An Oxford company which was once Rover's main car parts supplier has reported booming profits.

Unipart, based in Cowley, once made most of its money from the British car company, which is now in administration.

But it has spent the past decade moving away from automotive components and into general logistics, distributing goods for retailers such as Halfords, Boots and Homebase. Announcing £18m pre-tax profits, chief executive John Neill said: "As a result of the strategic diversification, Rover's move into administration will have virtually no impact on the group this year.

"In the early 1990s, most of our employees worked on the Rover business -- today it is less than one per cent, and we are confident of deploying them elsewhere in the group."

All Rover's parts distribution was once done by Unipart under a lifetime contract, which accounted for more than half of Unipart's annual sales of £800m.

But Rover ended the contract in 2002, reportedly after a failed bid to take over Unipart.

This year, Unipart reported sales of £1.064bn. Apart from BMW, it is the city's major manufacturing business, employing almost 10,000 people, of whom 1,500 are in Oxford. Now Unipart's only direct business with MG Rover is making fuel and exhaust systems through joint venture companies based in the Midlands. These deals were due to finish at the end of 2005.

Unipart, which recently won a 10-year extension to its Jaguar contract, said it could offer replacement parts for Rover customers who felt "abandoned" as a result of Rover going into administration.