MERCHANT FOCUS: JOHN NICHOLLS
It’s across all the levels too, he explains, from every part of the business. “We have some branch managers doing apprenticeships as well. And it goes across the age groups, which is great. That’s really been driven by our HR manager, who’s done a great job and pushed them forward. It’s all about trying to get people in the business that we can, as cliched as this sounds, develop for the future. That’s a real issue for the moment within the industry.”
Apprentice development The drive towards apprenticeships will continue, England confirms. “We’ve got good people in the business, and we are very fortunate. Our staff turnover is really very low. The initial idea of an apprenticeship can be daunting for some, so to get seven out of 125 people is pretty good going. They were all people who were in the business, and, to be honest I always look on the Apprenticeship levy as a bit of a tax, so we might as well use it. We want to make the most of it to help develop our company and our people for the future.”
For the first time last year, the company conducted an employee survey, just to try to get a bit of a feel about how employees felt about the business and the future, post-MBO. England says that, although most leadership teams like to think that they know what’s going on in their organisations, and that their people are happy, it’s always good to ask the questions. “You always find out that there are some people who aren’t as happy as you thought they were; on the positive side, there are always lots of good initiatives that come out from an exercise like this. It can help to drive some of your thought process on what is needed to move on, and where the challenges will be coming from.”
He says that there has definitely been more engagement from the staff as a result, which is
what the process was about, as he admits that the whole sale and MBO process was hard for everyone involved all through the company. John Nicholls’ turnover now is just shy of £40m. England says: “We said to ourselves at the start, that what we needed to do was keep our margins going, keep to our numbers. We’ve pretty much done that, which is great, and looking around and seeing some of the difficulties that others are having due to the tough market. It’s going to be another challenging and quite tough year. We shouldn’t kid ourselves.
“The National Insurance and National Living Wage changes in the Budget were a blow, because that money has to be found somewhere, and it’s not just lying around. We want to develop and grow our business. If we have to find £250,000 extra to cover that, then we’re talking the sort of money I could spend on opening a branch, and getting it up and running. People’s expectations about what’s going to happen have slowed up a bit because of the Budget. “
May 2025
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net
One of the other things that company has done is to launch a reward scheme within the J&Bs business. There has been a high-profile scheme running in the Nicholls branches for years, and England says it works really well. “This one is a bit more simple to administer, and take part in, as it’s all based on spending levels.” This year will also see the company moving its central support office to smaller premises to take account of the fact that, having sold a chunk of the business, it didn’t need quite the size of premises it once did. “It’s not really the best use of space and people feel they are rattling around a bit, and this will improve efficiencies and collaboration as they’ll be in closer proximity. That’s happening this Summer,” he says.
It means June will be busy, with the new branch opening in July as well, and England says that 2026 will see the company continue to look around at expansion. “We’ll be looking at somewhere within touching distance of our heartland. We aren’t going to be branching out to the North West or East Anglia. It will be about finding an opportunity, and then, if it’s right going for it, ensuring that we have the management team, and the consistency in place. “That’s important whether you are buying an established business or setting up a new branch, keeping a consistent message to customer, and suppliers, across all your branches. It’s what we have always aimed to do and will continue to do.” BMJ
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