 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Supply chain |
| Founded | 1974 |
| Founder | British Leyland |
| Headquarters | Oxford, England |
Key people | Darren Leigh (CEO) John Neill (Chairman) John Egan |
| Services | Supply Chain Solutions |
| Revenue | £917.3 million (2022) |
Number of employees | 10,000 (2023) |
| Divisions | Unipart Logistics Unipart Rail Unipart Manufacturing Unipart Technology Unipart International |
| Website | unipart |
Unipart Group is a British multinational logistics, supply chain, manufacturing and consultancy company headquartered in Cowley, Oxfordshire, England. It has operations in Europe, North America, Australia and Japan and works across a variety of sectors that include automotive, retail, technology and rail.[1] It is one of the largest privately-owned companies in the UK;[2] being 70% owned by its workforce and pension fund while the other 30% is held by sympathetic institutions.[3][4]
Unipart originated as a part of the state-owned conglomerate British Leyland (BL) and was initially operated as an independent subsidiary. Under the leadership of John Neill, it was demerged via a management buyout from BL's successor, the Rover Group, during 1987. Having initially been a distributor of service parts for BL vehicles, Unipart quickly branched out into providing logistical services and other activities on behalf of other vehicle manufacturers, including Honda, Jaguar, and Toyota. During May 1999, Unipart acquired the Partco network and thus became the largest automotive parts distribution business in the UK under the Unipart Automotive branded. Despite this, Unipart gradually transitioned towards other sectors; by the late 2000s, the automotive parts sector only contributed half of its overall turnover. During July 2014, Unipart Automotive went into administration.
Various other sectors of business were entered into during the 1990s and 2000s. During the late 1990s, Unipart backed a management-led buyout team at the formerly state-owned National Railway Supplies, a servicer and distributor of signalling and telecom equipment for the rail industry; this move led to the creation of Unipart Rail. During early 2006, the company finalised a 10-year deal with Vodafone to operate its mobile phone handset repair business. During early 2014, Unipart started work with the University of Huddersfield's Institute of Railway Research to develop The Centre for Innovation in Rail. During the early 2010s, the company secured several multi-year logistics contracts from automotive companies based in both India and China. In March 2015, Unipart announced the launch of a new high-tech engineering and manufacturing business called Unipart Powertrain Applications. In late 2018, Unipart Logistics commenced a five-year £730 million contract with the NHS. For the year ending 2022, the company had a turnover of £917.3 million.[5]
- ^ "Boost for Unipart". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
- ^ "Top Track 100 Unipart Group". The Sunday Times. 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Wilson 2005was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
spectator 2007was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Katy, Farrington (April 2022). "Significant business growth in 2022 contributed to Unipart's positive financial results". Insider Media. Retrieved 1 June 2023.