Key takeaways:
- Braid Logistics (UK) Limited is expected to enter liquidation as part of a wider group restructuring.
- The company reportedly still had around £20.4 million in net assets at the end of 2025.
- Braid was acquired by Hillebrand in 2020, before Hillebrand itself became part of DHL in 2022.
- DHL paid around €1.5 billion for the Hillebrand group.
A Scottish logistics business whose history stretches back to the 1950s is expected to disappear as a standalone company following years of consolidation under DHL.
Braid Logistics (UK) Limited, based in Renfrew, is being prepared for liquidation following a wider restructuring of the group to which it belongs, according to details contained in its latest accounts reported this week. However, the circumstances are markedly different from those surrounding many recent logistics liquidations.
The company reportedly ended 2025 with net assets of approximately £20.4 million, compared with £21.6 million a year earlier. Its directors said the company was expected to enter liquidation because group entities were being merged during 2026 and Braid itself would no longer be required.
As a result, the financial statements were prepared on a break-up rather than a going-concern basis. That means the planned liquidation appears to be a corporate restructuring rather than an insolvency-driven failure.
At the time of writing, Companies House continues to list Braid Logistics (UK) Limited as active.
From Scottish logistics specialist to international acquisition
Braid traces its business history to 1955, although Braid Logistics (UK) Limited itself was incorporated in June 1971 under its former name, John S Braid & Company Limited.
The company developed a particular specialism in the transportation of food-grade and non-hazardous bulk liquids, including the use of flexitanks and ISO tank containers.
Its ownership changed significantly in 2020 when Braid was acquired by German logistics specialist Hillebrand, another major name in the international transport of beverages and bulk liquids.
Less than two years later, Hillebrand itself changed hands. Deutsche Post DHL Group completed its acquisition of J.F. Hillebrand Group in March 2022, paying an equity value of around €1.5 billion. Hillebrand and its subsidiaries became part of DHL Global Forwarding, Freight.
At the time, DHL described Hillebrand as operating in more than 90 countries with over 2,700 employees, specialising in ocean freight forwarding and the transportation of beer, wine, spirits, non-alcoholic beverages and other bulk liquids.
DHL subsequently said that Hillebrand’s subsidiaries had been integrated into its Global Forwarding, Freight division.
DHL had already planned to absorb the bulk-liquid operation
Perhaps the clearest explanation for Braid’s eventual fate can be found in DHL’s own presentation to investors shortly after the Hillebrand acquisition.
In June 2022, the group said Hillebrand’s bulk business — including flexitanks and ISO tanks — would be transitioned under the DHL brand, focusing on industrial commodities and foodstuffs.
That business description closely overlaps with Braid’s historic specialist activities.
The gradual shrinking of Braid Logistics (UK) as a standalone entity therefore appears consistent with a longer integration process rather than a sudden deterioration in the business.
According to the latest reported accounts, Braid had no direct employees in 2025, apart from an average of three directors.
This also suggests that much of the operational activity once carried out through the Braid company had already moved elsewhere within the wider group before the decision to liquidate the legal entity.
A logistics name disappears, rather than necessarily the business behind it
For the transport sector, the significance of the development is therefore less about another haulier going bust and more about the final stage of consolidation following a succession of acquisitions.
Braid went from being an independent Scottish bulk-logistics specialist to part of Hillebrand in 2020, and then became indirectly part of one of the world’s largest logistics groups when DHL acquired Hillebrand in 2022.
DHL said at the time that the acquisition would strengthen its position in the bulk-liquids market. Hillebrand was subsequently combined with DHL’s existing Gori business under the Hillebrand Gori – a DHL company brand.
Braid Logistics (UK) Limited remains registered at 4 Kings Inch Way in Renfrew, and Companies House currently records it as an active private limited company.
The planned liquidation therefore appears to mark the end of the Braid corporate entity and historic name, rather than evidence that the underlying bulk-liquid logistics operation has suddenly ceased.
