TRAILBLAZERS
STAFF: IBMG LEAPS UP THE TABLE
1. Travis Perkins
2. Stark/Saint Gobain 3. Wolseley UK 4. Highbourne
5. Grafton Merchanting GB 6. IBMG 7. MKM
8. UK Plumbing Supplies 9. Huws Gray
10. National Timber Group 11. Brewer
12. Bradford & Sons 13. Haldane Shiells 14. Lawsons 15. Lords
16. Howarth Timber Supplies 17. Sydenhams 18. JT Atkinson
19. Nicholls & Clarke 20. LBS
21. EH Smith 22. Covers
23. Grant & Stone 24. Williams 25. RGB
26. James Hargreaves 27. JT Dove
28. Parker Building Supplies 29. Builder Depot 30. Markovitz 31. Elliott Bros 32. Joseph Parr
33. Beesley & Fildes 34. Robert Price & Sons 35. Boys & Boden 36. MP Moran
37. Walter Tipper 38. James Burrell 39. Alsford Timber 40. C&W Berry 41. John Nicholls 42. MGM Timber 43. AW Champion 44. Frank Key 45. Carver 46. Turnbull 47. Kellaway 48. Crossling
49. Myers Building Supplies 50. CRS
51. Kent Blaxill
52. Beggs & Partners 53. Beatsons 54. Paintwell
55. Robert Pochin 56. John A Stephens 57. AW Lumb 58. Browns
18,833 11,279 4,486 3,347 3,109 1,930 1,884 1,854 1,776 1,403 1,205 863 701 647 638 553 490 471
460 444 426 412 391 358 353 344 336 323 312 310 300 288 276 272 269 267 265 261 237 232 221 219 217 216 216 205 204 191 180 180 165 147 142 137 128 115 81 79
STOCKTURN: BIG ISN’T BEAUTIFUL
1. Browns
2. James Burrell 3. Beatsons
4. Parker Building Supplies 5. Builder Depot 6. C&W Berry 7. MGM Timber
8. John A Stephens 9. EH Smith 10. MKM
11. AW Lumb 12. Markovitz 13. Lords
14. Brewer 15. Kellaway 16. Joseph Parr
17. Bradford & Sons 18. Frank Key
19. Haldane Shiells 20. Turnbull
21. Robert Pochin 22. J T Dove
23. Grant & Stone 24. Lawsons
25. Stark/Saint Gobain
26. Grafton Merchanting GB 27. Covers
28. John Nicholls 29. JT Atkinson 30. Carver
31. Williams 32. LBS
33. James Hargreaves 34. CRS
35. Elliott Bros 36. Wolseley UK
37. Myers Building Supplies 38. Beggs & Partners 39. Travis Perkins 40. Crossling
41. Beesley & Fildes 42. Highbourne 43. Walter Tipper
44. UK Plumbing Supplies 45. Kent Blaxill
46. Howarth Timber Supplies 47. National Timber Group 48. MP Moran 49. RGB 50. IBMG
51. Alsford Timber
52. Robert Price & Sons 53. Huws Gray
54. AW Champion
55. Nicholls & Clarke 56. Paintwell 57. Sydenhams 58. Boys & Boden
15.7 11.3 11.1
10.0 9.4 9.0 8.6 8.5 8.4 8.3 7.9 7.8 7.8 7.7 7.4 6.6 6.5 6.3 6.2 6.2 6.2 6.1
6.0 6.0 5.9 5.9 5.8 5.6 5.6 5.3 5.3 5.2 5.0 4.8 4.8 4.8 4.6 4.6 4.5 4.4 4.3 4.3 4.3 4.1
4.0 3.8 3.8 3.8 3.6 3.4 3.4 3.3 3.2 3.0 3.0 2.9 2.8 2.3
April 2023 A supplement to builders merchants journal 5 Staff
As before, it’s important to stress that this table is based on 2021 accounts, and that there is probably an element of double counting as a result of mergers and acquisitions, depending on exactly when those mergers and acquisitions took place. But the headcount figures still serve to emphasis that even with the plumbing and heating businesses sold to Highbourne, and Wickes demerged, Travis Perkins remains by far the largest employer in the UK merchant market. The other significant change, of course, is IBMG, which is now the sixth largest employer in the market. And if the IBMG workforce is added to those of National Timber Group, Paintwell, and Kent Blaxill – all ultimately controlled by Cairngorm Capital Partners – then Cairngorm is probably now the fourth largest employer in the business. Food for thought…
Stockturn
Comparing companies on the basis of stockturn is a risky business. The 56 companies listed here are a mix of heavyside, lightside, civils, heating and plumbing, decorating and so on. They don’t all run on the same business model. And of course the past few years have seen massive fluctuations in both supply and demand. Taking all that into account, stockturn is nevertheless a valuable indicator of a company’s overall operating efficiency. And what emerges clearly from this table is that big isn’t necessarily beautiful. Market leader TP is ranked only 38 on stockturn. Stark/Saint Gobain, number 2 on sales, is number 24 on stockturn; Wolseley 3 and 35; Highbourne 4 and 41, and Grafton 5 and 25. At the opposite extreme, look at Browns: ranked only 47th on sales, but number 1 on stockturn; or James Burrell (25 and 5), Beatsons (51 and 3), and Parkers (24 and 4). The real standouts, though, are the companies which manage to achieve a high ranking in both tables: MKM (6 on turnover, 10 on stockturn), Lords (9 and 13), Brewer (13 and 14) and EH Smith (15 and 9).
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