COMMENT
Looking for the green shoots
T
his time last year, the BMJ League Tables showed the aftermath of the lockdown- fuelled mini-boom. Every company we included in the top 50 or so showed an increase in the year end figures on the previous one. Price inflation had something to do with the rise in basic turnover numbers as well, but a big chunk of the cause was the result of cooping people up at home with boring patios, tired home decor and refurbishment jobs that could no longer be put off and replaced with a long-haul holiday.
That was then. What we are seeing in this year’s League Tables is what happened after all that desire - and ability - to spend had been exhausted. The aftermath of the aftermath if you like. There aren’t many increases, and those there are, would seem to be the by-product of expansion. Not in every case, but many. Inflation also had something to do with it, the spiralling energy costs, the war In Ukraine, the uncertainty caused by three Prime Ministers in four months, the rocketing interest rates caused by the Truss/Kwateng fiscal experiment, the push to net zero and the market meddling that is supposed to make that happen... I’m usually a fairly positive person and I do always try to find reasons for the glass to be half-full. In fact, my Pollyanna-tendency to look on the bright side is, I’m told, really annoying at times. Even so, I might struggle this year. We got through 2024 with the mantra that this year would be better, that it had to be, for a whole raft of reasons from pent-up infrastructure spending being released, to the hope that the new Government would make good on its manifesto planning promises.
The rises to Employers National Insurance Contributions, coupled with those to the
CONTACTS Builders Merchants Journal
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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
wmcgill@datateam.co.uk
Production Controller: Nic Mandeville
minimum wage are going to hit employers hard. By extension, that’s also going to hit employees hard too. On the one hand employers, in this and other industries, may well hesitate before taking on more staff, or replacing those who leave. On the other hand, while a pay-rise is usually always welcome, the need to maintain a pay gap between those towards the bottom of the ladder and those further up means more employees are likely to move into higher tax brackets – fiscal drag in action.
All this will probably have the effect of dampening confidence to spend, certainly from the householder point of view. Lack of consumer confidence is never a good thing for this sector. Still – Pollyanna alert – merchanting is nothing if not resourceful and resilient though. In the case of the independents, also pretty agile at work-arounds when things are tough. Many of them have a flexibility that larger groups, whether plcs or private equity funded, because of their very nature, just don’t. An ability to make decisions and take advantage of market opportunities when they present themselves. The sale of three BPS branches to Tippers, which will allow the former to really concentrate on plans for the Leamington Spa branch, for example, and that of Drakes to Thompson & Leigh. As Ian Thompson put it: “preventing this great company from vanishing altogether”.
Things are constantly changing in this business, even in the time it’s taken me to write this piece. It’s still a great industry to be in, as long as we can tighten the belts, work together and keep pushing through. The sunlit uplands are out there somewhere. BMJ
Fiona Russell-Horne Group Managing Editor - BMJ
“
The life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands.
Winston Churchill ” CONTENTS
4 Newsround What’s happening this month
7 People Who’s moved where and 10 Minutes With…
8 Meet the Future Our latest Rising Star
10 Business Helpdesk How the IOBM is opening up the industry to new entrants
11 Heating
A rewnewable partnership comes under the spotlight
12 Viewpoint
Our regular and guest columnists 14 Merchant Focus
A new merchant, that’s also an old merchant
16 BMJ League Tables 2025 The annual snapshot of who sits where in the pecking order – at the moment – in the constantly evolving merchant sector
19 Workwear
What’s hot and happening – and, more importantly, profitable – in the world of gear you wear to work
ADVERTISING
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Media Account Executive Morgan Borthwick-Hunter mborthwick-hunter@datateam.
co.uk
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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
22 Transport and Materials Handling
Innovations in logistics management 26 Sustainability
From heat pumps to a new recycling initiative
30 BMF Industry Voice News and views from the BMF
32 Product News The latest launches
38 And Finally News and our Prize Crossword
January 2025
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net 3
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