Rico Logistics was established on 4 November 1993. The business had 3 founders – Sanj “Sam” Sharma, and brothers Jag and Manohar Grewal who started the business with £100 working capital.
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History
The business started under the name Ricochet Couriers, providing same-day courier services in and around Slough. The business quickly expanded to four offices within the West London area and then commenced servicing contracts in the IT sector. All emergency calls were generally serviced from one major warehouse in the UK and it proved difficult to reach all of the UK from one location within four hours.
The business decided to invest in setting up a number of strategic warehouses all over the UK to ensure any major city could be reached within two to four hours from these strategic warehouses. The parts delivered were to engineers servicing the retail and banking sector and as demand increased to facilitate clients within the server and various other sectors, more warehouses and PUDO’s (Pick up and Drop off centres) were introduced. The business could see that more and more of the critical parts required were becoming modular and could be swapped by smart technicians and thus decided to invest in offering technicians who could carry out the actual fix and exchange of the part at the customers’ location.
In 2002, Ricochet Couriers acquired Burnham Logistics who provided peripheral technicians (200) plus moves and installations of IT equipment. Field Stock Locations (FSL) and In-Night parts distribution for service engineers in the IT industry. Ricochet developed the technical swap model rapidly and began using fully trained IT engineers to enhance and support their clients’ requirements.
In 2004, Ricochet realised that tracking of parts out bound and return was critical to ensuring an optimum supply chain loop and thus invested in a fully blown IT system – called TRACE, that could interface with the clients and track parts at every stage of their movements. Interfaces were developed for major pan European clients and allowed for efficiencies and greater productivity. In addition, a network of over 250 Pick-Up and Drop Off (PUDO) locations were set up to allow clients’ engineers to collect parts and drop off parts from a location close to their home or area in which they worked.
Formation of Rico Logistics
As a result of the acquisition Ricochet changed their branding to Rico Logistics, to signify its wider logistics capability.
Acquisitions
In 2008, Rico bought-out their Irish logistics supplier, Tri-tec Logistics. Tri-tec had Field Service Logistics and operations in Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland, with an IT repair operation in Dublin. The operation traded under the Tri-tec name until 2010, when it was absorbed under the Rico Logistics brand.
In 2010 Rico ranked 24th on the fast track 100 annual league of Britain’s fastest growing private companies.
On 28 September 2012 Rico was majority acquired by TVS Logistics Services for an undisclosed sum and has been grouped within the TVS Supply Chain Services (TVS SCS) operation which has its European Headquarters in Chorley, Lancashire, UK. TVS SCS which was itself acquired by the Indian TVS group TVS Group in November 2009, at which point it changed its name from Multipart to TVS SCS. See T. V. Sundaram Iyengar paved the way for the TVS Group
On 1 November 2013, Rico acquired DHL Sameday in the UK. DHL Sameday offered Sameday Courier and FSL services for predominantly IT Customers so had good synergies with the existing Rico business. The operational transition of the DHL business into Rico commenced in January 2014 and concluded on 28 February 2014.
18th January 2016 Rico acquired a majority shareholding in Circle Express. The day to day operations and management will not change although upper management will have a new reporting structure into Rico.
Circle Express is one of the largest independent networks offering a collection and delivery service specifically targeted at the UK air freight forwarding industry and is the preferred UK Freight Distribution carrier for many International Freight Forwarders
With over 30 years experience, Circle Express has an annual turnover in excess of £29million with a countrywide fleet of 300 vehicles operating out of 8 Aviation Security listed depots near the airports at Heathrow, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Exeter, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester and a cross dock facility in Milton Park, Abingdon.
Circle Express is the only UK operator fully licensed to transport all classes of hazardous materials including firearms & ammunition , and Radioactive, toxic, flammable, corrosive and explosive material. Circle Express also offer both ADR and CPC training.
Lines of Business
Rico has three lines of Business:
Rico provide “Airbridge” solutions, enabling customers to fly or drive parts in from European Distribution Centres (primarily in the Netherlands) arriving at 11 pm, and Rico distribute those parts for arrival in the designated locations by 8 am next morning.
Subsidiaries
Rico now have operations in many countries worldwide with Rico Sameday and Rico Technology services currently operating in these countries.