EXECUTIVE REPORT


Phoenix continues its rise


Robert Aplin catches up with experienced Welsh hirer Gary Derraven and learns how he is building Phoenix Hire to emulate his previous success.


Back in 1988, Gary Derraven established Kingfisher Hire & Sales Ltd and, over the next 15 years, built a six outlet network with a turnover of £2.8m when I interviewed him in 2002. Describing Kingfisher at that time as “the leading independent hire operation in south east Wales”, I was surprised that Gary then sold his company a year later to Speedy, although his comment that ‘searching for growth for Kingfisher was becoming more of a financial risk for me’ did go some way to explaining the reason behind the sale.


Under the direction of Gary Derraven (right), Phoenix Hire is continuing its rise in Wales.


Initially, becoming


Speedy’s Regional Director for south Wales, he then spent three years with the Tool Hire No.1 in a variety of positions, under an equal variety of bosses.


Having left Speedy amicably in 2006, Gary had no plans to get back into tool hire and spent 15 months running his own asset finance business. By his own admission, ‘bored with asset finance’, he decided to launch Phoenix Hire & Sales in April 2008.


Based in Gary’s hometown of Cwmbran, where he has worked in tool hire since setting out as a YTS trainee in 1978, he set up business in a 3,500ft2


industrial unit. Within a few months,


the fledgling business was handed a significant boost as both Speedy and Brandon closed their outlets in the town.


In June this year, Phoenix relocated this Cwmbran operation to new premises “three times the size of our existing location. A former vehicle hire depot, it provides 6,000ft2


storage - complete with personalised workshops - 7,000ft2 secure, concreted yard and 2,000ft2


“Since the move, we had record months in September and October, and this depot is on target to achieve £2m turnover in our financial year to next April. Our customers’ perception is that we now carry a lot more stock to match their demands. Because we have more storage, we have extended the fleet to offer 3 tonne Yanmar mini excavators and Ammann rollers. We are also evaluating powered access because the volume of re-hire dictates that we have to.”


Innovative partnership


The establishment of a Phoenix-branded outlet in Bridgend in September 2009 is the result of an innovative partnership between Gary and Paul Lewis, an experienced hirer in his own right. With a background in industrial fork lift truck sales, Paul joined a power tools and sales fixing business, based in Llantrisant, in 2005 to set up a hire operation within its existing operation. “I gained a lot of contacts and knowledge in these four years, but the arrangement wasn’t right for me and I decided to go it alone.


“I wanted a faster moving business and, in September 2009, I bought AK Tool Hire in Bridgend and established Lewis Hire & Sales Ltd. It had been established for 25 years, and was a viable small business, turning over £3,000/month. It had an aged fleet, with £25,000 of assets. It appealed to me as it had some sort of customer base that I could add to my own.


of warehousing and of


of office space, including an


equipment showroom. Apart from my son, Jason, I’m very pleased to state that all the Phoenix team in Cwmbran are all former Kingfisher employees.


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The Phoenix-branded outlet in Bridgend is the result of an innovative partnership.


“I’d known Gary from dealings we had during his time running his asset finance business. When the chance to acquire AK came along, I turned to him for advice and quickly took up the opportunity to set up the partnership he suggested. The opportunity to work with someone of Gary’s calibre was too great to pass.


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