48 | Sector Focus: Moulders & Mouldings
THE SUM OF TWO PARTS
Becoming part of Summit Timber capped a successful year for Cheshire Mouldings. Mike Jeffree reports
The headline news from Cheshire Mouldings last year was that the 36-year-old producer of mouldings, panelling stairparts, decking and joinery was integrating with Hawthorn Timber, supplier of machined and treated softwood, panel products and cladding. The result is Summit Timber, a combined business with a turnover of more than £80m.
But there have been other developments alongside at Cheshire, which continues to trade under its own name, more are in the pipeline and, it reports the business has continued to prosper and grow, not least in mouldings.
Home improvement has continued to be the company’s main market, with sales of both mouldings and wall panelling kits reported as robust. Jacquie Capper, sales director of Cheshire Mouldings and a director of Summit, said Cheshire’s wall panelling kits have been “great sellers”, with indications that DIYers are installing them across several rooms in the house.
“Our merchant partners are also seeing good sales in mouldings,” she said. “It is not a category that is in decline. We are the largest supplier in our market selling B2B as we see others moving to D2C to secure sales.” Materials price and cost inflation are clearly affecting businesses across the board, but Cheshire is limiting its price rises as far as possible.
“It’s impossible to absorb all the increases we’re likely to get,” said Ms Capper. “That said, we are holding firm and, in the marketplace, we’re seeing customers increasing their selling prices, but also running seasonal offers as incentives to boost sales.”
As for mouldings aesthetics and materials, the volume seller for Cheshire is pine mouldings, which it makes in the UK. The colour is generally a job for the end user. “While primed has a place in the market, end users of our products want to paint and finish themselves,” said Ms Capper. On the question timber or MDF? Cheshire covers the options.
“Timber has its own unique selling points vs MDF, and, besides pine, we also
TTJ | March/April 2025 |
www.ttjonline.com Above: Cheshire has launched a direct to customer service in acoustic panels
offer primed hardwood options,” said Ms Capper. “But we are also seeing growth in MDF products, for which we have our own machining capabilities.”
The company has continued to launch new styles and products, including in both its acoustic and wall panelling kits, which it describes as the “new must have wall covering”. “We also plan to launch new mouldings later in the year and we are reviewing light weight applications,” said Ms Capper. The company’s marketing activities have been evolving too. “We have a revolving door in terms of adding POS, we’re continuously developing this area and introducing new options,” said Ms Capper. “We also see closed loop advertising as the way forward. Consumers will increasingly buy because of influencer videos rather than manufacturers’ recommendations.”
distribution site next to our existing operations in St Helens,” said Ms Capper. “We’ve also invested in a new electric forklift truck fleet, equipped with pedestrian detection systems, three new parcel wrapping machines
Cheshire has also just launched a direct to customer (D2C) service in acoustic panels, delivering on behalf of its customers. Capital spending is ongoing too. “We are adding a state-of-the-art, 40,000ft2
and we have investment plans for our mouldings mills for 2025.”
On the formation of Summit Timber, she added, both Cheshire and Hawthorn teams have responded “very positively”, and the integration is proceeding well. “There are definite synergies between the businesses, which we are turning to our benefit,” she said. “Economies of scale will help us to be competitive and that will go towards combating increased costs.” Options are also being developed for Cheshire and Hawthorn to cross-sell one another’s products. “We are working on a marketing programme for Summit Timber where we will be sharing developments,” said Ms Capper. “We both want to serve our customers and deliver the best total timber solution we can offer.”
There are further plans in place for expansion which will be revealed “as and when” the business can. Asked whether that includes acquisition of other businesses, the response was “watch this space”. Ms Capper concluded that becoming part of Summit Timber further underlined Cheshire’s commitment to “be the best and continue to grow as we have over the last 36 years”. The reaction to the move from customers, she added, had only been positive. ■
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