Nixon’s product portfolio has grown equally to include more than 30000 items of equipment from air tools to mini excavators, site accommodation, welfare units and portable toilets to screw drivers. The comprehensive list of equipment is indeed impressive.
DEALER PROFILE
for the north east of England is in A1 shape with a 2020 vision.
Managing Director of John Nixon Ltd and Nixon Hire.
The VOICE talks to Chris Nixon,
Established in 1967 by the company’s current Chairman John Nixon, John Nixon Ltd has evolved as a
strong, healthy and ambitious family business with a focussed vision
looking forward to 2020 and beyond.
With its headquarters located in Water Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, Nixon currently has fifteen outlets predominantly in the north of the
country with the latest having opened recently in Nairn to the east of Inverness. “We now cover the whole of Scotland and the north of England above the M62 corridor and are looking to expand
further south as part of our 2020 vision and business plan to achieve a national
presence with a £50m+ turnover,” states Managing Director Chris Nixon. And
THE VOICE PAGE 14
However for Nixon overall our sales and hire business is in good shape with 15% growth in turnover during 2010 and similar growth anticipated during 2011. We don’t aim to be the cheapest out there – rather we prefer to provide a quality service and charge a realistic price for it whether it is in our hire rates or direct sales.”
Dealing with Volvo follows Nixon’s ethos of providing quality products and at any one time there are around 450 Volvo compact excavators to be found in their hire fleet. “Since I’ve been involved in the business I can honestly say I haven’t heard a negative comment about the Volvo product in any respect and we are more than happy with Volvo’s network of support and backup to our activities,” continues Chris. “We have a structured replacement programme for our hire fleet with an average life cycle for the majority of mini excavators of five years. This year we have placed orders for 100 Volvo minis which include the EC15C; EC27C, EC55C and ECR88 plus models.”
Maintaining relatively young and current equipment is of course important since it means that it keeps in step with current legislation and makes it more attractive to the potential hirer or purchaser. “For example we fit hose rupture
Volvo CE’s utility equipment dealer
One of the keys to meeting their goal is focussing on leading brands of capital equipment within their portfolio of which Volvo Construction Equipment is one. “Every aspect of our business adopts a culture of continuous improve- ment and a need to provide added value in a highly competitive market,” says Chris. “For example we have a target of 55 minutes as a response time to breakdowns and at the moment we are pleased to say we are averaging 45 minutes. This is one of a range of extensive kpi’s we task ourselves to continually improve our service to our customers.”
With a current headcount of 280 employees and a predicted turnover this year of around £22m, John Nixon Ltd has set itself no mean task in more than doubling its turnover within the next decade. Apart from organic growth, Chris Nixon is very focussed in picking up business in strategic areas. “A lot of what you hear is doom and gloom, but we are seeing plenty of opportunities coming out of this recession,” he says. “We are finding a good many smaller businesses throwing in the towel due to difficult trading conditions in a highly competitive market with the extra burden of ever increasing legislation, rising costs and a lack of finance making it difficult for smaller or heavily geared hirers to operate profitably”.
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