The Interview

for growth with HgCapital behind it, expert investors with a £2 billion pounds fund.

There are currently around 1,500 participants in the sector, each looking for their share of a £4.5 billion market. We expect there to be seismic consolidation in the aftermarket in the coming months and years, down to two or three major players, and The Parts Alliance will be at the forefront.

How will this acquisition enhance your offering to clients?

This investment provides scope for enhancing performance further through a more dynamic and unified operating model which we are putting into place through our 10 Steps programme. This, we believe, will keep us 10 steps ahead of our competitors.

It will enable us to deliver even greater value to our members, suppliers and customers, both national accounts including the major fast-fit brands and through our members, independent garages.

Early objectives include the adoption of a more integrated commercial function aligned across five key areas of customer segmentation, category management, marketing, pricing and supply chain management.

This will allow greater clarity and visibility of

the business and enable a customer and service- centric approach, with closer relationships with clients and sharper management of the supplier base.

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.

What does the future hold for The Parts Alliance?

We are ambitious, not only here in the UK and Ireland but we’ve expanded our horizons by being a founder shareholder in Nexus Automotive International. It has been created along lines similar to The Parts Alliance but is a new international distribution group covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The Parts Alliance has substantial purchasing power and by aligning ourselves with other partners across Europe and in emerging economies we will be able to create additional value that will help our customers provide better choice and value for their customers.

For those who work directly for us the future is also bright. We are putting a major focus on training and investment in our staff, enabling them to build their skills and grow as

individuals through our 10 Steps programme. We are committed to developing best-in-class retention and recruitment initiatives and have already made great progress through newly- created Parts Alliance Academies.

Alongside this we are investing in new branches and increasing the number of parts advisors and sales people in existing outlets.

There is also the opportunity for new member distributors. But it is important to underline that although we fully intend to enhance and revitalise elements of the operation, The Parts Alliance will very much remain a consultative business group at its heart, operating with joined-up commercial thinking.

Since the interview The Parts Alliance has acquired the Worcestershire-based Bromsgrove Motor Factors (BMF). BMF was founded in 1978 and has branches in Bromsgrove, Redditch, Worcester and Kidderminster, with a delivery fleet of 30 and a staff of 65.

Sephton said: “This is an early demonstration of our declared aim to grow quickly, both organically and through the acquisition of successful parts distributor companies, large and small.”

CONNECT: www.thepartsalliance.com

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