Timber and timber products helped merchants buying group Unimer increase turnover by 23% to an all-time high of £646m in the year to April 2004.
The company’s board, timber and insulation products category accounted for £163m of turnover – an increase of £38m or 30% up on the previous year.
Major timber industry suppliers to the group include Britannia Fencing, Richard Burbidge, Finnforest, James Latham, Jeld-Wen, Severn Timber and Velux. Between them, these companies grew turnover from £27.7m to £43.3m, making timber and timber products the fastest-growing sector of Unimer’s turnover.
Buyers through Unimer range from national merchant chains like Travis Perkins, as well as specialists like Howarth Timber, Arnold Laver and Wenban Smith.
The group was hit hard by the liquidation of Dale Joinery‘s Rochdale site earlier this year. “But we were able to work closely with Jeld-Wen to ensure merchants were still able to supply their customers with suitable product,” says Unimer’s commercial director Chris Pateman. The recent addition of two new timber suppliers, SCA and Ess-Enn, is also expected to add even more timber throughput over the next 12 months.
Unimer chairman Alan Hampton said the year marked a “significant milestone” in the company’s history. “As an independent members co-operative, we have continued to correctly judge the market and offer a growing number of suppliers arrangements in the tried and tested format that leaves manufacturer and member to confidentially negotiate off-invoice pricing.”
