LEAGUE TABLES


SALES PER HEAD: SUBSTANTIAL VARIATIONS


1. Lords


2. AW Lumb 3. Browns


SALES PER HEAD


This table could best be described as ‘indicative’ rather than ‘definitive’, because some of the companies listed are part of larger groups, and may be drawing on group resources for some functions. Nonetheless, it serves to show a couple of things quite clearly: firstly the obvious point that there are very substantial variations in productivity between the top and the bottom of the table; and secondly that this is one area where sheer size doesn’t convey a benefit. Look at the positions of the big four: Wolseley in sixth place, Grafton in 18th, Travis Perkins 30th and Saint Gobain a lowly 38th. The bigger you get, the more people you’re going to be employing who no doubt help to run the business, but who don’t actually contribute to increased sales.


PROFIT PER HEAD


If you ever wanted proof of the diversity of the merchant business, here it is. Just two of the 54 merchant businesses listed here achieve profit per head of more than £40k. Another five achieve £20k-plus. A total of 24 are in the £10k-£20k bracket; and 17 achieve less than £10k profit per head. To attempt to explain these huge differences would take far more detailed research than can be justified for BMJ’s survey – but it seems to us that the companies in the lower half of the table would be well advised to take a good hard look at some of those in the upper half, to see what could be learned.


4. MGM Timber 5. Wolseley UK 6. EH Smith


7. Beggs & Partners 8. Williams 9. MKM


10.UK Plumbing Supplies 11.Builder Depot 12.James Burrell 13.CRS


14.Kellaway


15.James Hargreaves 16.John Nicholls 17.Robert Pochin 18.Joseph Parr


19.Grafton Merchanting GB 20.Parker Building Supplies 21.MP Moran 22.Elliott Bros 23.Turnbull


24.Huws Gray 25.JT Atkinson 26.J T Dove 27.Markovitz 28.Beatsons


29.Myers Building Supplies 30.Lawsons


31.Travis Perkins 32.John A Stephens 33.Bradford & Sons 34.Carver


35.Haldane Shiells 36.RGB


37.Howarth Timber Supplies Source: BMJ analysis of filed company results


£567k £522k £403k £378k £384k £353k £299k £287k £284k £281k £279k £277k £268k £266k £261k £260k £254k £252k £237k £233k £229k £229k £228k £226k £226k £226k £224k £215k £213k £212k £210k £208k £204k £203k £203k £200k £200k


38.National Timber Group Scotland£197k 39.Saint-Gobain 40.Walter Tipper 41.Alsford Timber 42.Grant & Stone 43.LBS


44.Crossling


45.Sydenhams 46.C&W Berry


47.Beesley & Fildes 48.Arnold Laver


49.Robert Price & Sons 50.Covers


51.AW Champion 52.Brewer


53.Kent Blaxill 54.Frank Key


12


£197k £192k £188k £181k £181k £178k £177k £174k £166k £163k £160k £154k £152k £141k £134k


£118kk


TRAILBLAZERS


PROFIT PER HEAD: HUGE DISPARITIES


1. AW Lumb 2. CRS


£45,663 £40,352


3. National Timber Group Scotland£28,128 4. Huws Gray


5. Beggs & Partners 6. Sydenhams 7. JT Atkinson


8. Myers Building Supplies 9. Beatsons 10.EH Smith


11.Walter Tipper 12.MKM


13.Lawsons


14.James Hargreaves 15.MP Moran 16.Joseph Parr 17.Wolseley UK 18.Robert Pochin 19.MGM Timber


20.Robert Price & Sons 21.Grant & Stone 22.Carver 23.Turnbull


24.C&W Berry 25.J T Dove 26.Lords


27.Haldane Shiells 28.John Nicholls


29.Beesley & Fildes 30.LBS


31.Crossling


32.AW Champion 33.Alsford Timber 34.Elliott Bros 35.Kellaway 36.Covers


37.Markovitz 38.Williams 39.Brewer


40.James Burrell 41.Builder Depot 42.Bradford & Sons 43.Frank Key


44.John A Stephens 45.Browns


46.Kent Blaxill 47.Travis Perkins


48.Grafton Merchanting GB 49.Howarth Timber Supplies 50.UK Plumbing Supplies 51.Arnold Laver 52.RGB


53.Parker Building Supplies 54.Saint-Gobain


£26,593 £24,261 £23,962 £22,292 £19,682 £19,196 £18,704 £18,195 £17,819 £17,277 £16,927 £16,117 £15,496 £14,734 £14,173 £13,991 £13,555 £13,085 £12,784 £12,520 £12,480 £11,956 £11,337 £11,329 £10,636 £10,528 £10,451 £10,174 £10,059 £10,000 £9,589 £9,546 £8,635 £8,592 £8,477 £7,823 £5,805 £5,587 £5,316 £4,207 £4,164 £4,038 £3,177 £2,632 £1,739 £1,296 £1,163 -£1,655 -£2,929 -£6,474 -£16,065


A supplement to builders merchants journal April 2022


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