COMMENT
A mad, mad, mad world
A
nd, just like that, it seems, we are at the final BMJ edition of the year, the printed version anyway. We will continue to publish the newsletter until the week before Christmas, and then take a tiny break until the second week of January. Apart from the actual date, the wintery weather, the sparkly lights in the shops and Christmas songs on the radio, it feels as though we shouldn’t really be in December yet. Once again, the year has whizzed by, and I seem to have failed to achieve half the things I set out to get done this year. And we seem to be in a different place to the one we thought we would be in this time last year.
We knew at the beginning of the year that there would be a General Election in 2024, and we knew, such is the nature of these things, that the incumbent Government would probably get voted out. In times of high inflation, the incumbents always lose. See also USA, France, Italy, Brazil, Belgium, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Argentina. We were expecting the Budget to be a bit nasty. Labour has, all the time I’ve been interested in politics, been the party of high taxation. Also high spend, but more on that a bit later. We weren’t expecting it to hit quite as hard, in quite the places it did. That Employers NI rise, for example, was a sucker punch in the solar plexus of most industries. Coupled with the rise to the Minimum Wage, it’s putting costs on the bottom line of every single business in this sector, before the doors are even opened on a Monday. What might the implications be of this? Belt tightening, for sure, and recruitment could take a hit. I heard someone the other day saying they would be looking at taking on more freelance
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EDITORIAL
Group Managing Editor: Fiona Russell Horne 01622 699101 07721 841382
frussell-horne@datateam.co.uk
Assistant editor Will McGill 01622 699185
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Production Controller: Nic Mandeville
contractors rather than filling full-time roles. Investment, too. How many acquisitions might be put on hold while companies decide to hang onto the pennies a little longer, just in case? Acquisitions aren’t always about selling up and going to sit under a palm tree, or perfecting your swing on the fairways, of course. Sometimes they are a necessity. Could we see some more business failures coming through because the apetitie for buying has waned slightly, thanks to Mrs Reeves over-enthusiastic use of the Treasury Casio? Fingers crossed no, but who knows? The world has a habit of scuppering the best laid plans, although the resilience of this sector is pretty amazing considering the things that has been thrown at us in the past five years. Covid, Ukraine, the fighting round the Red Sea, things kicking off in the Middle East. All things that have had implications for supply, demand, output and energy costs.
The wider world continues to throw some spanners in. It’s too early to even guess what the longer-term consequences of events in Syria will be. The fall of Assad has as much to do with the growing weakness of Iran, and the Israeli dismantling of Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Russia’s continued over-stretching itself with the war in Ukraine, as it does with the strength of the rebel alliance. Power abhors a vacuum though, and what happens next in Syria is anyone’s guess. I’m reminded at times like this of the fact that the old Chinese saying – may you live in interesting times – is more of a curse than a wish. Merry Christmas, Seasons’ Felicitations: I’m off for a mince pie and some mulled wine. BMJ
Fiona Russell-Horne Group Managing Editor - BMJ
“
Until I know this sure uncertainty, I’ll entertain the offered fallacy.
William Shakespeare CONTENTS
4 Newsround What’s happening this month
8 News Extra
A round up of what happened at this year’s IOBM Conference
10 People Who’s moved where and 10 Minutes With…
11 Meet the Future Our latest Rising Star
12 Business Helpdesk Looking at the importance having the right representation
14 Viewpoint
Our regular and guest columnists 18 Merchant Focus
Sovini Trade Supplies has seen substantial growth
20 Instantor
Instantor invites BMJ to its Dublin HQ 22 IT
The latest IT news
24 Timber Fencing and figures
27 Sealants & Adhesives Why are roller fillers so popular? 28 Ironmongery
Learn about the importance of working with your suppliers
29 CCP
How CCPI assessment drives industry compliance
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Publisher: Paul Ryder
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, electronic or mechanical including photo-copying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written consent of the publisher. The title Builders Merchants Journal is registered at Stationers’ Hall. Suppliers have contributed towards production costs of some photographs in this issue.
CIRCULATION
ABC audited average circulation
July 2018-June 2019: 7,801 SUBSCRIPTIONS
UK 1 year: £97 UK, 2 years: £164 Outside UK: one year £113/$204; two years: £196/$353
30 BMF Industry Voice News and views from the BMF
32 K Rend K Rend launches a new render product
33 Products of the Year Some of the top products launched this year
36 Product news The latest launches
38 And Finally News and our Prize Crossword
December 2024
www.buildersmerchantsjournal. 3 ”
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