Carousel Logistics co-founder and CEO Graham Martin has confirmed he is to vacate the hotseat after more than 30 years.

The Sittingbourne -based firm confirmed he would hand over the reins and move to a non-executive director post on Carousel's board.

In his place comes Jonathan Simpson-Dent, formerly CEO of ATM service provider Cardtronics International and support services firm WLT Europe.

Graham Martin explained: “Every founder knows that at some point the time must come to hand over the baton and for me, that point is now. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved, specifically, a strong foundation that enables Carousel to enter the next phase of its journey and this feels to me like a really great time to hand over that baton.”

During the last three decades – including 20 years as CEO – he has led the business through a transformative period in the company’s history; growing group revenues four-fold since receiving private equity backing in 2013.

Over the last four years Carousel has expanded its operations into new European markets and made three strategic acquisitions in as many years.

Mr Martin added: "Carousel is now at a key point in its journey, to become the number one choice for service-logistics in Europe. Jonathan is the ideal candidate to join us at this point because of his expertise growing organisations internationally, as well as his experience working with organisations like ours. He’s already deeply committed to the Carousel purpose, which will ensure our continued success, while also importantly the preservation of our values-focused culture.”

Mr Simpson-Dent added: “I am honoured and excited to be joining Carousel not least because, during the last three decades, Graham has built a hugely respected business that has enormous potential. His success is testament to a relentless focus on both innovative solution development - bringing measurable, bottom-line value to the client – and exceptional service delivery.

“I’d like to thank Graham for building a culture, team and technology platform that I now have the opportunity to take forward in the next phase of the journey.”

Offering specialist logistics solutions, to service-focused organisations operating in a range of high-performance industries, Carousel’s client portfolio includes John Deere, Liebherr and Suzuki. The company was founded in 1986 and secured private equity-backing from Livingbridge in 2013.

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