The Year Ahead
BMJ
BUILDERS MERCHANTS JOURNAL
With a little help from my friends
Andrews Building Supplies opened its second branch this year, in Huntingdon, and much of it was with the help and support of NBG as managing director Natasha Rose tells Fiona Russell-Horne.
“I
have been surprised that this year we have defied all expectations in terms of business.
After the political disaster that was 2016 and the first part of 2017, I thought that surely we can’t not wobble. However, I’d already set the plans in motion to invest in a new branch, so I felt we just had to keep going with it. As it turned out, we have had our best year ever: turnover is up dramatically and gross margins are up. It’s
surprised me, especially in the really competitive market that is Peterborough. “We have even managed to pay for our Huntingdon branch on the back of our Peterborough branch which is amazing. That’s a really nice position to begin 2018 with, because it means we are starting with no borrowing. The really great thing about being a Porsche rather than a tank – a little organisation rather than a big one – is that you can
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change direction really quickly, change what you are doing and you can swap people around. “I think even though we have the D-Day, if you like, of March 31st 2019 when Brexit actually happens looming, people will still want to carry on living their lives, having their families. They will still want to make their houses bigger, to take advantage of the low interest rates and, right now, they seem to be thinking that they will worry about March 2019 when it gets here. That’s partly why I am hopeful that 2018 is going to be OK. Life still happens, whatever is going on economically, and I think because we are able to offer a range of materials and price points, we will be benefitting from that. “Take our landscaping
centre for example. We can sell customers something for £300 or something for £3000. So, if people want a refresh rather than a big spend, or want to refurbish before they move on, then they can do it in a low cost way. That’s the wonderful thing about being an independent and being able to have a huge stock holding if you so choose – it worries me sometimes how much stock we keep, but it does mean that we can offer from the most budget value stone right up to the stuff they lay in Trafalgar Square and everything in between. No matter who it is that walks through the door they can find something that they want. “We chose Huntingdon as the site for our second branch because it opens up more of
Bigger, Bolder, BetterJanuary 2018 BMJ
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