Entrepreneur in focus: Matt Beech on right track with Maltacourt

MATT Beech could be on track to revolutionise the logistics sector.

The 43-year-old self-made entrepreneur owns and manages Runcorn-based Maltacourt, a niche logistics solutions provider focusing on high-end consumer products, such as smart phones, pharmaceuticals and moving high value equipment for both the cinema and the TV and film production industry.

In just 18 months since acquiring the £32.5m turnover business from its previous owner Chris Hill, he has driven major expansion by making several acquisitions , forging a 50:50 joint venture with an Asian business, and also investing in new facilities in the UK and Hungary.

Mr Beech’s rationale is that “anyone can move a box from A to B”, and in a highly competitive marketplace he has sought to differentiate Maltacourt by developing software tools to help customers maximise efficiencies in their supply chain, creating what he says is an “intelligent logistics” business.

Although now running a successful, growing and profitable company , Mr Beech, who is a contender in Ernst & Young’s Northern Entrepreneur of the Year Awards scheme, cut his teeth in the IT sector, working for a Yorkshire-based subsidiary of BT called Engage.

He had known Chris Hill for several years, and turned down several approaches to join Maltacourt, whosxe customers include leading mobile communication brand BlackBerry, before finally agreeing to join the company in 2004 as IT director.

He relates: “I remember politely declining offers to join the business, but when Chris said he was at an age when he was thinking about succession planning, and there would be an opportunity for me to come in and develop and take the business forward I had a change of heart because running a business has always been at the back of my mind.”

IT and business information has underpinned Maltacourt’s evolution. This year the company bought Daresbury-based IT company ConstruQtive, which had developed Maltacourt’s leading analytical business intelligence software tool, based upon their Clarity3 platform.

Mr Beech says: “The key difference that Maltacourt offers is the analysis of data to help our customers become more efficient, or react to changing circumstances.

“We have become more of an information business.  Technological innovation underpins everything we do at Maltacourt. We’re putting real-time operational data at our customers’ fingertips. It’s completely unique in the marketplace.”

While the deal for ConstruQtive was important, 2012 saw the business move on at a fast pace with the acquisition in July of Middlesex company GPM Freight  – a business based at Hayes in Middlesex and also had an office in Los Angeles serving Hollywood’s film making industry. The LA office now works closely with Maltacourt’s existing business in Canada.

In Asia – a vital territory for any logistics company looking to offer customers a global reach – last September saw the completion of a joint venture with A-Sonic Logistic Solutions.

Having decided that acquiring a business on the other side of the world would be too risky, the JV extended Maltacourt’s reach to a total of 38 cities and 14 countries in Asia.

Mr Beech said:  “The initial strategy was to acquire, but it just didn’t feel right, so we changed tack after looking at a number of opportunities.

“We decided we should partner with someone who is closely allied with how we work, so we came up with the 50:50 partnership with A-Sonic to create Maltacourt Asia.”

A-sonic has operations in Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, Singapore and across Asia.

Commenting on Maltacourt’s growth story, Tim Morris M&A Partner at Ernst & Young in Manchester said: “Under Matt’s leadership, he has revitalised a mature business and developed it into a niche player, positioning Maltacourt as leaders in transporting high value products.

“Matt has fuelled the growth of the business through international expansion and innovation – investing in technology that goes above and beyond the industry standard.

“Always looking forward, Matt plans to continue the business’s impressive growth in existing and new markets.”

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