At a Glance
The BSS Group plc is a leading distributor to specialist trades. Our customers are industrial contractors, domestic plumbers and heating engineers, independent merchants and industrial end users. Our branch based, sales focused approach, supported by excellent nationwide logistics, ensures we deliver constantly high levels of customer service.
We recognise that scale and leadership brings competitive advantage and we aim to break into adjacent markets and take BSS to a higher level of revenue and profitability.
Domestic
Revenue £916.4m
Operating Profit* £32.6m
Margin 3.6%
Key facts
- 322 PTS branches trading
- 15 new PTS branches opened
- 11 F & P branches trading
PTS supply a wide range of customers from national contractors to sole trading plumbers and heating engineers.
The PTS central buying team works closely with leading manufacturers so that we can offer our customers the latest product innovations and the best range of market leading brands at competitive prices. With five regional distribution centres PTS is able to offer unrivalled local level of service backed up by a national support network. Locally the branches provide a fast and efficient delivery either direct to the construction site or to the customer’s premises.
Merchant heating, plumbing and sanitaryware is supplied through F & P Wholesale (‘F & P’) providing national coverage. The needs of independent plumbers’ merchants and appliance outlets are serviced through daily deliveries and competitive pricing. Each centre has a team of knowledgeable staff ready to assist customers.
Directing Heating Spares (‘DHS’), a leading wholesaler and distributor of spare parts to the heating industry, was acquired in April 2009 and now forms part of the Domestic Division.
* Operating profit prior to amortisation of acquired intangibles of £0.5m (2009: £0.4m) and reorganisation costs of £0.8m (2009: £0.6m)
Industrial
Revenue £332.4m
Operating Profit* £25.1m
Margin 7.6%
Key facts
- 63 BSS Industrial branches trading
- 2 drainage branches opened
- 16 implant drainage branches opened
- 10 UGS branches trading
The industrial, commercial and process industry, construction and maintenance markets are serviced through BSS Industrial in the UK and Ireland. Customers are serviced across all industrial sectors.
Specialist teams provide technical sales support and a nationwide branch network is supported by a Central Logistics team as well as a National Distribution Centre based at Lutterworth, Leicestershire, which provides daily delivery services to all branches.
The National Tube Distribution Centre at Coventry offers a unique solution for linear distribution. It is designed to store around 400 linear tube products in stainless and carbon steel, plastic, cast iron and copper, and is supported by a fleet of articulated vehicles.
Specialist brands Pegler & Louden, AMS, Austin Stroud, Havelock Controls and Manor Plastics enhance our service offering to the industrial repair, maintenance and improvement (‘RMI’) markets.
Underground Supplies (‘UGS’), acquired on 5 February 2010, is a leading UK distributor for the supply of underground drainage and civil engineering materials to the construction industry offering a vast range of products and technical support to civil contractors and main builders.
* Operating profit prior to amortisation of acquired intangibles of £0.4m (2009: £0.3m) and redundancy costs of £1.2m (2009: £0.3m)
Specialist
Revenue £103.6m
Operating Profit* £2.0m
Margin 1.9%
Key facts
- 29 B & H branches trading
- B & H trade counters relaunched as Tooltastic
- B & H stocked range of 60,000 products
Buck & Hickman (‘B & H’) is one of the UK’s leading distributors of tools, maintenance and health and safety products. The product range includes 23,000 items which are marketed under Buck & Hickman’s ‘Roebuck’ own brand. Buck & Hickman offers a range of industry leading value added solutions including Vendor Managed Inventory and eProcurement.
Price Tools and Birchwood Products merged in April 2009 to form Birchwood Price Tools (‘BPT’) a wholesaler of power tools and accessories, hand tools, safety wear and general consumables to established dealers across sectors covering both trade and industry as well as being a designer and global importer of equipment for construction and related industries, primarily focused on the repair and maintenance sector. The company has a reputation for creating innovative product solutions under the brand names of Scruffs, Van Vault, Defender, Rhino and U-GO. BPT’s customers include tool hire, builders’ merchants, electrical wholesalers and tool retailers.
* Operating profit prior to amortisation of acquired intangibles £1.4m (2009: £1.5m) and redundancy costs £1.0m (2009: £0.1m)
The Business Review contains forward looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results, operations and business of The BSS Group plc. These statements and forecasts include risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that occur in the future. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward statements.
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