MERCHANT FOCUS: THOMPSON & LEIGH
IF YOU (RE)BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME
Acquiring a competitor business that’s on its uppers is a gamble. But it can pay off if you go back to basics and get those right. Fiona Russell-Horne meets a south-east merchant doing just that.
O
nce upon a time, there were two independent plumbers merchant businesses in Kent. One, Thompson & Leigh, was based in and around North Kent - Dartford and Crayford, to be exact. The other, Drakes, was further south, with branches stretching from Gillingham to Tunbridge Wells, and across the Sussex border to Uckfield and East Grinstead. Last year, Thompson & Leigh bought Drakes, and the expanded business now has 11 branches consisting of nine trade counters, seven of which have bathroom showrooms, and two 4000sq foot dedicated bathroom showrooms, one in Crayford, and one in Bexleyheath, called Bexleyheath Bathroom. It wasn’t as easy as that, of course. As Thompson & Leigh director Ian Thompson, who runs the company with his brother David, explains that Drakes, for one reason and another, was heading for administration. “We acquired Drakes in a pre-pack administration deal, because that was the best way to keep the trade counters trading. It was a way of safeguarding the employees’ jobs, and ensuring that cash kept flowing,” he says. “Keeping the cash coming meant we could ensure that suppliers were paid, as well.” Both Thompson & Leigh and Drakes were members of the Fortis buying group, which is how the conversation, and, eventually, the acquisition, came about. “Ultimately, Drakes was an independent business, with a lot of pedigree and it had done very, very well. We wanted to make sure that it stayed as an independent, if we could,” Thompson says. Over the last year, there has been gradual integration of the two together, and a rebranding of the branches. Thompson says the former Drakes branches saw increases of around 33% January on January. “That’s the first month we were able to make real comparisons with, so we’re pleased at the direction things are going. We are working out way through the changes to the branches.
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“We aren’t funded by venture capital or private equity, we do it ourselves, so what we do, we have to make sure we do at a pace that we can manage.”
Obviously, we aren’t funded by venture capital or private equity, we do it ourselves, so what we do, we have to make sure we do at a pace that we can manage.”
So far, the company has moved the Whitstable branch into a larger unit and refurbished those at Sevenoaks and Ashford. Thompson says he’s loved seeing the turnaround on the back of the investment, as branches where big customers had walked away are starting to see them return. “We believed that with the correct stock profile, the customer base would start to rebuild. The months leading up to the acquisition, when it was clear that things were heading in that direction, meant stockholding was down. That has a knock-on effect on customer service. If you don’t have the stock, you can’t give people what they want, when they need it, and eventually they go and find a company that can. So, we’ve changed the stock profile
and made sure that the right products are there in depth. Which means we’ve been able to offer the customer service that they expect from an independent.”
The Ashford branch, he adds, is now trading around 65% up on last year. “The staff keep sending me their figures via WhatsApp because they’re so pleased with what’s happening. That’s great, because it shows that the business is there, that it was always there, but we’d just forgotten how to get at it. That feeling of confidence among at the staff translates to the customers,” he says. “We want to run each branch autonomously around the manager, around the staff and let them see the benefits. Give them the freedom to do the jobs they’re brought in to do, and not feel that they have me or David over their shoulder all the time. Branches need the freedom to trade.”
At the time of the acquisition, both
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net March 2026
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