BMF expands into the Irish market

Builders Merchants trade association the Builders Merchants Federation has joined forces with Irish independent buying group, Allied Merchants Buying Association (AMBA).

Formed in 2011 it has 17 members with 85 stores nationwide. Members are: Walsh Wholesale Ltd, Stakelums, NC Paint & Decor, Ganleys Hardware, MD O’Shea & Sons, McDaids Bathroom Plumbing & Tiles, Joyces & Sons (Headford) Ltd, Morris’s DIY, Hurst Summerhill Mayo & Company Ltd, Limerick Paint Supplies,  HPC Group Drinagh Co-op Donegal Plumbing & Heating Supplies Dairygold Co-Operative Society Ltd, PJ Nolan, Barryroe Co-operative and Grahams of Monaghan.
 

The association states that is a progressive group whose purpose is to: “Strengthen the buying power of members whilst not losing the entrepreneurial spirit of the independent market. Members keep control of their business with the support of a member focused group created to improve profitability through structured purchasing. By organising together as a single group, we are in a stronger position to negotiate with suppliers of goods and services on behalf of members. We are dedicated to improving members profitability at the lowest possible cost to members and this is achieved by securing the best prices and terms on selected product categories common to our members, and to make easily accessible to our members, the very best deals on products on the Irish market.”

The move is the first alliance that the BMF has made outside of its UK heartland and represents a further step in ensuring it represents the interests of all its members going forward.
 

Welcoming AMBA members, John Newcomb, BMF CEO said: “While the BMF has always had the ability within its constitution to extend its reach into Ireland, strategically the impetus to join had to come from Irish merchants. When AMBA made their request, we were delighted to respond and look forward to providing our full range of training and support services to their members. We are very excited at the prospect of developing our alliance and extending our core membership benefits to AMBA’s members.”   

Keith Giblin, AMBA CEO explained why AMBA has joined the BMF:  “AMBA’s fundamental purpose is as a low cost, highly professional group with strategically placed members working with partner suppliers. Our Buying Group has grown rapidly since its inception, successfully ensuring we defend and grow our members’ competitive position, profitability and market share by working together. We are continually focussed on adding further value to our members and an alliance with the BMF offers numerous opportunities to enhance our members’ businesses. Foremost amongst these is the BMF’s approach to recruitment, which is helping to attract and develop talented people within the merchant industry.”   

Brexit is another factor in AMBA’s desire to create a strong link with the BMF as an international trade association.   

Dennis O’Connor, AMBA Chairman said: “We have three aims for our ongoing relationship with the BMF: alliance, recruitment and awareness. Our market is somewhat reliant on the UK and with the countdown to Brexit well underway it is essential to draw closer to a Federation that represents merchants and building materials suppliers operating in the UK in order to develop a greater awareness and understanding of the issues on both sides.”   

Peter Hindle MBE, BMF Chairman added: “Many building materials producers administer the UK and Ireland as one commercial region and it is likely that this will continue beyond Brexit. It is strategically important for the BMF to continue to develop its links with European trade bodies such as UFEMAT and FEST in order to support existing members in the UK as well as our latest members in Ireland. I look forward to welcoming Allied Merchants Buying Association into membership.”