Eddie Stobart Logistics plc (LSE: ESL) (trading as Eddie Stobart) is a British multimodal logistics company, with interests in road haulage, rail freight, deep sea and inland waterway transport systems and deep sea port, inland port and rail connected storage facilities, along with transport, handling and warehousing facilities in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Belgium. The company has its operational head office in Warrington, Cheshire.
Started by Eddie Stobart in the end of the 1940s as an agricultural business in Cumbria, the company was incorporated as Eddie Stobart Ltd. on 23 November 1970 as a haulage firm, eventually passing to his son, Edward Stobart. Following corporate restructurings in 2004 and 2007, the Stobart company has developed from a haulage company to an logistics company, obtaining a stock market listing without an IPO through a reverse takeover of the property and ports company the Westbury Property Fund, while retaining Stobart family members William Stobart (Edward's brother) and his brother in-law Andrew Tinkler in the management roles of COO and CEO of the Stobart Group respectively, which subsequently diversified into other sectors. Following the retirement of Edward in 2003, the Stobart family was represented in the business by Edward's brother William Stobart, until 2017, when he stepped down as Executive Chairman.
In 2014, the logistics part of the company regained majority private ownership when Douglas Bay Capital bought a 51% share in the business from the Stobart Group, which remains publicly traded. The company regained a public listing in April 2017, when its shares were floated on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange, reducing the Stobart Group's stake to 12.5%.