Timbmet had to go back to go forward. Chief executive officer Paul Rivers came to that conclusion soon after arriving in February.

Mr Rivers is the kind of management that must give PRs sleepless nights. He’s fasttalking and plain speaking and the plain truth, he says, was that Timbmet had drifted off track. Others, including the banks, agreed, which was why he was recruited, initially as chief operating officer.

A chartered accountant by profession, Mr Rivers spent 10 and 14 years respectively at publicly quoted companies PriceWaterhouse Coopers and Grant Thornton before the change of tack that led ultimately to Timbmet.

"I moved into private equity, working with businesses that were struggling or failing – it was essentially the company turnaround business, although I prefer to call it refocusing," he said. "It was generally a similar story; companies had over-borrowed, strayed from the business plan and lost focus on the essentials."

While most of Mr Rivers’ refocuses succeeded, ranging from jewellery business Mappin & Webb and menswear chain Suits You, to the West Cornwall Pasty Co, a few companies were beyond help. But from the start he was sure Timbmet wouldn’t be one of them.

"I live five minutes from the Oxford head office and drove past for 25 years," he said. "I already had the impression of a high quality business."

This was born out on a tour with main shareholding family member, non-executive chairman Simon Fineman.

"The company clearly had good people and a sound structure – five well-sited depots, an impressive machining facility in Glasgow and the state-of-the-art 200,000ft² Shellingford distribution hub," he said. "A lot of the right things had also already been done. Margin control had been tackled and the closure of two unprofitable depots and job cuts had reduced the cost base."

Despite this, Timbmet was still losing money and the principal reason, Mr Rivers concluded, was that it had become too complicated.

"When I arrived I knew nothing about timber, but I knew all business basically comes down to buying the right product, getting it in front of the customer, selling at the right price and delivering efficiently. It ain’t more complex than that."

Timbmet, he maintained, was more complex. It had become several businesses in one, with the depots, Shellingford, Glasgow and international trader Timbmet Global, functioning as semi-detached operations.

"Going backwards to go forward became the mantra," he said. "We had to go back several years to rediscover our identity, confidence, and what made the company tick, then build from there."

The most urgent step was to accelerate the reforming of Timbmet to a single operation and a dramatic outcome of that was the loss of one finance, two managing, and three sales directors. Mr Fineman also became nonexecutive chairman as Mr Rivers stepped up to CEO from COO to work with group managing director Nigel Cox, the ex Shellingford operations director, who took his current role in January following Wendy Trott’s departure. He is another "non timber man", having joined Timbmet three years ago from Hanson Cement Building Products.

"We lost talented individuals, but senior people were tripping over each other and pulling in too many directions," said Mr Rivers. "At the same time, with Simon Fineman remaining as non-executive chairman, we kept that link with Timbmet’s family heritage, and his deep industry knowledge."

Streamlined logistics
Following the changes, Mr Cox had direct line of sight across the business, bar Global, which answers to Mr Rivers.

"Various parts of the business had been doing their own thing, even competing; with depot and Shellingford trucks, for instance, delivering to the same customers the same day," said Mr Cox. "Building on what we’d done at Shellingford to improve picking and fleet utilisation, we’ve developed far more co-ordinated logistics and synchronised delivery between Shellingford, Glasgow and the depots."

The overhaul, he added, resulted in the group delivery fleet reducing by a quarter. "We’re working vehicles harder, but we’re far more streamlined, which ultimately benefits customers," said Mr Cox. "We’re a smaller team, working more closely to meet their requirements and much better placed to provide the complete product package – timber, panels, engineered products – in one efficient delivery."

The changes have also included greater dovetailing of the various parts of the salesforce.

"The new teamwork structure following the division mergers enables the external business managers to work very closely with the depots and internal teams," said Mr Cox.

Meanwhile Timbmet Global has gone from 14 to six personnel and focused on its profitable markets.

"The biggest problem was India, which was impossible to extract money from!" said Mr Rivers. "We pulled out and now concentrate on the Middle and Far East and UK."

But Timbmet hasn’t been simply immersed in retrenchment. While rediscovering its unified roots, it has also continued to evolve, notably in product and market profile.

"Our reputation was built in hardwood, and that’s still our DNA," said Mr Rivers. "But more than 50% of our business is now in panels, laminates and mouldings and, besides hardwood lumber, the timber operation includes TEC engineered wood components for window and door product ranges."

DIY and shopfitting
"And with the growth we’re seeing in home improvement and shopfitting sectors, and increasing stress on making better use of the timber resource, we see further potential in these areas," said Mr Cox.

Underlining this confidence was Timbmet’s recent decision to become an Egger Zoom gold supplier. This involves stocking the complete Zoom collection of melamine boards, edging tapes and laminates, a total of 112 different décors. Previously it held 65 MFC décors. "It’s a big expansion, with more stock and new racking, but it shows our commitment to develop this offering," said Mr Cox.

"It also shows Egger’s faith in us in this market," said marketing director Liz Richards. "And it’s a commitment that will evolve with the range."

At the same time, Timbmet’s DNA hardwood business is not treading water. Head of timber commercial development Justin Hayward is evaluating new species and TEC products and further potential is seen for developing the Red Grandis laminated eucalyptus business, both into merchant and end-user markets.

"Red Grandis has already made tremendous inroads in recent years and has so much going for it," said Ms Richards. "It’s plantation grown, certified, TRADA-tested, it’s clear, works well and offers continuity of supply. And architects and specifiers like it too. Rivals are now appearing, but given Red Grandis’ quality and brand investment, we’re confident about prospects."

Shaking off old perceptions
Timbmet is also tackling how it communicates products to market, to "shake off old perceptions".

"We’ve reorganised our customer database and addressed promotions, literature and use of new media to make customers aware of exactly what we offer by way of product and service," said Ms Richards.

"We’re targeting lapsed accounts and making communications increasingly two-way.

We’re asking customers how products are being used, what they’re tendering for and using that information to be even more market responsive."

The outcome of all this work, said Mr Cox, is a sales team with greater confidence that their products are the ones customers want. "What we have, sales want to sell," he said. "We’ve cut stock, but we’re turning it over more frequently."

No doubt also helping on this front is a refocus of competitive position.

"Maybe we overstressed chasing margin," said Mr Rivers. "It’s still important, but the prime emphasis is now also very much about letting customers know we want their business."

Timbmet is also fine-tuning the other strings to its bow. These include its iPack online pack ordering service, which has expanded to a much wider range of products, and its hi-tech CNC cutting operation at the Stonehouse depot.

"This is getting a reputation for very highspec work, including TRADA’s annual architectural student design competition projects," said Ms Richards.

New financing
Undoubtedly benefiting from Mr Rivers’ financial background, Timbmet has also underpinned strategic developments by securing a £20m cash injection from Lloyds.

"This comprises a business loan and working capital," said Mr Rivers. "There’s also a flexible invoice discounting package, of which we’re using £9m out of £12m, with scope to draw more as business grows."

The financial backing, he maintained, demonstrates that others share his belief that Timbmet is heading in the right direction. In fact it forecasts getting back to profit this financial year on turnover of £77m and is even in the mood, longer term, to talk expansion, possibly with more machining facilities or new depots.

"In addition to what we’re doing to strengthen the business, there are also increasingly clear signs of market recovery, not just in construction, but also, as our shopfitting sector sales show, in retail," said Mr Rivers. "In the last four months we’ve seen dramatic improvement, and nothing breeds success like success. You can feel the company’s confidence growing."

In short, Timbmet is preparing to move firmly back into forward gear.

TIMBMET – The Structure
Shellingford distribution hub – delivers to depots, merchants, end users and other customers. Delivers product to Glasgow for redistribution, stocks the latter’s machined goods and transfers to depots. Developing pick up trade.

Depots (Basildon, Borehamwood, Larkfield, Poole, Stonehouse) – offer delivery and pick-up trade for merchants, end users and other customers, including machined orders from Glasgow and provide cutting and CNC services.

Glasgow – machining centre, and distribution hub for north and Scotland, supplies merchants and other customers, and services machined orders from Shellingford and depots.

Green Passport
Timbmet is a member of the Timber Trade Federation and signatory of its Responsible Purchasing Policy, so says meeting the legality demands of the EU Timber Regulation has not been a major issue.

Even so, head of environment Chris Cox has travelled to Africa to evaluate suppliers’ legality assurance on the ground. He is also working with tracking software specialist Helveta on a pilot project to develop a timber ‘digital passport’ for real-time tracing of shipments. This, said Mr Cox, promises a "level of due diligence never previously available".