Over capacity in the freight industry put the brakes on revenues at a haulage firm.

However, bosses at Kingbrook in Dover were still able to turn a profit without making redundancies as it cut back on improvements to its fleet, despite making losses a year earlier.

Turnover fell 28% to £9.3 million at the haulage firm in the 12 months to the end of July 2015, according to its latest accounts filed to Companies House.

Yet the business, which employs about 45 people, was able to post an operating profit of £22,319 after a loss of more than £96,000 a year earlier.

The picture was similar at Heritage International Transport, another haulage firm wholly owned by Kingbrook managing director and owner Kevin King.

"Turnover is down but we’ve managed to get profitability up. That’s not a bad combination..." - Kevin King, Kingbrook

The company, which is also based in Dover and employs another 45 people, saw turnover slip 3% to £17.2 million in the 12 months to the end of May 2015.

However, it managed an operating profit of £48,875, compared to losses of nearly £119,000 the previous year.

“There is an over capacity of vehicles on the market,” said Mr King.

“A lot of it is eastern Europeans coming over here to work, not only on international routes but also domestic jobs.

“I’m not being horrible – we use some of them to pull our trailers – but it is difficult because there are more vehicles on the road than freight.

“When the rates you can charge come down, you have to cut costs accordingly but I didn’t sack any staff or cut our vehicles.

“We had to make changes to our operations. We are more conscious with our investments and spending, which has enabled us to get back to profitability.

"We battled through it, made a small loss, and got ourselves into a position to bounce back.”

The fall in petrol prices since the second half of last year has not improved things for the firm, with many customers dropping the rates they are prepared to pay.

“A lot of businesses would think it is an ideal time to make a number of redundancies but I maintained staff and it has proved the right thing to do...” - Kevin King, Kingbrook

The company managed to cut costs by putting off many of its vehicle renewals, running lorries a year longer before replacing them.

Mr King said: “Petrol prices have not given us any benefit because as soon as fuel prices go down, the customer drops their rates. Then they don’t put their rates up when petrol prices rise.

“We can’t change that because of the capacity in the market. It means turnover is down but we’ve managed to get profitability up. That’s not a bad combination.

“A lot of businesses would think it is an ideal time to make a number of redundancies but I maintained staff and it has proved the right thing to do.”

While he is confident his firm is on solid ground, he said he cannot see a change to the tough market conditions any time soon.

“People go under all the time and then come back with the same staff, same vehicles and a different name.

“We are still in for a few years hard work with the European referendum, the financial situation and our currency being up and down but I’m confident we will survive.”

He will vote to stay in the EU in the referendum on June 23 because “£100% of the business is involved in Europe”.

Mr King said: “The nature of our business suits us staying but we’re not frightened if we come out. I’m not putting any pressure on staff. Whatever the country decides, we will adapt and cope with it.”