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The Interview
PETER SEPHTON CEO of
“The Parts Alliance is already one of the leading automotive buying and distribution groups in the UK and Ireland, with 240 branches providing national coverage at a local level, and we confidently believe that we can be even better.”
P
eter Sephton, Chief Executive of The Parts Alliance, has more than 30 years experience at a senior level with multi-national
companies. He joined the group after 16 years as President of Brady EMEA, the NYSE listed distributor and manufacturer of identification and safety related products and systems with revenue of $1.5 billion. In EMEA Peter ran 29 companies in nine countries. He is also a non- executive Director of Constantine Group PLC, which owns businesses in specialist logistics, property and renewable energy.
What more can you tell us about yourself and The Parts Alliance?
The Parts Alliance is a group of four owned and eight associate companies supplying over 100,000 high quality OE matching automotive parts to UK garages and workshops.
We have more than 3,700 well trained, passionate and motivated colleagues and we strive to be both the supplier of choice to independent garages and national service
centres and the employer of choice for those who share our commitment.
Our backers are HgCapital (HgC), a leading mid-market private equity investor with a first class record of helping entrepreneurs and professional business leaders build market champions.
I became Chief Executive of The Parts Alliance Limited in April this year when it was acquired by HgC. In doing so, I retained my role as group CEO of the four owned businesses within The Parts Alliance that were acquired by HgC last year. I took charge of these in August 2013. The group has a turnover of £375 million, although our vision for the business is to see that grow to £1 billion. Backed by our investors, HgC, we have already made significant changes, with the four owned businesses effectively operating as one company.
The restructuring means they now share resources, systems and best practice. This will enable us to accelerate growth, both organically and by acquisition, facilitate new branch openings, and deliver high quality staff
training along with investment in tools to take customer service to world leading standards.
A new board has been put in place including representation from the associate members. My objective is to achieve an industry leading board of industry leaders. It is an approach that is in line with the HgC strategy of identifying potential and supporting management through investment to create sector champions.
The Parts Alliance isn’t just about supplying OE quality standard parts. We also have a programme to support owners of independent garages to run their businesses, called GS Onestop, which they can take advantage of by joining our Servicesure Autocentre network.
What more can you tell me about your deal with HgCapital?
We see this deal as a game-changer not just for The Parts Alliance but for the automotive aftermarket. There is much change and uncertainty in the marketplace. But The Parts Alliance is an organisation that is powered