Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
Around 1200 members and suppliers of builders merchant buying group NMBS gathered together on Saturday night for their annual dinner dance, raising £7500 for charity in the process.
Industry charity the Rainy Day Trust benefited from a silent auction of items ranging from a bespoke dress-making service to a signed Eric Cantona Manchester United FC football shirt. There was also an envelope on each table for donations.
NMBS chairman Tim Allen said: “In 2012 NMBS showed positive growth of approximately 8%. We will see close to £540m of turnover in what some of our members and suppliers are saying is still a fairly flat market. We have been working hard with all our members to grow our share of their business and of their purchasing spend.
“We are passionate about independent merchants. Our I Love Independents initiative underlines our continued commitment to the independent sector and to their core values.”
Highlights of the year, Allen continued, have included the move in January to new purpose-built premises on the edge of the M1 and, the conference in June which he describes as “an outstanding success”.
“We are pleased that we have put the all-industry conference back on the calendar as an annual event. Our exhibition was another outstanding success in 2012 and we are looking forward to 2013 – our 50th year- when we can make it bigger and better than ever.”
Allen finished his speech by thanking various people for their support: “A special thank you must go to all of our sponsoring suppliers, for without their generous support this event would not be possible. Thanks must also go to the NMBS Management Board and Commodity Committees who help NMBS to build on our strength of electronic trading, low overhead costs and delivering extra rewards to members in the form of discounts and rebates.”
He finished by thanking the members for their tremendous support and for driving the growth in turnover.
Entertainment for the night was provided by Alexandra Burke, the 2008 Winner of the TV show X-Factor, The Siren String Quartet and House Band Fully Funktional.
