Pickfords talks

LOGISTICS company NFC has confirmed it is in talks to merge its Pickfords removals business with US company North American Van Lines. NFC said there was no certainty of a deal being agreed but negotiations with the US group were continuing. An agreement could see NFC, which is expected to retain about 20 per cent of the new group, raise about pounds 253m. The marriage would create the largest home removals group in the world.

Pickfords is already a big operator in North America. Based in Enfield, Middlesex, the company has 75 branches and storage centres across the UK and 1,200 worldwide, employing 3,700 staff.