FTA reveals membership, income and surplus boost
Page 9

If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THE FREIGHT Transport Association (ETA) increased its income by 3.4% last year to 126.2m. Membership fees grew by 3.2% to £3.8m (as membership rose from 14,121 in 2007 to 14,306 in 2008), while commercial activities grew by 3.4% to £22.4m.
FTA chief executive Theo de Pencier (pictured) says: "Our financial performance in 2008 has been encouraging... while tight cost control has allowed us to increase our trading contribution. The FTA is fortunate to have no debt, and a strong balance sheet."
The ETA's annual report reveals a trading surplus increase of 44.5% to nearly £2.2m. However, this has been knocked back to nearly 1:1.7m as provision has been made for the loss of £500,000 deposited in the failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing, Singer & Friedlander.
So far, the bank's administrators have not been able to provide an estimate of any recovery.
The FTA's surplus for the year (after tax) was £1.4m: in the previous year. the surplus was Ulm. but this included 11.9m profit from the sale of the Wadhurst conference centre.
De Pencier adds: "There is no recession in government and members will still need our help to navigate through the complexity that is modem-day compliance,