This year’s NMBS Dinner Dance event took place on 31st October 2015 in the prestigious surroundings of the Grosvenor House Hotel in Mayfair, London. 1,000 guests attended, representing a broad spectrum of NMBS’ 1,000 plus strong merchant membership and its network of over 600 building industry suppliers.
The evening commenced with a speech from Chris Hayward, NMBS’ Managing Director, who gave an update on the buying society’s current performance which includes a projected turnover for 2015 of £1.4bn – an increase of 8% on last year.
Chris also explained how NMBS remains committed to ‘Strengthening Independents’ by providing “the very best trading platform for building industry suppliers to engage with its merchant members”. Combined, these members represent 40% of the total merchant market place and are responsible for over £6.5Bn in sales every year.
In addition, Chris spoke about NMBS’ presidency of Euro-mat, a cooperative organisation made up of numerous different European buying groups, before welcoming special guest Gert Raddemaker, MD of Euro-mat.
Following Chris’s welcoming address, guests were able to enjoy fine dining, first class networking opportunities and a variety of entertainment. Acts for the evening included dance troupe, Flashmob; tribute band, the Backbeat Beatles; X Factor finalists, Only the Young and Fully Funktional who performed as the house band for the evening.
The evening also offered guests the chance to win a number of prizes courtesy of various supplier sponsored competitions and a charity prize drawer. This charity prize draw, in addition to table donations on the night, successfully raised over £5,000 each for NMBS’ two chosen charities, The Rainy Day Trust and CRASH.
Concluding, Chris Hayward said: “Every year the NMBS Dinner Dance continues to surpass expectation and the 2015 event was no exception. I would like to thank all those who attended for their support and particularly all of our sponsoring suppliers who helped to make the evening possible.”
