Howarth Timber Group managing director Nick Howarth admits to being very proud as the company celebrates its 175th anniversary. And with good reason – there aren’t many timber companies still around that can claim such a long history.

It’s clear that the company, one of the largest in the UK timber industry with a group turnover of around £170m, is enjoying its historic milestone, with a plethora of different events organised throughout the year to mark the occasion at a cost of around £400,000.

And the company’s philosophy of highly valuing its staff and their contribution to business is reflected in the celebrations. "It’s a big achievement to reach our 175th anniversary in 2015," said Mr Howarth.

"We are looking to celebrate that achievement with the people that made it all possible – our staff, customers and suppliers." You can imagine Mr Howarth and his brother Andrew, the twin driving force of Howarth Timber Group over the last 27 years, smiling as they watch staff and their families whizzing around on the rides of Alton Towers on two days this summer – all paid for by the company. That’s potentially up to 2,000 people.

The celebrations also include match day sponsorship at Leeds United, trade competitions, a dinner for suppliers and customers, plus an exhibition.

And yet, as Nick Howarth reflects, there were moments in the company’s distant past when it seemed unlikely that the business would grow into the size and scope of operations today.

He credits his father Peter with playing a key role which set the company on its current trajectory.

It was he that stepped in during the early 1950s aged just 26 to save the company when it seemed the banks would close the struggling business, then named Hudson & Co.

His enthusiasm and vision laid the foundation for a renewal and expansion which helped put the company where it is today.

Early Days

But it was William Hudson who originally started the business in 1840 as timber merchant Hudson & Co in Mill Street, Leeds. In 1865 he invited his nephew John Howarth to join, as he didn’t have any children. Then, in 1866 the business moved to Garden Street in Leeds where it stayed for 138 years.

"Originally it was a timber merchant selling a mixture of homegrown timber, hardwoods and imported timber," said Mr Howarth.

Like many manufacturers, its operations were utilised during the Second World War for the war effort, producing munition boxes and timber components.

When Peter Howarth took over the reigns and saved the business in the 1950s, he then acquired other shareholdings in the company, resulting in the Howarth family owning all the shares by 1959.

Then Hudson & Co became a timber importer in the 1960s with the acquisition of Hull-based importer JB Stringer.

"It was a key moment," said Mr Howarth, adding that it gave the company control over its raw material sourcing.

In 1964 Hudson & Co leased the derelict New Holland Dock from British Rail and purchased it later in 1984.

There was a string of acquisitions of other merchants – between 1963 and 1973 a further 11 businesses were added to the group.

In 1965, it moved into engineered timber products – roof truss production. Door and window manufacturing followed in 1985, the same year that the Howarth Timber Engineering (HTE) division was founded.

A new generation

In 1988 Nick and Andrew Howarth, then aged 31 and 33, became joint managing directors – another catalyst for the company’s further growth.

Acquisitions continued when, in 1995, Howarth bought the Austin Timber Group, comprising six branches across the northwest.

Engineered floor joists joined the HTE product offering in 2001 in the shape of the Trus Joist I-joist. Today the division has three sites – Manchester, Selby and Bury St Edmunds, with Boise I-joists, roof trusses and spandrel panels now forming the offering. In 2004, the three-acre Leeds city centre site in East Street, which housed mill operations, was sold after 138 years working there.w

"It was in the city centre and we needed to expand," explains Mr Howarth. "We managed to get residential planning permission and completed a high value sale to a developer." Today the group operates 30 sites, the majority of which it owns.

Howarth Timber & Building Supplies has moved from being a timber merchant to being a full mixed merchant, selling a wide array of building materials, with an annual turnover of £68m.

"The company stayed as a single site merchant for 125 years," said Mr Howarth. "Only in the last 50 years has it really been expanding.

"We have opened new merchant sites through a combination of greenfield sites and acquisitions."

The windows and doors division, Howarth Windows and Doors, has seen a lot of change since its formation in the 1980s.

"The history of timber windows prior to 1998 was that a large majority of windows in new build housing was unglazed and primed," recalls Mr Howarth.

"The market at the end of the 90s moved quickly to using PVCu windows so we looked at what we needed to do to survive. We made the decision to move into factory finishing and glazing.

"From 2000-2006 we operated unglazed and primed production, as well as fully finished manufacturing. In 2006 we dropped the unglazed product."

Eight years ago the factory, located at New Holland for economies of scale, switched to only using laminated redwood for stability and quality reasons.

The division, a founding member of the Wood Window Alliance, is expected to have a turnover of about £9m in 2015, Today Howarth’s importing business is called Arbor Forest Products and is an importer and distributor of softwood timber and MDF mouldings. This company has its own management team, and operates separately and independently from the other parts of the Howarth Timber Group.

From the New Holland site, which extends to 60 acres and 1 million ft2 of storage, Arbor annually supplies more than 225,000m3 of timber to the building, DIY and construction trades, through independent merchants, generating a turnover of £68m in 2014.

Howarth’s wharf services arm also provides logistics for third parties at New Holland. In total, New Holland handles around 450,000m3 of softwood annually and is responsible for about 10% of the UK’s softwood imports.

The recession

"When the recession hit in the back end of 2007 it was very sudden, particularly for Howarth Windows & Doors and HTE which sold predominantly to new build housing," Mr Howarth explained.

"Housebuilders almost shut down by about 70% virtually overnight and stayed that way for 3-4 months.

"Business stayed at low levels until April 2013. It also affected the timber and building supplies business, but to a lesser extent.". "We closed our timber frame operation down at Bury at the end of 2011."

But today the picture is very different. The remaining roof truss and engineered floors business operated by HTE now has a turnover that matches pre-2007, even though timber frame is no longer produced.

"We are looking at growing our roof truss manufacturing operation and also looking at getting into prefabricated roof panels."

Mr Howarth said the company was in discussions with engineered wood products manufacturer Boise about using the latter’s newly developed roof panel system. "We will hope to start manufacturing and selling the system."

The future

"In the future, we are going to stick to our core values, maintain growth and continue to grow our core operations, and invest in staff, giving them clear opportunities," added Mr Howarth.

"At the end of the day, we are very much positive about our staff. We see them as the most important and valuable part of who we are.

"We will look to have flexible management structures and be responsive to our customers."

In the financial year ended March 31, 2015 Mr Howarth expects sales to be up 17% on the previous year.

And two new sites have been acquired already this year, with a development project starting at Harrogate, where a new branch will open.

A new website will also be launched in the next couple of months, representing an investment of about £250,000.