land and buildings accordingly
this revaluation surplus was reversed in the year to 28 february 2009
the net carrying amount of property plant and equipment includes the following amounts in respect of assets held under finance leases and are secured on the related assets
land and plant and fixtures fittings commercial t otal
buildings machinery and equipment vehicles
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
cost  7686 1762 64838 74286
aggregate deprecation  1699 203 16758 18660
net book value at 28 february 2010  5987 1559 48080 55626
net book value at 28 february 2009  3689 66 55573 59328
14 intangible assets
goodwill brand names t otal
cost
at 1 march 2008 104540 60000 164540
acquisition of james irlam  sons limited and irlam storage llp 52311  52311
acquisition of wa developments 4375  4375
acquisition of certain parts of the chilled and ambient 
operations of innovate logistics limited 1684  1684
acquisition of irish trailer operation 348  348
at 28 february 2009 163258 60000 223258
acquisition of stobart air limited 8028  8028
at 28 february 2010 171286 60000 231286
impairment
at 1 march 2009 and 28 february 2010  
net book value
at 1 march 2008 104540 60000 164540
at 28 february 2009 163258 60000 223258
at 28 february 2010 171286 60000 231286
there are no internally generated intangible assets
brand names consist of the eddie stobart brand and other stobartassociated brands this brand name is considered to have an indefinite useful life as there is no foreseeable
limit to the period over which it is expected to generate cash flows for the group the group invests significant amounts to support the brand profile and development
further details of the accounting for the acquisition in the year are set out in note 12
report and accounts 2010 76 impairment testing of goodwill and intangible assets with indefinite lives
the goodwill and brands with indefinite lives from business combinations have been allocated to three cashgenerating units carrying amounts of goodwill and brands with
indefinite lives allocated to each cash generating unit are set out below
eddie stobart stobart rail stobart ports t otal
2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
carrying amount of goodwill 141642 133614 4375 4375 25269 25269 171286 163258
carrying amount of brands 
with indefinite useful lives 60000 60000    60000 60000
eddie stobart cashgenerating unit
the recoverable amount of the goodwill in the eddie stobart cashgenerating unit has been based on value in use calculations using projections from financial forecasts
approved by senior management covering a 5year 2009 5 year period the main assumptions on which the forecasts were based include sales volumes and profit
margins the pretax discount rate applied to the cash flow projections is 73 2009 90 taking in to account the cost of equity and debt for the cgu and cash flows
beyond the 5year period are deemed to be in perpetuity but no growth 2009 nil is assumed in the calculations after 5 years
no impairment losses have been recognised in the period or the prior period the calculation of the value in use is most sensitive to the discount rate and sales volumes
with regard to the assessment of value in the eddie stobart unit management believes that no reasonably possible change in the discount rate or sales volumes would
cause the carrying value of the unit to exceed its recoverable amount
stobart rail cashgenerating unit
the recoverable amount of the goodwill in the stobart rail cashgenerating unit has been based on value in use calculations using projections from financial forecasts
approved by senior management covering a 5year 2009 5 year period the main assumptions on which the forecasts were based include network rail work volumes
the pretax discount rate applied to the cash flow projections is 84 99 taking in to account the cost of equity and debt for the cgu and cash flows beyond the 5
year period are deemed to be in perpetuity but no growth 2009 nil is assumed in the calculations after 5 years
no impairment losses have been recognised in the period or the prior period the calculation of the value in use is most sensitive to the discount rate with regard to the
assessment of value in the stobart rail unit management believes that no reasonably possible change in the discount rate would cause the carrying value of the unit to
exceed its recoverable amount
stobart ports cashgenerating unit
the recoverable amount of the goodwill in the stobart ports cashgenerating unit has been based on fair value less costs to sell calculations using estimated discounted
cash flows after tax and direct selling costs the calculations are based on projections from financial forecasts approved by senior management covering a 5year 2009
5 year period the main assumptions on which the forecasts were based include container volumes and profit margins the discount rate applied to the cash flow
projections is 62 2009 70 based on the weighted average cost of capital of the division and cash flows beyond the 5year period are deemed to be in perpetuity
with a growth rate of 60 following the expected development of the port
no impairment losses have been recognised in the period or the prior period the calculation of the value in use is most sensitive to the discount rate growth rate and container
volumes the recoverable amount exceeds the carrying amount by a significant amount in order for the recoverable amount to be equal to the carrying amount the value of the
discount rate would need to be increased by approximately 50 and the value of the growth rate would need to be reduced by approximately 65 
15 investment property
investment property in the prior year were carried at fair value and included in assets held for sale determined based on valuations performed by knight frank an
accredited independent valuer as at 28 february 2009 on the basis of open market value supported by market evidence the fair value represents the amount at which
the assets could be exchanged between a knowledgeable willing buyer and a knowledgeable willing seller in an arms length transaction at the date of the valuation the
valuation was performed in accordance with the rics valuation standards issued by the royal institution of chartered surveyors and is based on available market evidence
the directors consider that there has been no material change to the valuation in the year based on an inhouse review of the valuation
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
opening balance  3803
impairment charge in prior year  1803
reclassification to assets of disposal groups held for sale in the prior year  2000
reclassification from assets of disposal groups held for sale to investment property in the current year 2000 
closing balance 2000 
financial statements
notes to the consolidated financial statements
for the year to 28 february 2010 continued
77 stobart group limited report and accounts 2010 78
in the prior year’s financial statements the debden property had been classified as held for sale and included in discontinued operations in the current year the debden
property has been reclassified to investment properties in continuing operations as it is expected to be held for more than 12 months before disposal the income statement
and certain notes have been restated  where appropriate in accordance with ifrs5
at 28 february 2010 there were no restrictions on the realisability of investment property or remittance of income and proceeds of disposal 2009 none
at 28 february 2010 contractual obligations to purchase investment property amounted to £ nil 2009 £ nil
16 investments in subsidiary companies
the financial statements include the financial statements of stobart group limited and the principal subsidiaries listed in the following table
name of subsidiary place of incorporation proportion of proportion of business activity
ordinary shares ordinary shares
held directly held indirectly
stobart holdings limited england 100 holding company
eddie stobart group limited england 100 contract logistics
eddie stobart limited england 100 contract logistics
eddie stobart promotions limited england 100 corporate merchandising
eddie stobart belgium nv belgium 100 contract logistics
eddie stobart insurance limited isle of man 100 insurance
stobart ireland limited ireland 100 contract logistics
james irlam  sons limited england 100 contract logistics
stobart rail limited england 100 rail services
victa westlink rail limited england 100 contract logistics
westlink group limited england 100 holding company
inhoco 3185 limited england 100 holding company
westlink holdings limited england 100 property investment
westlink storage  shipping limited england 100 contract logistics
ahc westlink limited england 100 contract logistics
ahc isle of man limited isle of man 100 holding company
marsh maintenance limited england 100 property investment
o’connor group management limited england 100 holding company
o’connor container transport limited england 100 contract logistics
o’connor container storage limited england 100 contract logistics
o’connor properties limited england 100 property investment
stobart airports limited england 100 holding company
london southend airport company limited england 100 commercial airport
stobart air limited england 100 commercial airport
stobart properties limited england 100 trading company
spd1 limited england 100 contract logistics
wpl ventures limited guernsey 100 holding company
wpl investments limited guernsey 100 holding company
endeavour guernsey limited guernsey 100 property investment financial statements
notes to the consolidated financial statements
for the year to 28 february 2010 continued
79 stobart group limited
17 investments in associates and joint ventures 
year end issued residence percentage of 
ordinary nominal value of
shares of issued shares or 
£1 each members’ capital held
ropewalks one llp 30 september na uk 50
one plantation place unit trust¹ 31 march na jersey 22
westbury fitness limited 31 december 10000 guernsey 50
westbury fitness hull limited 30 april 1 isle of man 50 wholly owned by 
westbury fitness limited
westar limited 31 december 10000 guernsey 50
westar 2 limited 31 december 10000 guernsey 50
burion limited 31 december 2 guernsey 50 wholly owned
by westar limited
the synergy gateshead unit trust 31 december na jersey 50 wholly owned 
by westar limited and
burion limited
the gateshead unit trust 31 december na jersey wholly owned by
the synergy gateshead
unit trust  
endeavour ware limited
1
31 december 10000 guernsey 475
endeavour guildford limited 31 december 2 guernsey 50
weston point studios limited 31 august 2 uk 50
convoy limited 5 april 2 isle of man 50
starion t ottenham court road limited 30 april 1 isle of man 50
1 these entities are associates all others are joint ventures
the businesses of all of the above associates and joint ventures are property related businesses the assets and liabilities of these businesses are classified as held for
sale and they are classified as discontinued operations as they are all part of a coordinated plan to dispose of the property and related business operations the
property related assets are written down to nil in the statement of financial position the group has been unable to sell these assets in the last year due to the fall in the
commercial property market but continues to look for opportunities to dispose of these assets on reasonable commercial terms disclosures in relation to discontinued
operations are set out in note 6
the above holdings are all held indirectly by stobart group limited
18 inventories
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
consumable supplies 1365 1528
goods held for resale 194 172
1559 1700 report and accounts 2010 80
19 trade and other receivables
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
trade receivables – net 60687 55658
other receivables and prepayments 23061 16107
corporation tax receivable 478 
loans to related parties 185 339
84411 72104
all receivables are due within one year of the statement of financial position date the majority of our receivables are current the amount of receivables past due but not
impaired is not material
a provision for £312000 against a receivable amount has been made in the year after a customer jarvis plc entered administration after the year end there were no other
material provisions against receivables in the year or prior year
movement in the provision for doubtful debts 2010 2009
£’000 £’000
at 1 march 27 
impairment losses recognised on receivables 766 27
at 28 february 793 27
the analysis of trade receivables that were past due but not impaired was as follows
2010 2010 2009 2009
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
receivable provision receivable provision
current 54358  51083 
1 month overdue 2547 355 2655 
2 months overdue 3457  1853 27
3 months overdue 1118 438 94 
61480 793 55685 27
the standard period for credit sales is up to 30 days the group assess credit worthiness of all trade debts on an ongoing basis new customers are subject to stringent
credit checks
20 trade and other payables current
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
trade payables 29227 26364
other taxes and social security 9963 8366
other payables accruals and deferred income 28172 22667
government grants 234 162
interest rate swap 1608 
contingent consideration note 12 5000 
74204 57559
21 noncurrent payables
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
contingent consideration note 12  5000
other payables accruals and deferred income 234 108
government grants 2280 1483
deferred lease liability 8427 8829
10941 15420 financial statements
notes to the consolidated financial statements
for the year to 28 february 2010 continued
81 stobart group limited
22 financial assets and liabilities
loans and borrowings interest rate 2010 2009
£’000 £’000
noncurrent
fixed rate
 income shares 8  5240
 obligations under finance leases and hire purchase contracts various 31509 35583
variable rate
 loan notes various  6000
 bank loans various 11367 43544
42876 90367
current
fixed rate
 income shares 8 5269 
 other borrowings 736  658
 obligations under finance leases and hire purchase contracts various 18891 17806
variable rate
 loan notes various 6000 
 overdrafts various 26436 16572
 bank loans various 10600 2739
67196 37775
t otal loans and borrowings 110072 128142
cash 13313 7458
net debt 96759 120684
the income shares are entitled to a fixed preferential distribution of 8 per annum payable quarterly in arrears the holders of the income shares had options to redeem
at par or convert to ordinary shares or neither around 31 march 2010 and are therefore shown as due within one year in april 2010 789058 income shares were redeemed
for £1 each and 3628158 were converted into 3098440 ordinary shares  the holders of the remaining income shares are entitled to £1 of capital per income share ranking
ahead of the ordinary shares in the event of a liquidation
the obligations under finance leases and hire purchase contracts are taken out with various lenders at fixed interest rates prevailing at the inception of the contracts
interest is charged on the loan notes outstanding at the year end at a rate of libor plus 8 until the amount is repaid in december 2010 the group may repay loan notes early 
the variable rate borrowings comprised a term loan two property loans a revolving credit facility and overdraft facilities the revolving credit facility was fully repaid before
the year end
interest is charged on the term loan and revolving credit facility based on a rate of libor plus 15 the term loan of £105m is to be partly repaid by £6500000 in 28
equal instalments payable quarterly commencing on 19 november 2007 a further £3269069 was repaid on 16 april 2010 in february 2013 the bank will obtain a valuation
of the properties for which the term loan was used to finance and shall use such valuation to determine the timing of the loan repayments to maturity in august 2014 the
loan will be repaid in full by 8 august 2014 the term loan may be prepaid minimum £1m by the company by giving 10 business days’ notice to the lender there are
certain financial covenants in the facility agreement
interest is charged on the property loans based on a rate of libor plus 15 the loans are repayable by equal quarterly instalments
the overdraft facility is secured on working capital and bears interest at 15 above the bank of england base rate
the group was in compliance with financial covenants throughout the year and the previous year
£179000 of the cash balance is included in the assets of disposal groups classified as held for sale cash included in continuing operations was £13134000 report and accounts 2010 82
the book value and fair values of financial assets and financial liabilities are as follows
continuing operations 2010 book value fair value
2010 2010
£’000 £’000
financial assets
cash 13134 13134
trade and other receivables 60872 60872
financial liabilities
trade payables 29227 29227
other payables 28172 28172
overdrafts 26436 26436
loans and borrowings 33236 33236
finance leases and hire purchase arrangements 50400 50400
interest rate swap 1608 1608
continuing operations 2009 book value fair value
2009 2009
£’000 £’000
financial assets
cash 7251 7251
trade and other receivables 55997 55997
financial liabilities
trade payables 26364 26364
other payables 22667 22667
overdrafts 16572 16572
loans and borrowings 58181 58181
finance leases and hire purchase arrangements 53389 53389
for trade and other receivablespayables with a remaining life of less than one year the carrying amount is considered to reflect the fair value
the fair values of loans and borrowings have been calculated by discounting the expected future cash flows at prevailing interest rates
fair value hierarchy
the group uses the following hierarchy for determining and disclosing the fair value of financial instruments by valuation technique
level 1 quoted unadjusted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities
level 2 other techniques for which all inputs which have a significant effect on the recorded fair value are observable either directly or indirectly and
level 3 t echniques which use inputs which have a significant effect on the recorder fair value that are not based on observable market data
liabilities measured at fair value 28022010 level 1 level 2 level 3
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
interest rate swap 1608  1608 
during the reporting period ending 28 february 2010 there were no transfers between level 1 and level 2 fair value measurements and no transfers into and out of level
3 fair value measurements
financial instruments  risk management
the group is exposed through its operations to the following financial risks
 credit risk  fair value or cash flow interest rate risk
 liquidity risk  capital risk
in common with all other businesses the group is exposed to risks that arise from its use of financial instruments this note describes the group’s objectives policies and
processes for managing those risks and the methods used to measure them financial statements
notes to the consolidated financial statements
for the year to 28 february 2010 continued
83 stobart group limited
principal financial instruments
the principal financial instruments used by the group from which financial instrument risk arises are as follows
 trade receivables  cash at bank
 bank overdrafts  trade and other payables
 floatingrate bank loans  income shares
 finance leases  loan notes
general objectives policies and processes
the board has overall responsibility for the determination of the group’s risk management objectives and polices 
the overall objective of the board is to set polices that seek to reduce risk as far as possible without unduly affecting the group’s competitiveness and flexibility further
details regarding these policies are set out below
credit risk
credit risk is the risk of financial loss to the group if a customer or a counterparty to a financial instrument fails to meet its contractual obligations the group is mainly
exposed to credit risk from credit sales it is group policy implemented locally to assess the credit risk of new customers before entering contracts such credit ratings are
taken into account by local business practices 
all credit sales are made under group payment and delivery terms and conditions and are mostly covered by insurance all credit limits are formally set and are in agreement
with the bank 
the recoverability of the net trade receivables book is considered highly likely this is supported by the history of collection by the group
interest rate risk
the group is exposed to cash flow interest risk from longterm borrowings and cash at variable rates it is group policy that finance lease borrowings are taken at variable
rates previously these were fixed rates there are loan facilities at variable rates these borrowing policies are managed centrally the group has also used interest rate
caps and collars to manage the risk of interest rate fluctuations though there are none in place at the year end although the board accepts that this policy neither protects
the group entirely from the risk of paying rates in excess of current market rates nor eliminates fully cash flow risk associated with variability in interest payments it considers
that it achieves an appropriate balance of exposure to these risks
during 2010 and 2009 the group’s borrowings at variable rate were denominated in pounds sterling
at 28 february 2010 if interest rates on pounds sterling denominated borrowings had been 100 basis points higherlower with all other variables held constant the
annualised effect on the group’s profit before tax from continuing operations would be £571000 2009 £613000 the impact on retained earnings reflecting the after tax
impact would not be materially different
during the year the group has taken out an interest rate swap to manage its exposure to interest rate risk the group has chosen to hedge account for this swap under ias 39
cash flow hedge
financial instruments designated as cash flow hedges are held at fair value in the statement of financial position
at 28 february 2010 the group held an interest rate swap contract which was designated as hedges against a proportion of the interest cash flow payable in respect of its
libor floating rate borrowings
the fair value of interest rate swap contracts at 28 february 2010 is £1608000 2009 £ nil
the interest rate hedges of the expected future interest cash flows was assessed to be highly effective and an unrealised loss of £1608000 with a deferred tax credit of
£450000 was included in other comprehensive income
the principal amount of the swap was £28825000 at 28 february 2010 and reduces in equal quarterly installments of £175000 to £25500000 by october 2014
capital management
the objective of the group’s capital management is to ensure that it maintains a strong credit rating and healthy capital ratios in order to support its business and maximise
shareholder value 
the group monitors capital using a gearing ratios gearing based on net debt divided by capital was 317 at 28 february 2010 2009 432 gearing excluding fleet
finance and financed fleet assets was 152 at 28 february 2010 2009 255 the group includes the following within borrowings bank loans and overdrafts finance
leases and hire purchase contracts income shares and loan notes capital comprises equity attributable to the equity holders of the parent
the group uses share capital to partly fund major acquisitions where considered appropriate
the group is not subject to any externally imposed capital restraints
dividends are payable out of distributable profits after considering the forecast funding requirements and headroom
liquidity risk
liquidity risk arises from the group’s management of working capital and the finance charges and principal repayments on its debt instruments it is the risk that the group
will encounter difficulty in meeting its financial obligations as they fall due see also the maturity profile of loans and borrowings below
the group prepares rolling weekly 3month cash flow projections and daily cash forecasts for the following week actual cash and debt positions along with available
facilities and headroom are reported weekly working capital levels including analyses of receivables and payables profiles are reported by division weekly these are
monitored by group management for the largest part of the business cash is monitored against forecast and reported to group management on a daily basis
in addition full annual 5year forecasts are prepared including cash flow and headroom forecasts these are full detailed forecasts built up by division and consolidated for the group
the financial statements have been prepared using the going concern basis as the financial forecasts support the assumption that the group will be able to meet its
obligations when they fall due report and accounts 2010 84
the table below summarises the maturity analysis of loans and borrowings at 28 february 2010 based on contractual undiscounted payments
 1 year 1 to 5 years  5 years t otal
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
period to 28 february 2010
loans and borrowings 49273 7913 4743 61929
finance lease borrowings 20818 32307  53125
trade payables 29227  29227
other payables 28172  28172
interest rate swap 1608  1608
129098 40220 4743 174061
period to 28 february 2009
loans and borrowings 20061 53288 5545 78894
finance lease borrowings 19482 37905  57387
trade payables 26364  26364
other payables 22667  22667
88574 91193 5545 185312
23 sharebased payments
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
expenses arising from equitysettled share based payment transactions
share options 118 115
long term incentive plan 2144 650
cash settled employer’s national insurance charge on options under long term incentive plan that have vested 251 
t otal expense arising from sharebased payment transactions 2513 765 
of the share based payment charge above £ nil 2009 £33000 is included in restructuring costs £9000 2009 £16000 is included in discontinued activities £1758000
2009 nil has been deducted in arriving at the net profit on disposal of the widnes assets as directly related to that disposal see note 3 and £746000 2009 £716000
is included on the face of the income statement as share based payments on underlying operating profit
the sharebased payment plans are described below
share options
on 21 september 2007 1504120 options over the 10p ordinary shares were granted with an exercise price of £166 each the options vest over a 3 year period and there
are no performance conditions attached these options lapse in september 2017
incentive plan
on 10 march 2008 284m share options were granted to directors and management under the stobart executive equity incentive plan seeip the exercise price of the
options is nil
on 3 july 2008 225m share options were granted to directors and management under the stobart executive equity incentive plan seeip the exercise price of the options
is nil
on 20 august 2009 24m share options were granted to directors and management under the stobart executive equity incentive plan seeip the exercise price of the
options is nil
the incentive plan is designed to provide incentives to key employees of the group who are selected to participate by the group’s remuneration committee participants
will be allocated units each of which will represent one 10p ordinary share and will vest on the third anniversary of the date of grant fifty forty and forty percent of the units
granted 10 march 2008 3 july 2008 and 20 august 2009 respectively will vest subject to the total shareholder return “tsr” of the group measured over a three year
performance period from the date of grant relative to a comparator group fifty sixty and sixty percent of the units granted 10 march 2008 3 july 2008 and 20 august 2009
respectively will vest subject to the achievement of a specified increase in the company’s earnings per share “eps” over two three and three consecutive financial years
respectively starting in the year in which the grant is made financial statements
notes to the consolidated financial statements
for the year to 28 february 2010 continued
85 stobart group limited
the fair value of the options granted without market based vesting conditions are estimated using a blackscholes model taking in to account the terms and conditions
upon which the options were granted the fair value of the options granted with market based vesting conditions are estimated using a monte carlo model taking into
account the terms and conditions upon which the options were granted
during the year 1420000 of the march 2008 options became fully vested and are exercisable at the year end
the options under the incentive plan have no lapse date 
movements in the period
the following table illustrates the number no and weighted average exercise prices waep of and movements in share options during the period
2010 2010 2009 2009
no’000 waep no’000 waep
outstanding at 1 march 6594 038 1504 £166
granted during the period 2388 £ nil 5090 £ nil
outstanding at 28 february 8982 £028 6594 £037 
exercisable at 28 february 1420 
the following table lists the inputs to the models used for the periods ended 28 february 2010 and 28 february 2009
2009 share options seeip options seeip options
subject to tsr subject to eps
dividend yield  57 57
expected volatility  23 23
riskfree interest rate  182 182
expected life of options years 33
weighted average share price £ 113 113
model used monte carlo blackscholes
2008 share options seeip options seeip options
subject to tsr subject to eps
dividend yield  60 60
expected volatility  35 35
riskfree interest rate  40 40
expected life of options years 3 23
weighted average share price £ 121 117
model used monte carlo blackscholes
2007 share options share
options
dividend yield  54
expected volatility  30
riskfree interest rate  49
expected life of options years 3
weighted average share price £ 166
model used blackscholes
the expected life of the options is based on historical data and is not necessarily indicative of exercise patterns that may occur the expected volatility reflects the assumption
that the historical volatility is indicative of future trends which may also not necessarily be the actual outcome
the weighted average fair value at date of grant of the share options granted in the year is 72p 2009 815p report and accounts 2010 86
24 deferred tax
deferred income tax liabilities 2010 2009
£000 £000
accelerated allowances on plant and machinery 4647 4037
rollover relief 
revaluation of properties to fair value on acquisition 18224 15439
brands recognised on acquisition 16800 16800
other temporary differences 5428 2007
34243 34269 
deferred tax assets have been recognised in respect of certain tax losses and other temporary differences giving rise to deferred tax assets because it is probable that the
assets will be recovered
deferred tax totalling £8420537 has not been provided on trading losses carried forward in the group on the basis that it is unlikely they will be relievable against chargeable
profits in future
25 issued share capital and reserves
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
authorised share capital – ordinary shares
authorised – 300000000 2009 300000000 shares of 10p each 30000 30000
££
authorised share capital – deferred shares
authorised – 1000 shares of 01p each 11
number share number share 
of shares capital of shares capital
2010 2010 2009 2009
000 £000 £’000 £000
ordinary shares of 10p each issued and fully paid
at beginning of period 241746 24175 160625 16063
issued during the period 9042 904 81121 8112
t otal share capital 250788 25079 241746 24175  
on 4 april 2008 65367494 ordinary shares were issued in relation to the acquisition of the irlam business and stobart rail ltd of these 7692306 ordinary shares were
issued as consideration to the vendors  the remaining shares were issued for cash
on 5 december 2008 15753525 ordinary shares were issued in relation to the acquisition of london southend airport
on 30 may 2009 9041957 ordinary shares were issued in relation to the acquisition of stobart air ltd
post year end on 14 april 2010 a further 3098440 ordinary shares were issued on conversion of 3628158 income shares
voting rights
ordinary shareholders are entitled to vote at all general meetings
the deferred shares have no voting rights
capital entitlement
the ordinary shareholders are entitled to all capital once the holders of income shares have been paid their entitlement of £1 of capital per income share the deferred
shareholders are entitled to the repayment of the amounts paid up on the deferred shares after payment in respect of each ordinary share and £1m
nature and purpose of other reserves
own shares held by ebt  this comprises the weighted average cost of own shares held by the employee benefit trust
foreign currency exchange reserve gainslosses arising on retranslating the net assets of overseas operations into sterling
hedge reserve the hedge reserve is used to record the effect of a cash flow hedge financial statements
notes to the consolidated financial statements
for the year to 28 february 2010 continued
87 stobart group limited
26 lease commitments
group as lessee
the group has operating lease agreements for land and buildings used primarily for the provision of warehousing facilities to customers and as vehicle depot locations
and in respect of the group’s transport vehicle and trailer fleet these leases typically have terms of renewal but do not contain purchase options property leases typically
include rent review clauses which allow for upward revision to the rental charge on a periodic basis according to prevailing market conditions where escalation clauses
are present that stipulate specific increases to the rental amount the operating lease expense is recorded on a straightline basis similarly lease incentives are recorded
on a straightline basis
at the statement of financial position date the group had outstanding commitments for future minimum payments under noncancellable operating leases which fall due as follows
property vehicles plant property vehicles plant
and equipment and equipment
2010 2010 2009 2009
£000 £000 £000 £000
within one year 15866 20433 13826 12834
after one year but not more than five years 55460 12329 47264 26306
more than five years 75636 597 60491 43 
146962 33359 121581 39183  
group as lessor
the group has entered into commercial property leases on certain of its properties these noncancellable leases have remaining terms of between 1 and 30 years all
leases include a clause to enable upward revision of the rental charge on an annual basis according to prevailing market conditions future minimum rentals receivable
under noncancellable operating leases are as follows
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
within one year 2709 4280
after one year but not more than five years 4522 10799
more than five years 8496 581
15727 15660
finance lease and hire purchase commitments
future minimum lease payments under finance leases and hire purchase contracts together with the present value of the net minimum lease payments are as follows
min lease interest principal min lease interest principal
payments payments
2010 2010 2010 2009 2009 2009
£000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
within one year 20818 1927 18891 19482 1676 17806 
after one year but not more than five years 32307 798 31509 37905 2322 35583 
53125 2725 50400 57387 3998 53389
capital commitments
at 28 february 2010 the group had commitments of £23956091 2009  £9832159 report and accounts 2010 88
27 notes to the consolidated cash flow statement
cash generated from operations notes year to restated year to
28022010 28022009
£’000 £’000
noncurrent
profit before tax on continuing operations 34063 22139
loss before tax on discontinued operations 6 739 28113
profit  loss before tax 33324 5974
adjustments to reconcile loss  profit before tax to net cash flows
noncash
movement in unrealised loss on revaluation of investment properties  1803
realised profit on sale of property plant and equipment 8910 678
writedown of associates and joint ventures 131 26650
depreciation of property plant and equipment 13 15668 13430
investment income 7 928 650
interest expense 8 6621 8475
amortisation of income share issue costs 29 29
credit for business purchase 12  3609
share option charge – excluding amounts included 
above within realised profit on sale of property plant and equipment 23 755 765
working capital adjustments
decrease in inventories 188 157
increase  decrease in trade and other receivables 11605 4440
increase in trade and other payables 4550 3108
cash generated from operations 39823 47946
issue of ordinary shares  86478
issue costs paid on issuance of ordinary shares 253 3096
253 83382 financial statements
notes to the consolidated financial statements
for the year to 28 february 2010 continued
89 stobart group limited
28 related parties
relationships of common control or significant influence
stobart rail limited formerly wa developments limited was owned by a tinkler and w stobart who are significant shareholders and directors of stobart group on 4 april
2008 wa developments limited was acquired by the group for £10m see note 12
wa developments international limited is owned by a tinkler and w stobart the group made purchases totaling £167000 2009 £375000 from and sales totaling
£69000 2009 £665000 to wa developments international limited £152000 2009 £624000 was due from and £135000 2009 £9000 was due to wa developments
international limited at the year end
stobart air limited was a subsidiary of wa developments international limited  on 30 may 2009 stobart air limited was acquired by the group for £99m see note 12
during the period prior to acquisition the group made sales of £5000 2009 £436000 to stobart air limited of which £ nil 2009 £ nil was outstanding owed to the group
at the year end
wa developments international gmbh is a subsidiary of wa developments international limited during the year the group made sales of £33000 2009 £174000 to
wa developments international gmbh of which £33000 2009 £ nil was outstanding owed to the group at the year end
moneypenny limited is a subsidiary of wa developments international limited during the year the group made purchases of £250000 2009 £232000 from moneypenny
limited of which £ nil 2009 £29000 was outstanding owed by the group at the year end
astsigns limited is 27 owned by w stobart during the year the group made purchases of £349000 2009 £297000 from astsigns limited of which £28000 2009
£4000 was outstanding owed by the group at the year end
sta 2006 llp is a joint venture of wa developments international limited during the year the group made sales of £9000 2009 £ nil to sta 2006 llp of which £9000
2009 £ nil was outstanding owed to the group at the year end
associates and joint ventures
the group had loans outstanding from its joint venture interest starion t ottenham court road limited of £2053000 2009 £2053000 at the year end of which £2053000
2009 £2053000 has been provided for
the group had loans due to its joint venture interest ropewalks one llp of £33190 2009 £512000 due from ropewalks one llp at the year end
the group received a dividend of £ nil 2009 £490000 from endeavour guildford limited £ nil 2009 £384000 from endeavor ware limited and £256000 2009
£125000 from westbury fitness hull limited the group had loans outstanding from endeavour guildford limited of £ nil at the year end 2009 £ nil
there were no other transactions between the group and the joint ventures and associates during the year ended 28 february 2010 and the year ended 28 february 2009
key management personnel
key management personnel are the executive and nonexecutive directors whose remuneration is set out in the directors’ remuneration report
during the year a tinkler made purchases of £97000 2009 £69000 of which £166000 2009 £69000 was outstanding owed to the group at the year end this was at
an arms length rate
29 post balance sheet events
on 24 march 2010 stobart group limited acquired a controlling interest in the newly formed stobart biomass products limited for £30m being half in shares and half in cash independent auditor’s report 
t o the members of stobart group limited 
report and accounts 2010 90
we have audited the company financial statements of stobart
group limited for the year ended 28 february 2010 which comprise
the income statement the statement of comprehensive income
the statement of financial position the statement of changes in
equity the cash flow statement and the related notes a to l the
financial reporting framework that has been applied in their
preparation is applicable law and international financial reporting
standards ifrss as adopted by the european union
this report is made solely to the company’s members as a body
in accordance with section 262 of the companies guernsey law
2008 our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state
to the company’s members those matters we are required to state
to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose t o the
fullest extent permitted by law we do not accept or assume
responsibility to anyone other than the company and the
company’s members as a body for our audit work for this report
or for the opinions we have formed
respective responsibilities of directors and auditors 
as explained more fully in the directors’ responsibilities statement
set out on page 40 the directors are responsible for the
preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that
they give a true and fair view our responsibility is to audit the
financial statements in accordance with applicable law and
international standards on auditing uk and ireland those
standards require us to comply with the auditing practices board’s
apb’s ethical standards for auditors
scope of the audit of the financial statements 
an audit involves obtaining evidence about the amounts and
disclosures in the financial statements sufficient to give
reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from
material misstatement whether caused by fraud or error this
includes an assessment of whether the accounting policies are
appropriate to the company’s circumstances and have been
consistently applied and adequately disclosed the
reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by the
directors and the overall presentation of the financialstatements
opinion on financial statements
in our opinion the group financial statements
 give a true and fair view of the state of the company’s affairs as
at 28 february 2010 and of its profit for the year then ended
 have been properly prepared in accordance with ifrss as
adopted by the european union and
 have been properly prepared in accordance with the require
ments of the companies guernsey law 2008
matters on which we are required to report by exception
we have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where
under  the companies guernsey law 2008 we are required to
report to you if in our opinion
 proper accounting records have not been kept by the company
 the company’s accounts are not in agreement with the account
ing records or
 we have not received all the information and explanations we
require for our audit
other matter
we have reported separately on the group financial statements of
stobart group limited for the year ended 28 february 2010
stuart watson
for and on behalf of ernst  young llp  manchester
12 may 2010  financial statements
stobart group limited company income statement 
for the year to 28 february 2010
91 stobart group limited
notes year to year to
28022010 28022009
£’000 £’000
 impairment of investment in subsidiary g 37579
 impairment of loans to subsidiary h 1400 21646
 administrative expenses b 4546 2314
loss before taxation and interest 5946 61539
finance costs c 1264 603
finance income d 413 344
dividends received from group companies 39903 
profit  loss before tax 33106 61798
income tax e 150 200
profit  loss for the year 32956 61598
stobart group limited company statement of comprehensive income for the year ended 28 february 2010
the company has no other comprehensive income to report for the year 2009 £ nil
the total comprehensive income recognised for the year is the profit for the year of £32956000 2009 loss of £61598000 stobart group limited company statement of financial position 
as at 28 february 2010
report and accounts 2010 92
notes 28022010 28022009
£’000 £’000
noncurrent assets
investments in subsidiaries g 233921 221979
loans to subsidiaries h 74917 69999
property plant and equipment i 1677 634
t otal noncurrent assets 310515 292612
current assets
other receivables 1732 1019
cash and cash equivalents 8299 2968 
t otal current assets 10031 3987
t otal assets 320546 296599
noncurrent liabilities
loans and borrowings j 235 11240
t otal noncurrent liabilities 235 11240
current liabilities
loans and borrowings j 16947 449
other payables k 11316 24432
t otal current liabilities 28263 24881
t otal liabilities 28498 36121
t otal net assets 292048 260478
capital and reserves attributable to equity holders of the company
issued share capital 25 25079 24175
share premium 25 164255 155805
retained earnings 102714 80498
t otal equity 292048 260478
the financial statements on pages 91 to 99 were approved at a meeting of the board of directors held on 12 may 2010 and signed on its behalf by
rodney bakerbates chairman ben whawell director financial statements
company statement of changes in equity
for the year ended 28 february 2010
93 stobart group limited
share capital share premium retained earnings t otal
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
balance at 1 march 2009 24175 155805 80498 260478
profit attributable to equity holders  32956 32956
t otal comprehensive income for the year  32956 32956
share based payment  2253 2253
proceeds on share issue 904 8703  9607
share issue costs  253  253
dividends on ordinary shares  12993 12993
balance at 28 february 2010 25079 164255 102714 292048
share capital share premium retained earnings t otal
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
balance at 1 march 2008 16063 70535 155946 242544
loss attributable to equity holders  61598 61598
t otal comprehensive income for the year  61598 61598
share based payment  765 765
proceeds on share issue 8112 88366  96478
share issue costs  3096  3096
dividends on ordinary shares  14615 14615
balance at 28 february 2009 24175 155805 80498 260478
the notes identified alphabetically are an integral part of these separate financial statements 
where the same items appear in the group financial statements reference is made to the notes identified numerically  company cash flow statement 
for the year ended 28 february 2010
report and accounts 2010 94
notes 28022010 28022009
£’000 £’000
cash flows from operating activities
profit  loss before taxation 33106 61798
adjustments for
depreciation of property plant and equipment 270 32
investment income 413 344
interest expense 1235 574
amortisation of income share issue costs 29 29
share based payment 190 249
impairment of investment in subsidiary 1400 59225
35817 2033
increasedecrease in other receivables 51 79
decreaseincrease in payables 630 562
cash generated from operations 35136 1392
cash flows from investing activities
purchase of investments  68420
purchase of property plant and equipment 1313 645
repayment of loans advanced from  to subsidiaries 19824 4132
bank and other interest received 413 344
interest paid 1299 454
net cash flows from investing activities 22023 65043
financing activities
issue of ordinary shares  86478
issue costs paid on issuance of ordinary shares 253 3096
dividends paid on ordinary shares 12993 14615
proceeds from new finance leases 1290 577
repayment of finance leases 826 128
draw down of loan 5000 
net cash flows from financing activities 7782 69216
increasedecrease in cash and cash equivalents 5331 2781
cash and cash equivalents at 1 march 2968 187
cash and cash equivalents at 28 february 8299 2968 financial statements
notes to the company financial statements 
for the year to 28 february 2010 continued
95 stobart group limited
a accounting policies of stobart group limited
basis of preparation
the separate financial statements have been prepared in accordance with international financial reporting standards ifrss and ifric interpretations issued by the
international accounting standards board iasb as adopted by european union “adopted ifrss”
the separate financial statements are presented in pounds sterling gbp and all values are rounded to the nearest thousand £’000 except where otherwise stated
the accounting policies that are used in the preparation of these separate financials statements are consistent with accounting policies used in the preparation of the
consolidated financial statements of stobart group limited as set out in the consolidated financial statements the company’s accounting policies are set out in note 1
of the group financial statements
the additional accounting policies that are specific to the separate financial statements of the company are set out below
the financial statements of the group and company are also prepared in accordance with the companies guernsey law 2008
judgements estimates and assumptions
investment in subsidiaries
investments in subsidiary undertakings are stated at cost less any provision for impairment where the recoverable amount is less than the carrying amount an
impairment is recognised
share based payments
where equitysettled share options are awarded to employees the fair value of the options at the date of grant is charged to the income statement over the vesting
period nonmarket vesting conditions are taken into account by adjusting the number of equity instruments expected to vest at each statement of financial position date
so that ultimately the cumulative amount recognised over the vesting period is based on the number of options that eventually vest market vesting conditions are
factored into the fair value of the options granted as long as all other vesting conditions are satisfied a charge is made irrespective of whether the market vesting
conditions are satisfied the cumulative expense is not adjusted for failure to achieve a market vesting condition
b administrative expenses
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
other expenses comprise the following
 management charge to subsidiary companies 292 40
 other expenses 4591 1468
 share based payment 190 765
 auditor remuneration – audit of financial statements 50 99
 t ax consultancy fees 7 22
4546 2314
c finance costs
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
bank loans and loan notes
interest payable 813 152
income shares
distributions paid 422 422
amortisation of issue costs 29 29
1264 603 
d finance income
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
finance income comprises the following
 interest receivable from subsidiary companies 393 299
 bank and other interest 20 45
413 344  report and accounts 2010 96
e t axation
t axation on profit on ordinary activities
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
current tax
uk corporation tax 
guernsey tax 
t otal current tax 
deferred tax
origination and reversal of temporary differences 150 200
t otal deferred tax 150 200
t otal charge  credit in the income statement 150 200
reconciliation of income taxation charge
a reconciliation of the income tax charge applicable to the results from ordinary activities at the statutory income tax rate to income tax for the year is as follows
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
profit  loss before taxation 33106 61798
uk income tax rate at 28 2009 28 9270 17303
effects of
income not taxable including dividends received from group companies 11173 
group relief surrendered for nil consideration 1661 720
expenses incurred not relievable against current tax and other differences 392 16383
150 200
the deferred tax included in the statement of financial position is as follows
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
included in other receivables 50 200
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
accelerated allowances on plant and machinery 150 
other temporary differences 200 200
50 200
f dividends
see note 11 of the group financial statements financial statements
notes to the company financial statements 
for the year to 28 february 2010 continued
97 stobart group limited
g investments in subsidiary companies
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
wpl ventures limited 130 130
wpl investments limited 37579 37579
westlink group limited 2665 1092
stobart holdings limited 131629 131344
james irlam  sons limited 57570 57570
stobart rail limited 10606 10411
stobart airports limited 21432 21432
stobart air limited 9889 
less provision for impairment 37579 37579
233921 221979
cost or valuation 2010 2009
£’000 £’000
at 1 march 2009 259558 169622
additions 9879 89420
share based payment 2063 516
at 28 february 2010 271500 259558
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
amounts provided
at 1 march 2009 37579 
provision for impairment  37579
at 28 february 2010 37579 37579
net book value at 28 february 2010 and 28 february 2009 233921 221979
net book value at 28 february 2009 and 1 march 2008 221979 169622
a table listing all the subsidiaries owned by the company is set out in note 16
h non current loans to subsidiaries
2010 2009
£’000 £’000
westlink group limited 31730 39781
westlink holdings limited 22976 22976
wpl investments limited 24091 23646
wpl ventures limited 552 1013
eddie stobart group limited 6181 5309
stobart properties limited 31 61
o’connor transport limited 3
spd1 limited 147 
stobart rail limited 8047 
london southend airport company limited 5708 356
less provision for impairment 24546 23146
74917 69999 
as at 28 february 2010 and 28 february 2009 none of the amounts included above were past due
movements in the provision for impairment are as follows 2010 2009
£’000 £’000
at 1 march 23146 1500
amounts written off 1400 21646
at 28 february 2010 24546 23146
interest charged for the year included within the loan balances amounted to £393361 2009 £298835 interest is charged on the loans at base rate plus a margin
between 2 and 3 2009 between 2 and 3 report and accounts 2010 98
i property plant and equipment
fixtures fittings commercial t otal
and equipment vehicles
£000 £000 £000
cost
at 1 march 2008  21 21
additions 634 11 645
at 28 february 2009 634 32 666
additions 1286 27 1313
at 28 february 2010 1920 59 1979
aggregate depreciation and impairment losses
at 1 march 2009  
charge 9 23 32
at 28 february 2010 9 23 32
charge 241 29 270
at 28 february 2010 250 52 302
net book amount at 28 february 2010 1670 7 1677
net book amount at 28 february 2009 625 9 634
j loans and borrowings
2010 2009
interest rate £’000 £’000
noncurrent
fixed rate borrowings
 loan notes 8  6000
 income shares 8  5240
 obligations under finance leases and hire purchase contracts various 235 
235 11240 
current
fixed rate borrowings
 loan notes 8 6000 
 bank loans various 5000 
 income shares 8 5269 
 obligations under finance leases and hire purchase contracts various 678 449
16947 449 
income shares
the income shares are entitled to a fixed preferential distribution of 8 per annum payable quarterly in arrears the holders of the income shares had options to redeem
at par or convert to ordinary shares or neither around 31 march 2010 in april 2010 789058 income shares were redeemed for £1 each and 3628158 were converted
into 3098440 ordinary shares  the holders of the remaining income shares are entitled to £1 of capital per income share ranking ahead of the ordinary shares in the
event of a liquidation
the obligations under finance leases and hire purchase contracts are taken out with various lenders at fixed interest rates prevailing at the inception of the contracts
interest is charged on the loan notes outstanding at the year end at a rate of libor plus 8 until the amount is repaid in december 2010 the group may repay loan
notes early  1        stobart group limited
introduction business review financial review corporate governance financial statements
introduction
chairman’s statement                                                     2
business highlights 20092010                                       3
chief executive officer’s statement                              11
business review
stobart group operations                                             17
corporate responsibility                                                29
financial review
business performance                                                   31
risk management                                                          37
corporate governance
directors’ profiles                                                           38
directors’ report                                                            40
corporate governance report                                      43
directors’ remuneration report                                    46
financial statements
independent auditor’s report                                       50
consolidated income statement                                   51
consolidated statement 
of financial position                                                       53
consolidated statement of 
changes in equity                                                          55
consolidated cash flow statement                              56
notes to the 
consolidated financial statements                               57
independent auditor’s report                                       90
company financial statements                                    91
39
revenue growth
425
eaffc growth
a
597
pbt growth
b
431
eps growth
c
a comprising underlying operating profit of £350m 2009 £314m and net disposal profit on
widnes assets of £82m less fleet financing costs of £34m 2009 £32m and share based
payments of £07m 2009 £07m
b normalised pbt is before restructuring costs of £27m and includes net disposal profit
on widnes assets of £82m
c eps is based on a pbt of £368m with a normalised tax charge of 28 eps excluding the
net disposal profit on widnes assets is 86p
d reflects five months of trading for eddie stobart division
2010 2009 2008
d
£m £m £m
revenue 4477 4311 1018
earnings after fleet financing costs 391 275 54
profit before t ax continuing 368 231 35
earnings per share continuing 110p 77p 21p stobart group limited
isabelle chambers route isabelle st peter port
guernsey channel islands  gy1 3tx
wwwstobartgroupcom
registered in guernsey registered number 39117
printed on environmentally friendly paper ©2010 stobart group designed and produced by carne whitney 01228 596 895 photography david mulholland 07770 676766
annual report and accounts 2010
annual report and accounts 2010


Summary:
 chief executive officer’s statement
andrew tinkler chief executive officer
11     stobart group limited
vision
our vision is clear to be the uk’s leading provider of multimodal
transport and logistics solutions t o do so we need to expand all
forms of transport especially rail sea and air we need infrastruc
tures in the best places to service the maximum number of
customers we have made a good start and are outperforming the
market but we still have some way to go
our divisional operations are supported by a profitable new area
of our business logistics asset development which continues to
grow and is exemplified by our ongoing development at our
widnes inland sea port we set up a desirable infrastructure sold
part of the assets at a capital gain generating a return on invest
ment for our shareholders 
in addition we have secured a threeyear road transport revenue
stream with t esco a rail freight revenue stream for inbound goods
and a storage and handling revenue stream for the inland port
terminal this demonstrates how operational services and devel
opment of our logistics assets are linked
stobart group is a ftse 250 company comprising four main divi
sions road rail ports and air while eddie stobart remains the
core of our business – responsible for about 85 percent of turnover
– i am confident in the growth potential of our other divisions
andrew tinkler chief executive officer
strategy
our strategy is underpinned by our brand people and systems
 forming new partnerships with customers to further drive
efficiencies
 t o seize the opportunities operationally as the economy comes
out of recession building on our key competitive advantages
such as load utilisation and pooling our customers
 t o market and develop our assets to our customers and then
sell these assets where appropriate at a profit to be reinvested
in the business
 t o develop systems and technologies that protect the business
from operational and financial risk
 t o grow organically with both existing and new customers
 t o take waste out of the system waste adds to cost and
damages the environment 
 t o increase business in the uk ireland and mainland europe
 t o leverage the high value in our brand
ceo andrew tinkler explains how an exciting ambitious vision for the group
to become the uk’s leading name in multimodal transport and logistics is
rapidly coming to fruition despite the background of a tough economic climate
introduction                                                                                                                                                                         report and accounts 2010   12
answering the key questions
you are now offering two service streams across the divisions
the operational side and the asset development as epitomised
by your recent sale of part of the giant widnes site this marked
a strategic shift in 2009 can you explain in more detail
across all of our divisions we have an operating business that is
performing well and another asset development business that is
also giving a good return 
let me explain the latter in more detail a lot of underutilised exist
ing assets in key locations will put value into the respective
divisions in the coming years equally we will buy land in the right
locations preferably next to road rail sea and air facilities
we develop this land and we sell it to our customers as a business
concept because it’s in the right location we develop it for them
then we generate revenue streams for the operational side of the
business be it road rail warehousing etc and ultimately we sell on
the asset at a profit it’s a lowrisk profitable model 
the sale of the first phase at our widnes inland port part of the
merseyside multimodal gateway is a good example of how this
works this is not speculative asset development rather it is low
risk and very well integrated with the operational side the asset
development helps the operational side and vice versa
how multimodal are you really
if a customer wants road rail sea or air transport we can deliver
we have the infrastructure if we don’t have the transport for a par
ticular journey we can partner with someone to do it we are
developing our own assets and infrastructures to be more cost
effective and more multimodal
the aim is certainly to grow the rail port and air divisions there
are big environmental benefits but you will always need a truck at
the end of every journey for that final delivery you have to under
stand what type of truck to use and how to use it a radius of up to
about 100150 miles is the ideal journey for a truck but no more
we’d like to replace truck with train on some of those longer journeys
if we can do multidrops on the rail network – loading and unloading
at major stopover points by having our assets on the rail network at
the right place – then that helps t ypically with rail now you have one
big loading and one big unloading we’re trying to change that 
with sea the big container ships have one dropoff point such as
rotterdam southampton or felixstowe we want to use feeder
ships from those vast ports we need volume for that and stobart
group have enough customers to potentially make that work
that’s where inland ports can also work they’re ideal for smaller
feeder vessels and they’re typically nearer other transport hubs
how would you sum up 2009
we have taken big strides in achieving our goal of being true multi
modal providers with substantial progress made in rail air and
ports but it’s been a difficult year because with the recession the
flow of the work has been upanddown there has clearly been
pressure on rates as customers strive for better deals yet we’ve
done well we haven’t gained materially on overall turnover but we
have been able to consolidate and reduce our own waste
the tough weather conditions this past winter also proved a chal
lenge but by working in partnership with our customers and thanks
to the commitment of our drivers we have continued to deliver a
comprehensive service we estimate the extreme conditions cost
the business in excess of £05m however the longerterm benefits 
pictured andrew tinkler right discusses the new rail station and control
t ower being constructed at london southend airport with stobart air md
alastair welch far left and steven harker stobart rail’s site engineer centre chief executive officer’s statement  
continued
13     stobart group limited
should far outweigh this cost as the conditions once again high
lighted the inflexible nature of the open book model under which
this cost would have been borne by the customer our core busi
ness model and customer focus is comparatively recession
resistant and during this challenging period we have managed to
outperform the industry
a good strong business model helps in a recession and i believe
we have it compared with most rivals we are comparatively reces
sionresistant because of our ’shared‘ trucks and our ability to treat
all customers as ’one‘ we can maximise efficiency and our utilisa
tion of trucks most of our deliveries are in the food and drink sector
and that is also more recession proof than most other forms of
transport delivery our new contract with unilever is also good news
a lot of their products sell irrespective of recession and season
after all you still need bathroom cleaner or washing powder no mat
ter what the state of the economy or whether it’s summer or winter
what have been the highlights
there have been many highlights firstly our development and sub
sequent asset disposal of part of our widnes inland port this has
given a good return on investment – around 20 initially – and that
will be reinvested elsewhere in the business including our expan
sion plans for london southend airport the widnes phase one site
development and subsequent sale includes the new northern distri
bution centre for t esco’s ’fresh‘ operations which was developed
by the stobart group we were recently confirmed as transport con
tractor from this distribution centre which is excellent news 
secondly the planning approval for the runway extension at london
southend airport this is a key part of our plans which include a
new railway station terminal and control tower work starts soon
and will be finished a year in advance of the london 2012 olympics
london southend is the nearest operational airport to the olympic
site and will have an excellent rail link so it is superbly located
next we are delighted to have won the transport contract with
another blue chip company unilever this is a further endorsement
of our ’pay as you go‘ cost model – in which the customer only 
pays for what they need if they require 50 trucks one day and 100
the next stobart group can do that we also pool our customers’
needs improving efficiency for us and for our customers 
finally the launch of the spanish ‘fresh’ train service from valen
cia to barking in london was also special it’s the longest train
journey in europe by a single operator is faster and much more
environmentally friendly than similar journeys by road and proves
the potential of rail for longer journeys
you’re enjoying continued success at winning big name customers
adding unilever to the portfolio how have you achieved this
i think we have been innovative in bringing all our customers
together into a shareduser transport system to reduce empty
miles one customer controlling their own fleet hasn’t got our
national coverage or our efficiencies noone has quite the same
partnerships or sharedusers as we do by pooling customers we
can view them as one large customer
is that why you’ve also had success with small customers
yes our policy of pooling customers means that no job is too
small if you can fill one empty leg you are saving money an
empty truck or an empty leg that could be used by another cus
tomer is an unnecessary waste of money
what challenges face the transport and logistics industry
the price of fuel is a huge issue for consumers as we are forced to
pass on the cost to our customers it adds to the costs of our cus
tomers’ goods and to consumers’ cost every train service we
establish reduces our fuel usage significantly
customers of course generally don’t care how their goods get
there just as long as they get there being able to offer all four
modes of transport increases choice and efficiency 
as fuel costs rise reducing waste becomes an even greater issue
for the industry it’s a big challenge the other big issue is traffic
and road congestion we need to do more to utilise our railroads
and our waterways i think we’re taking the lead here 
introduction
financial                                                                                                                                                    2010                         2009                 change
business revenue                                   from continuing operations                                                      £4477m              £4311m                  39
eaffc
a
                                                    earnings after fleet financing costs                                           £391m                £275m                425
earnings per ordinary share
b
                 normalised from continuing operations                                           110p                    77p                431
environmental
fleet utilisation                                         reflecting low efficiency of integrated businesses                         837                  841                  048
euro 45 compliance                                t otal fleet                                                                                               88                    81                  86
people
accidentincident rate riddor            new measure more appropriate to group                                          053               043                  233
a comprising underlying operating profit of £350m 2009 £314m and net disposal profit on widnes assets of £82m less fleet financing costs of £34m 2009 £32m and share based
payments of £07m 2009 £07m
b eps is based on a pbt of £368m with a normalised tax charge of 28 eps excluding the net disposal profit on widnes assets is 86p
key performance indicators                                                                                                                                                                         report and accounts 2010   14
finally one of our specific challenges as we continue to acquire
and take on more businesses is integrating the stobart culture we
need these businesses we acquire to understand our core values –
our attention to detail our customer service our drivers’ tidy
appearance our environmental commitments our job satisfaction
and the extraordinary following we have from the members’ club
how have you dealt with the economic uncertainty
we have to continually check our costs people are buying more
sporadically now they are buying more at the last minute this
causes peaks and troughs in demand which can make life difficult
for businesses
the it infrastructure that stobart has developed over the years
helps keep utilisation rates on an even keel minimising the swings
in demand
business conditions are still quite flat we are predicting a boost
this summer because of the football world cup especially in drink
sales a hot summer would help too when the sun shines it boosts
the economy stobart group have outperformed the market keep
ing level operationally and hitting our targets t urnover is reasonably
flat but our margins have improved we have also developed assets
to give a return to shareholders that showed the actual assets were
undervalued
we have outperformed the market partly because 85 percent of
our customers are in food and drink or recessionresistant retail
sectors for instance we weren’t reliant on the motor industry
which has been badly hit but people still have to eat and drink
they may buy cheaper brands of orange juice and cheaper
chocolate biscuits but they still need to be transported 
your capacity utilisation is higher than the industry standard
how have you achieved this
by sharing customers and putting it systems in place that allow us
to monitor it all ’live‘ and anticipate it before it even happens during 
this year our uk capacity utilisation was 837 percent it was rea
sonably flat because of integrating new business that wasn’t up to
our efficiency standard and the recession i don’t believe you can
get much better than 90 percent because you will always have
some empty miles 
you are still acquiring still expanding how will you expand
moving forward
we certainly see growth in road rail air and sea transport mostly
at the expense of less efficient competitors we also see growth
and great investment potential in our asset development widnes
this year is a good model 
southend airport has been a highlight this year t ake us through
the rationale of your involvement
it’s part of our multimodal strategy look at air 82 percent of all air
freight coming into london comes on passenger planes so what’s
the point of buying transport planes when the passenger airlines
are already struggling if stobart group can get an operator to use
our airport and help him fill his plane with freight we’ve won
twofold we’ve got freight business and passenger business
by developing an airport that has a fast rail service for both passen
gers and freight stobart group has a big advantage over all those
other london airports that are further from town we can also pro
vide air transport from mainland europe that is 20 minutes faster
than any other london airport or 40 minutes faster on a round trip
that’s a massive time and fuel saving 
if you take southampton airport as a model it has two million pas
sengers now and the same length of runway and a rail station
nearby we have a station right next to the air terminal itself and
much quicker links to london and i believe that we can be a
‘southampton’ quite easily we certainly predict two million passen
gers by 2020 for london southend and if the right airline operators
come in we could have a million passengers by 2012 thanks to
the olympics there may be even more chief executive officer’s statement   
continued
we have taken a controlling interest in the newlyformed
stobart biomass products limited together with marketleader
aw jenkinson the new company sources and distributes
biomass fuel for renewable energy production in the uk it is 
a market that could increase tenfold in the next three years
15     stobart group limited
you have also just invested in the biomass market through a
new venture with a biomass supplier why
we have taken a controlling interest in the newly formed stobart bio
mass products together with market leader aw jenkinson the new
company sources and distributes biomass fuel to the uk renewable
energy market at the same time we have secured a ten year major
transport contract with aw jenkinson’s existing business
we anticipate that the biomass business market could increase
tenfold in the next three years not least because eu law mandates
that 15 percent of electricity must come from renewable resources
such as biomass by 2020 and the uk has set an even higher tar
get of 30 percent
our expertise in transport logistics clearly helps transport and logis
tics is a major cost and headache for biomass suppliers and
stobart’s expertise will bring improved efficiencies to the whole bio
mass logistics and supply chain
one further point to build a biomass generator you need the raw
material to feed it we have some of the raw material such as 
packaging in the trucks using it also reduces empty running it
gives customers another level of service plus there is the environ
mental benefit
the business is coming up to 40 years old does the stobart of
today have anything in common with the stobart of the 1970s
it’s a similar company – the cleanliness you’ll never see a grubby
stobart vehicle on the road the professionalism the customer
service it has the same values the same culture people who have
been here for years would still recognise stobart obviously there
are differences – we’re a listed company for example – but we still
have those family values
we need to continue to increase our investment in the brand to put
the stobart name even more ‘on the map’ we have clearly been
successful here stobart is already listed as a uk ‘superbrand’
32nd in a list of 500 business brands for 2010 we can continue to
build the brand by emphasising our core characteristics and of
course supporting the marvellous stobart members’ club
 
 
introduction
the biomass process
biomass fuel
biowaste is chipped 
to form biofuel
transport by 
eddie stobart
boiler
generates
steam
surplus low pressure 
steam often used for 
domestic or 
industrial heating
steam turbine
generates electricity
green 
electricity                                                                                                                                                                         report and accounts 2010   16