Throughout the remainder of 2021, our team will be hosting a series of exclusive webinars demonstrating how builders merchants leverage ECI Software Solutions to reduce costs, improve productivity and increase profitability.
Cornwall-based sawmill Duchy Timber has recently purchased a state-of-the-art horizontal resaw at its Lostwithiel site in order to help facilitate a significant increase in production. The new multi-bonded saw is a big timesaver for the team and will allow them to dramatically improve their sawing capacity.
The NBG has released its latest Partner survey, which shows that Partners are feeling ready to open their showrooms and branches, and conduct face to face meetings with Suppliers on site. The survey has been carried out quarterly since the first lockdown last year. Overall, 94% of respondents indicated that their branches are now fully open, with 3% remaining closed on Saturdays, mainly because of a conscious change in business operating hours. This is a significant change since the last survey in November, when only 86% were fully open and 12% were closed on Saturdays.
Murdock Builders Merchants, the timber suppliers and builders’ merchants based in Newry, Northern Ireland, has bought the oldest builders’ merchant in Ireland – the Brooks Group. The Brooks Group comprises Brooks Builders Merchants and Dublin Plywood and Veneer (DPV), from Wales-based Premier Forest Product Group. The acquisition will lead to the return of Irish ownership, after a 40-year interval, of Brooks – leading to the establishment of a strong force in the market with reach throughout Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Builders’ Merchant Company Ltd (BMC) is pleased to announce the completion of a management buyout and the appointment of two new directors. BMC is the largest independent builders’ merchant in the Lincolnshire and Humber region, with four branches, and a projected turnover of around £12million in 2021.
EU nationals have until 30th June to apply for settled status or they face becoming illegal immigrants overnight. It is because of this that construction employers are urged to help their European staff with outstanding applications to ensure this doesn’t happen. EU nationals without settled or pre-settled status will be unable to work, open a bank account, access healthcare or rent a home.
Travis Perkins Chief Operating Officer, Frank Elkins, has warned that around 40% of the group’s branches are experiencing cement shortages. He recommends that businesses give the builders’ merchant as much notice as possible regarding the products and materials they require, in order to help Travis Perkins to plan and secure the materials.
Grant & Stone Group has acquired Devondale Electrical Distributors (Devondale), which provides an extensive range of electrical and ancillary products to electricians, electrical contractors and facilities managers. This acquisition has expanded Grant & Stone’s network of specialist electrical wholesalers and is the most recent of a number of acquisitions including builders’ and plumbers’ merchants in the South West of England.
The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) has warned that cement, some electrical components, timber, steel and paints are all in short supply. The Office for National Statistics has projected a rise of 7-8 per cent in material prices this year, with increases for certain materials, such as timber, expected to more than double. These increases are down to a number of factors including construction industry projects having surged since lockdown, leading to huge demand for already scarce materials.
BSW Timber, the UK’s largest integrated forestry and sawmilling group, has acquired Bayram Timber for an undisclosed sum. Bayram was established more than 20 years ago and is a market leading timber processor and manufacturer. Some of the sectors it supplies for are the UK caravan, leisure home and garden sectors. The acquisition will strengthen BSW’s value-added processing capabilities and will help to broaden BSW’s product offering and service to customers.
All 750 employees at The Independent Builders Merchants Group’s (IBMG) 39 branches will get the afternoon off on 25th June. This is to give employees a well-earned extended weekend break on the first weekend following lockdown easing. As a further show of appreciation, all employees will also receive vouchers so they can enjoy dinner compliments of the business that night.
The K-Briq - a brick that has been made of recycled construction waste – will go into production, thanks to £1 million in funding by Zero Waste Scotland to its developer, Kenoteq, a clean-tech spin-out from Heriot-Watt University. The multi award-winning K-Briq is made from over 90% recycled demolition and construction waste materials, produces one tenth of the carbon dioxide emissions of a traditional fired brick, and requires less than one tenth of the energy in its manufacture. By re-using recycled materials, Kenoteq will lead the delivery of a circular economy revolution for the construction sector.
The demerger between Wickes and Travis Perkins has now completed, with Wickes rejoining the London Stock Exchange as a standalone company. Alongside the demerger, Travis Perkins shareholders also approved the resolution to consolidate shares in Travis Perkins. Both Wickes and the remainder of the business have been enjoying strong sales, attributed to people doing more DIY and home repairs during Covid-19 lockdowns.
Construction equipment sales saw a 30 percent increase in first-quarter UK sales, suggesting significant momentum in the market. This is according to the construction equipment statistics exchange run by Systematics International Ltd, in partnership with the Construction Equipment Association (CEA). Incredibly, retail sales of construction and earthmoving equipment in the UK and Northern Ireland in March 2021 were almost double the levels seen in March last year when the pandemic first made an impact.
The finalists for the Builders’ Merchants Awards, to be held virtually on 14th May 2021, have been announced. The judges, who are all leaders within the building and construction industry, came together for a virtual judging day and have decided on three finalists for each category, due to the exceptional number and high level of nominations.
House-building, commercial projects and infrastructure work have all been displaying strong growth in the latest snapshot of the construction sector, which accounts for around 6 per cent of total UK output. This is according to the latest IHS Markit/CIPS (Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply) UK Construction Total Activity Index, which registered 61.7 in March, a sharp increase from 53.3 in February.
Kingfisher, the company that owns DIY retailer B&Q, has said that their pre-tax profit jumped 44%, while sales increased to £12.3bn in the year to 31st January 2021. They put this down to the Covid-19 pandemic giving rise to an increase in 18-34-year-olds doing more home improvements than any other age group.
With the government’s roadmap out of the COVID-19 pandemic underway, Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has announced a series of measures that he hopes will “protect the jobs and livelihoods of the British people.” This includes an extension of the Furlough Scheme for a further five months, from May until the end of September 2021. In addition, much has been detailed regarding support to businesses including a new UK-wide scheme launching this autumn to help 100,000 SMEs save time and money by adopting productivity-enhancing software, enabling them to transform the way they do business.
Hundreds of UK companies have been compromised as part of a global campaign that has been linked to Chinese hackers. Cyber-security firm Eset has said more than 500 email servers in the UK may have been hacked – with many not knowing they have been victims of the attack. The race is now on for affected companies to check for recent compromises to their systems and ensure no webshells have been installed on their servers.