Fiona Russell-Horne

Group Managing Editor across the BMJ portfolio.

Travis Perkins delivers strong platform for growth

Timbers Builders Merchant Truck

The UK’s largest builders merchant group, Travis Perkins, saw revenue rise by 24% from £3.69bn to £4.58bn for the full year ended December 31 2021. The rise was 14.4% ahead of 2019. The merchant group’s final year results, released this morning (March 1), also showed adjusted operating profit of £353m …

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Lords moves further north with purchase of AW Lumb

A.W. Lumb

Builders merchant group Lords has extended its reach northwards with the acquisition of independent builders merchant A W Lumb. The total consideration is £23.1 million, payable in cash, consisting of £19.5 million due on completion and deferred consideration of £3.6 million payable in equal annual instalments over the next five …

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City Plumbing develops logistics partnership with GXO

City Plumbing, part of the Highbourne Group, is to outsource operations at its national distribution hub to GXO, the world’s largest pure-play contract logistics provider. Expected to come into effect from June 2022, the strategic partnership with GXO Logistics will see GXO lead all warehousing and logistics operations at City …

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Kent Blaxill adds branch in Kettering

Kent Blaxill Kettering Opening 17th February 2022 copy

Independent merchant Kent Blaxill’s opened a new decorating centre in Kettering on February 17th, 2022.  Managing Director James Park said, “We looked for a suitable location for some time so it’s great to see our 3,000 sq ft location at Vista Park, on the Telford Way Industrial Estate now open. …

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Grafton sees record performance in ‘transformational year’

selco 1

International building materials distributor and DIY retailer Grafton Group plc has posted a 25% increase in revenue and a 68% increase in operating profit for the year ended 31 December 2021. Revenue across the group was £2.1bn, with operating profits at £288.0m Following the sale of the Group’s Traditional Merchanting …

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Travis Perkins launches real-time nationwide delivery tracking system

DSC06220 copy low res

 Builders merchant group Travis Perkins has launched a nationwide, real time delivery tracking and management system for customers. The service means customers will know exactly when to expect their local branch delivery and will receive text message notifications on the day of delivery with a named two-hour timeslot, live delivery …

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Top flight sports speaker to appear at European Builders Merchants Conference

michael cauldfield

Michael Caulfield Msc, one of the UK’s leading sports psychologists, takes the Keynote Speaker slot at UFEMAT’s European Builders Merchants Conference, taking place in London at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium from 28-30 April 2022. Before training as a performance psychologist, Caulfield was Chief Executive of the Professional Jockeys’ Association and he …

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The Pallett LOOP adds more companies

Green pallets

Marshalls, SISK, Countryside, Tobermore and the Wolseley Group are among the latest organisations join the Pallett LOOP system, which works to  reduce the consumption of single-use pallets and switch the sector to a distribution model founded on the principles of recover, repair and reuse. Launched in November, The Pallet LOOP …

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All a bit of a mess

Me edit pic for web

A fool thinks himself to be wise, But a wise man knows himself to be a fool As they (probably don’t) say; when one door closes, another will open and smack you straight in the face. Just when we think we have got ourselves back to, if not normality, then …

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