MERCHANT FOCUS: JOHN NICHOLLS
NICHOLLS I
t’s a question that has beset several family- owned companies over the years. What do you do if one major shareholder wants to sell-up and cash out, and the other wants to carry on with the business? In the case of John Nicholls, the Oxfordshire-based independent, the answer is to do both.
Founded in 1965 by late chairman John Nicholls, the group has grown significantly over the years from one branch in Banbury to over 25 sites covering Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, and Dorset. Four of the branches were heavyside focussed, the rest were plumbing and heating specialists with showroom businesses. A couple of years ago,
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one of the main shareholders, Phillip Nicholls, decided, like so many independents before him, that he wanted to retire, and fund that retirement by taking selling the company and taking his equity out. However, his brother Andrew, the other major shareholder, wasn’t ready to for that. “I’m still passionate about this business. I didn’t want to retire, as I knew there was so much further we could still take the company,” he says. The solution was for John Nicholls to sell its four heavyside branches and distribution centre to MKM. This then allowed the financing of a management buy-out of the remaining plumbing and heating, and lightside showroom branches.
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net August 2023
MKM has bought the following branches – Banbury: Building, and Kitchen and Bathroom Showroom, Bicester: Building, Plumbing & Heating, and the Kitchen and Bathroom Showroom, Kidlington: Building, Rugby: Building and Plumbing & Heating, as well as the distribution centre at Long Hanborough. The branches will be known as MKM Banbury, MKM Bicester, MKM Rugby, MKM
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