Stobart Group

Stobart Group Ltd (LSE: STOB) (trading as Stobart Group) is a large British multimodal logistics company, with interests in Transport and Distribution, Estates, Infrastructure and Civils, Air, Biomass, Brand Promotion and Legal Services, through operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Belgium. The company is incorporated in Guernsey but has operational head offices in Carlisle, Cumbria and Warrington, Cheshire but hopes eventually to re-locate its Carlisle, Cumbria offices to a new, purpose-built building at Carlisle Lake District Airport, where it owns a 150-year lease expiring in 2150.

Started by 'Steady' Eddie Stobart in the late 1940s as an agricultural business in Cumbria, the company was incorporated as Eddie Stobart Ltd. on 23 November 1970 as a haulage firm, eventually passing to his son, Edward Stobart. After a series of complex takeovers, the Stobart company has developed from a haulage company to an intermodal logistics company, achieving a stock market listing without an IPO through a reverse takeover of the Westbury Property Fund. Following the step down of Edward in 2003, the Stobart family is now represented in the business through Edward's brother William Stobart.

Brothers-in-law Andrew Tinkler and William Stobart hold 9.37% and 3.3% respectively of the Stobart Group as of May 2012. Allan Jenkinson holds 4.93% of the company, the Irlam family hold 2.88% of the company and Steve O'Connor holds a further just under 3% of the company as of May 2012. The largest overall shareholder is now the investment management company Invesco who now holds 36.69% of the Stobart Group as of May 2012.

The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a former constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. However, unlike most UK public companies, Stobart Group retains its "Ltd" status as it is registered in Guernsey and not England & Wales or Scotland, which would require it to change its suffix to "plc" status.