NEWS EXTRA
We would honour the terms we agreed. If that meant the rebate was paid at the end of the year then that was when it was paid. At a time when there was a lot of uncertainty, we felt it was important that we did that. It might not have been the most hard- nosed of commercial decisions, but it was what we all stood for as businesses. In some cases, we restructured agreements to aid our suppliers and we were able to do that precisely because we had built up those strong business relationships,” he said.
Like every buying group, the membership has changed, and Fortis has lost some members through acquisition by other companies, but Berry said that, equally, members have expanded and grown, both organically and by acquisition.
In 2018 the sell-out turnover of Fortis members was £1.6bn, by 2021, that had grown to £2.1bn, despite the takeovers, a situation that Berry described as “putting Fortis in a very good place in terms of where we are at”. The Fortis structure is
People on the Board all walk out of the meetings with lots of work to do, everyone is very
active and hardworking”
deliberately kept tight, and all members play their parts. That includes the Executive Board, made up of Berry as chairman, who oversees operations. Athol Manning, is finance director, Jamie Atkinson, chairman of Building & Timber, Paul Bence, chairman of Plumbing and Heating and Showrooms, while Simon Blaxill takes charge of Projects and Membership Representation. Mark Davies also sits on the Executive Board and his remit is Laison with NMBS. “It’s a pretty slim structure,” Berry said. “People on the Board all walk out of the meetings with lots of work to do, everyone is very active and hardworking.” One of the aims for the group moving forward is to implement a Product Information Management tool to consolidate, centrally
FORTIS SUPPLIER AWARD WINNERS 2021
During the 2022 Building and Timber Conference, Fortis presented Supplier of the Year Awards in its various categories. The awards were decided by the category teams.
• Bricks & Blocks: Wienerberger • Insulation & Plasterboard: Isover,
• Landscaping & Cement: Pavestone, • Roofing: Cure - It (GB), • Joinery & Flooring: Keylite
• Timber & Sheet Materials: International Plywood
• Decorating & Chemicals: Sika Everbuild, 12
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net August 2021
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net June 2022
• Tools, Clothing & Ironmongery TimCo, • Civils & Groundworks Keystone,
• Supplier Account Manager Andy Fletcher,
• Building & Timber Supplier of the Year 2021 TimCo,
manage and improve product data with the aim of creating a consistency across all supplier data and export it to all the Fortis members.
“All our ERP system, our web trading, all our systems across the group and the industry all improved so much duplication of data,” Berry added. “All merchants are replicating so much data, right across the industry, including suppliers as well, all replicating so much work. It really makes us inefficient as an industry in this particular respect. We are investigating how best to move forward with this, but it has to happen. We really wanted to say to suppliers to get their sales people involved in this conversation, get the people in the back office engaged with it because it’s the way we need things to move.”
As well as moving forward with a PIM tool development, the group sees there are great opportunities from re-focussing on what members and suppliers want and need from Fortis. “We need to review our deal structures, and ask ourselves if they are right for our current market, and we want to make sure we are able to form more long-term supplier partnerships.” BMJ
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