Executive Report:

Increasing Supply

Supply UK is embarking on the second phase of its expansion programme, which sees it pushing towards national coverage. Alan Guthrie reports from the company’s Manchester headquarters.

When we spoke to Supply UK Managing Director, Richard Coffey, in our October issue, he was confident of “establishing six more outlets quickly” to complete Phase 1 of the company’s development. As you read this, that goal will not just have been completed, but exceeded, since seven will have been created. “In December, we opened branches in Oldham, Hereford and Stockport,” states Richard, “with locations opening in January in Swansea, Cardiff, Gloucester and in London to serve Olympic Games development; our depot, located on Marshgate Lane, Stratford, is on the transport route into the site designated by the London Transport Authority. This gives us 26 depots from Preston down to Kent. We are also establishing more on-site operations.”

The Oldham opening came about quickly. “We were about to sign a lease on premises, when the local business, Ash Tool Hire, came up for sale and we completed the deal in less than a month. This further strengthens our Greater Manchester heartland. The premises are ideally located and Ash has built a significant customer base. The new Hereford outlet is what we are calling a ‘Super Depot’. It occupies 14,000ft2 and a new mezzanine floor will increase that to 20,000ft2. It can serve customers over a very large area, and we will introduce dedicated portable toilet hire and lifting equipment hire operations at this depot, as well as the first offering of heavier equipment, like high-lift dumpers and ‘micro’ and mini diggers. We will roll out similar operations at other sites and more Super Depots, where appropriate. We will also expand our Survey & Laser operation, which currently has four branches, and increase its fleet to include more safety equipment.”

These future openings represent Phase 2 of the growth programme, a push towards national coverage. “By the end of the second phase, in three years’ time, Supply UK will have 40-45 depots,” contends Richard Coffey. “From our Greater Manchester base we have already expanded along the M6, M5 and M1 corridors and we are identifying other important areas to establish ourselves in, such as Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow and the south coast of England. With the right locations, this number of outlets will allow us to cover the vast majority of the country. We do not need hundreds of branches, especially if we can create Super Depots serving the larger regions.”

In November, Chris Sims, formerly Finance Director at Brandon Hire, joined the senior management team in a consultancy role, working alongside Richard Coffey, Operations Director Scott Mulley and Financial Director Chris Haycocks. “This shows the quality of people we can attract. I have known Chris Sims for several years, and he is excited by Supply UK’s potential. In many ways it is similar to Brandon’s initial growth phase, when it began to develop from being a regional player to a national one.”

The company has allocated significant resources for Phase 2, and plans to spend £8m-£10m on equipment for its growing fleet over the next three years. “We are streamlining our supplier database to obtain equipment from fewer sources,” says Richard Coffey. “We have established some excellent supplier relationships, and by reducing our supplier list it means we will be spending more with those we deal with.

“We have also developed our web site operation considerably as part of our environmental commitment to reduce paper transactions. Customers can now make enquiries, place orders and off-hire items over the internet, as well as ordering consumables, PPE, clothing and general sales items, all of which can be charged for or invoiced electronically. We will also offer clients a choice of catalogue format, to further reduce paper usage, and are producing an initial run of 10,000 catalogues on CD-Rom. Our developments and growth will certainly not slacken in future, and we will have further significant developments to announce around Easter.” •

W www.supplyuk.co.uk

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