Providore has acquisitions on its radar

Managing director Richard Fader said while Australian Shipping was comfortable with its slice of the providore market, it was not ruling out buying companies that it believed would create synergies with its existing operations.
 “We would look at expanding if the right thing came up,” Mr Fader said.
“Acquisitions would probably be in areas where we would operate better if we had an office,” he said, citing Brisbane as an example of where it currently only has an agent.
And the Tasmanian-based company has the scope to make purchases, with business going well and revenue having more than doubled in the last four years.
Markets where Australian Shipping “pretty well dominates” include Tasmania and Victoria, according to Mr Fader.
At a time when many businesses are laying off staff and, worse, even closing shop, Mr Fader said business is steady for Australian Shipping and its 30 employees.
“We are finding that it is pretty good,” he said.
And while activity in Queensland has slowed due to a reduction in mineral exports, the consolidation within the shipping industry and port expansion projects have helped maintain demand for Australian Shipping’s services, Mr Fader said.
The Australian dollar’s dip against the US currency from record highs has also helped demand for its goods.
“For most of the ships the supplies are in US dollars so they were probably getting less then than they are now,” Mr Fader said.  A  key highlight for the company had been the retention of some long-standing contracts, while ensuring that customers paid on time was its biggest challenge, he said.
He recalled one incident that involved a couple of overseas clients who were very slow in paying their accounts.
“You just have to be careful who you give credit to,” he said.
Australian Shipping Supplies found regulation in areas such as customs challenging.
“There’s no consistency and there needs to be standardisation (across states),” he said.
“No standardisation means the chance of making mistakes is higher.”
Australian Shipping’s short-term goal was to purchase some new equipment such as refrigerator trucks, he said.
It had about seven trucks at the moment and was looking to replace three vehicles with new ones, he added.