IN PERSON: MARK HUGHES
A NEW HAND ON THE TILLER
Mark Hughes has taken over as managing director of independent builders’ merchant buying group NBG. Fiona Russell Horne fires a few questions at him to set the scene.
Q: How did you get started in the industry?
Like many people, I just fell into the sector. I joined this industry when I was 16 because there was a factory that made plastic pipes and fittings two miles from where I lived. I was doing A Levels at school, but wasn’t really that engaged with them, so I got a job as a management trainee at this factory, and the next thing I knew I was working there, going to college once a week, and making plastic pipes and fittings.
I’ve never been particularly practical, whether it’s mechanics or DIY - I’m just not that guy, so when a job in the sales operation came up, I said I’s love to have a go at that. Right from the first day I started in sales I loved it. I was a rep in Scotland, with a company car, a big brick of a mobile phone, and I was getting paid to drive around and talk to people. I absolutely loved it.
Q: Have you always been on the manufacturing side of the sector? I may have started out there, but I’ve worked on both sides. Most recently I was working at Nobia, probably known better as Magnet, where I was managing director of the Magnet Contracts Division, and I worked for Polypipe for many years, but I have also been on the merchanting side, working for a Saint Gobain business Ashworth Frazer. It’s since been demerged and Ashworth, the mechanical services side was sold off, with Frazer, of course, now part of Jewson’s civils offering as JewsonCivilsFrazer. So I’ve seen the sector from both angles.
Q: What attracted you to the NBG role? I’d left Nobia, and was thinking about my next move. Over the years I’ve built up a good relationship with a lot of people, many of them at NBG. When I heard that Nick Oates was planning to retire, I wrote to NBG’s chairman, David Szymanski, and asked that,
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“ I’ve always had a very strong
relationship with a lot of the people in the merchants, so it was kind of familiar territory.”
when the process started, I be considered for the role.
I’d always had a very good relationship with NBG Partners over quite a long time. I think that the most successful deals I’ve done have been with NBG. I’ve always had a very strong relationship with a lot of the people in the merchants, so it was kind of familiar territory. I always admired the way that NBG conducted themselves as a buying group. I also felt that my relationships with other suppliers have been good, too, so I thought, I hoped, that what I could bring to the table would be a broad view, from both sides. That maybe I could offer something quite different. I believe this role will be a really good balance of something that is really interesting, new in a lot of ways, but also familiar in other ways, as I already know so many of the people, both Partners and suppliers.
Q: What are your plans for the role? It is a little early for me to have any firm views but as a wonderful old boss of mine, John Fairhurst, used to say, ‘we don’t need a revolution, we want evolution’. I’ve worked in businesses where I’ve had to turn them around, rescue them if you like, but clearly NBG is a great business, in a really good place, and I’ve joined an organisation that was already very well run. That was also what
appealed to me about the role, that it I could come in and make a contribution from a position of strength.
Q: Lots of people in this industry have good relationships. What is it about yours that you think will make the difference at NBG?
I’d like to think that, because I can see things from both sides of the fence, I have a broader perspective and can see the bigger picture more clearly. I understand what it’s like to be a merchant, and I also understand, very well, what it’s like to be a manufacturer. So I think I think I can bring some balance to that perspective. I’ve got a lot of experience of what good looks like. I’ve worked for some great organisations and, hopefully the lessons learned from those organisations will give me a kind of an advantage.
I still have time to understand the business
in more detail, to get really under the skin of it, and then I’ll come up with some recommendations to discuss with the board. Buying Groups are a mechanism for independent merchants to organise themselves into a way that allows them to compete with the larger national chains. As the market has evolved, so have the
groups, and they all have their different qualities and strengths. I think one of NBG’s is the its sense of democracy and community. It really does operate as a network of Partners, and, with one member: one vote, it’s really democratic. That is backed up with very, very strong systems and processes, making it a really strong proposition for existing Partners and potential new Partners. So it’s a pretty good mix, and I’m really looking forward to it all. BMJ
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net July 2024
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