central south mid market
Slings and arrows
GROWING
Outrageous fortune may shake the nerve of even the most hardened business veteran in 2018 and the outlook is unsettled. So does it make sense to diversify?
Perceived wisdom in volatile times is for companies to focus on core activity – but if diversification is prompted by customer demand it can successfully drive growth and
expansion.So should you be seeking multiple revenue streams? As partners at accountancy and business advisory firm BDO, Steve Le Bas and Arbinder Chatwal have a broad view across the wide-range of businesses in the Central South Mid Market
So how do they answer the question: To diversify or not to diversify?
“Running several strands of business in parallel de-risks the business, especially if they’re complimentary and can have a wider benefit to each strand of the business,’ said Le Bas. “It can provide healthy challenge and opportunities that may not have otherwise presented themselves.
“The downsides are that you may end up trying to spin too many plates, not focusing on the really profitable and growing side of the business.”
‘Think slow…. act fast’ is Chatwal’s motto. “In the current uncertain climate if you’re standing still, you’re falling behind.
SHB (Hire)
Film stars and scorpions No two vehicles are alike for SHB (Hire).
Anyone who loved Thunderbirds would love the Scorpion. A massive vehicle, it sits on the motorway, reflective diagonals on its rear alerting drivers to the proximity of road workers – and protects both in a unique way.
“My favourite,” admitted SHB commercial director Nicky Simpson, in the Romsey HQ workshop. “The crash cushion, with its circular metal cage at the back, lowers down to the road and if a car hits, it grabs the car and brings it safely to a halt. The front of the vehicle instantly stabilises so the impact doesn’t travel through to workers on the other side.”
It’s not a beast you’d find on every forecourt.
‘We’ve always been diverse,’ said managing director Paul Street. ‘We moved into golf buggies in 2013 for summer festivals … and we also supply quarry vehicles, built with roll cages, road menders, bird scarers for airports ...’
With 16 depots across the UK, SHB doesn’t just hire and sell its 17,300 vehicles – it innovates.
“Our whole business has changed through being customer-centric,” explained Simpson.
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wobbles. “Yes - in recessions traditionally customers prefer rental to purchase, which is good for us, but we’ve still had our share of customers going into administration.”
Diversity, though, is in the blood. Since the family business launched in Totton fifty years ago, it’s evolved from 4x4s to precision engineered road menders and bespoke plant vehicles. SHB’s workshops, and mechanics, are impressive and exhaustively capable but also adaptable for very specific customer requests.
Paul Street, Steve Le Bas and Nicky Simpson
This means every day demands different solutions, from how to move a stranded farm vehicle to which golf buggy is best for the PM to ride on at Farnborough Air Show. It can be challenging.
“Our mechanics aren’t just learning about a car or a van,” said Simpson. “They’re building this wealth of knowledge about all kinds of vehicles. One minute a car, the next an old gritter...”
And Street points out that diversity doesn’t immunise SHB to recession and Brexit
Street and Simpson clearly relish the daily requests for solutions to the 21st century’s mobilisation problems – and the upswing of profit in recent years proves customers appreciate this.
And there is the occasional high point. For Simpson it was overseeing a mass mobilisation for Shropshire Highways with Kier. “We had around 150 vehicles to deliver. We took over their workshops and seconded their staff. On delivery day I saw all the vehicles lined up; all our guys doing hand overs. I felt so proud.’
For Street, it was all about Nicole. “Twenty years ago… out with the film industry, on the set of Portrait of a Lady,” recalled Street. “ I had the pleasure of being Nicole Kidman’s chauffeur for the day. She was absolutely lovely.”
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
Businesses still need to explore, branch out into new areas and take risks, but these risks need to be calculated, and measured.
Economical and political uncertainty is the new norm, and those that find opportunities in this adversity will succeed. Diversifying is one way to grow – but only with appropriate homework and due diligence.”
For some successful local companies diversification had been the modus operandi for many years. SHB and Just Develop iT, are two of the region’s top performers identified by BDO this year in their ongoing focus on the Central South Mid Market.
RESILIENT
SEIZING THE OPPORTUNITY
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