In the December 2019 edition, PBM editor Paul Davies looked ahead to the forthcoming election and reflected on a challenging year for the merchant sector.
We’re into the final stretch of 2019 and what a year it has been. Politically, a change of Prime Minister in the summer still didn’t ‘Get Brexit Done’, and the country now faces a General Election later this month. This inertia is clearly impacting the economy in general and the construction industry in particular. For example, the latest data from the BMBI outlines that the merchant sector has shown negative growth for a second successive quarter.
It has also been a year in which climate change has roared up the agenda — the words of Greta Thunberg and the actions of Extinction Rebellion have kept the environmental issue firmly in the headlines, whilst impact has been felt in dramatic fashion in recent weeks (once again) with serious flooding affecting great swathes of the country.
To bring the subject especially close to home, Browns Builders Merchants’ site in Chequers Road in Derby, close to the A52, was left devastated by flood water of up to five feet in November. The site had only been open for a year, and served as the merchant’s head office, with a trade counter, warehouse and office space.
Speaking to Derbyshire Live, Marketing Manager Edd Parlato said: “None of the forklifts which were in our warehouse work, and we don’t know if the lorries are going to be recoverable. Then you’ve got computers, phones and the cost of repairing the infrastructure, like the carpets and flooring — it is hard to put a number on it, but we’re probably looking at upwards of a quarter of a million just in stock damages.”
We send all at Browns our best wishes for the clean-up operation.
When factoring in all of the wider implications, it is impossible to argue with the words of BMF CEO John Newcomb who said in relation to the BMBI report: “Our industry is directly affected by political, economic and actual climate, and we have seen adverse conditions in all three for some time. With the final quarter of this year dominated by a general election, I suspect we will have to wait until 2020 to see any evidence of an upturn.”
It has also been a dramatic year for the ‘composition; of the merchant sector itself. Whilst many individual businesses have continued to grow and expand, perhaps in defiance of the prevailing orthodoxy outlined by the BMBI, arguably the two most notable stories of 2019 have been Grafton’s sale of Plumbase to Plumbing & Heating Investments Ltd in addition to further businesses being swept up by Cairngorm Capital Partners’ growing interest in the sector — most recently, Grant & Stone has become the latest merchant to move into the fold.
“Arguably the two most notable stories of 2019 have been Grafton’s sale of Plumbase to Plumbing & Heating Investments Ltd in addition to further businesses being swept up by Cairngorm Capital Partners’ growing interest in the sector.”
Over the last few issues, PBM has been implementing a replacement for the traditional paper ‘Readerlink’ enquiry card with a brand new service designed to provide readers with a much faster way of finding out additional information on the topics, articles and new products featured in the magazine.
Much of our editorial content now features a bespoke, shortcode URL — www.rdr.link — followed by a unique five-digit code. Entering the URL into your browser will take you directly to relevant, supplementary information on the item or topic you have been reading about — for example, videos, downloadable reports, technical guides, brochures, ‘bonus’ content on the PBM website and much, much more.
We hope you find this new service useful.
