How AV Dawson Group honours its past , protects its present and inspires its future
FEATURE
Where it started – one of the first photos of the business , as it started with £ 50 and a horse and cart .
WE ’ RE ON A JOURNEY
How AV Dawson Group honours its past , protects its present and inspires its future
For the past 86 years , AV Dawson has gone from one person selling coal on the streets of Middlesbrough to an international , multimodal logistics provider and operator of Port of Middlesbrough .
Founded by Arthur Vernon Dawson , grandfather of the current chairman , Gary Dawson , in 1938 , Arthur Vernon began the business with £ 50 and a horse and cart .
It ’ s come a long way since the days of selling coal . The firm is now one of the largest family businesses in the region , operating a port of over 100 acres and employing around 200 members of staff .
It hasn ’ t always been plain sailing for the port operator . The business has had to diversify and adapt to new changes to become the recognised firm it is today .
As of October 2023 , the firm transitioned to a group structure , with AV Dawson Limited becoming the parent of four operational subsidiary businesses – AV Dawson Transport , Cockfield Knight & Co , Port of Middlesbrough and AVD Industrial & Port Services .
As the parent company , AV Dawson owns the port estate and deals with an extensive property portfolio of 35 tenants across the site .
AV Dawson Group managing director Charlie Nettle said : “ We had been planning for the company to restructure for several years before it became a reality .
“ A lot of hard work went into forming the group structure , from establishing a set of values which would be applicable across the group , to creating new businesses and rebranding our Middlesbrough site . We wanted to create a solid foundation before we began the restructure .
“ The key driver for introducing the group structure at this stage is to support succession , with our owner and now chairman , Gary Dawson , moving to more of a governance role . The new structure will enable each of the subsidiary
AV Dawson Group ’ s board of directors .
companies to have more autonomy to invest and develop while also creating a level of security for the wider business .
“ Another major reason we decided to create a group structure was to manage risk . Over the years , the whole business has faced some challenging times .
“ The group structure provides a greater degree of protection , as it enables us to operate more safely from a financial perspective . Potential risks that a subsidiary may want to take can be limited to that individual subsidiary business as opposed to risking the whole company . While the business is certainly not intending to suddenly adopt a high-risk business strategy , this just provides some
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