Thanks to the dedication and skills of its two founding partners, Derek Mumford and Dennis Wood, the Mumford & Wood brand is successfully nearing its 60th anniversary.
From relatively humble beginnings in a small factory in Ongar, Essex, successive double-digit growth saw Mumford & Wood Ltd move to its present state-of-the-art production facility in Tiptree, Essex, during the 90s. The brand has become one of the most formidable players in the premier timber sash window sector and is a popular choice of architects, developers and owners of distinctive properties.
When Mark de Rozarieux and I acquired Mumford & Wood in 2006 we also formed the Performance Window Group (PWG), now part of the wider Performance Timber Products Group.
Together with senior management, and the second generation – John Mumford and Chris Wood – we rapidly grew the turnover from around £6m. After helping in the early days, post acquisition, John Mumford sought alternative challenges while Chris Wood became a minority shareholder in PWG and remained in the business as sales and marketing director.
My vision was to develop the business in timber fenestration both organically and by acquisition, taking on new geographic markets in the UK and introducing new customer market channels. In 2007 Clearwood UK was acquired by PWG – just 12 months after Mumford & Wood – serving the south-west with quality timber windows and doors. Growth picked up a pace and in 2009 timberwindows.com was added to the Group. Simultaneously the business was refinanced and Graphite Capital, a leading London-based private equity bank, took a controlling stake. My team and I remained to run the business on a day-to-day basis.
Continued growth necessitated the introduction of control systems and measures that would make it easier to sustain growth and, more importantly, ensure funding remained in place. Management accounts were introduced that provided a more sophisticated measurement of the Group’s direction.
In 2009 Chris Wood left PWG, by mutual agreement, with ambitions to venture into property development. Before returning briefly to PWG, he formed a new business importing internal timber doorsets from South America.
There soon followed the acquisition of the Dale Windows brand and also the IP of Henman Green, a leading conservatory and orangery brand, the latter enabling Mumford & Wood garden rooms to be added to all brand offerings.
Following this substantial investment, intensive development of dynamic new systems allowed the development of on-line product configuration and pricing for bespoke, high-performance, quality timber windows, doors and garden rooms. Dale is the exclusive brand for fixed distribution outlets through national and regional builders merchants.
In July 2010 PTPG acquired the trading assets of Sunderland-based John Porter Doors, with a sales turnover of £7m and 90 employees. However, we sold the company and trading assets in 2012 to TDSL of Mansfield, which is now part of the Laidlaw Interiors Group.
Careful stewardship
A great deal has occurred over the last seven years, not least of which has been the massive downturn in demand created by the banking crisis. Careful stewardship of the company’s costs has been necessary in order to maintain profitability and cash generation so that growth could continue and, today, the Group will be approaching annual sales of £17m this year and operating profit is back to reasonable levels.
Today, The Performance Window Group is the proud owner of the best brands in the UK timber window sector, with all customer channels covered. For example, Timber Windows has market-leading e-commerce tools that allow the end user to configure product specification and pricing with on-line ordering through a nationwide network of specialist local installers. Our installers work in exclusive territories and receive full marketing and administrative back-up, as well as distinctive corporate branding.
Our business model is based on exceptional customer service, lowest cost production, product innovation and meeting the market demands for the supply of sustainable building products.
This year Mumford & Wood has introduced a complete redesign of all products in its award-winning Conservation range, providing the market with a unique and exclusive internally glazed system. Enhanced performance properties include improved thermal efficiency, aesthetics and security. A new and sophisticated software system has been launched to improve the way the company interacts with the market in pricing its products, which has been further extended to produce internal documentation for manufacturing requirements.
Over the next two years further investment in this area will lead to a complete enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The company has continued an investment programme for the two Essex factories, including new bead cutting and preparation to support the newly engineered product; an extension to the paint plant to add capacity; and a new state-of-the-art moulder for the Maldon facility. The Group’s HQ has been established at Tiptree where central services, including warehousing and distribution, support all brands.
The future is much brighter both in terms of market activity and in our ability to price competitively while reacting to the high demands of our customers. They rely more and more on our ability to offer a unique, high-quality bespoke fenestration system that not only replicates fine historical details and features, but deals with the high demands from building owners to conserve energy and accommodate our increasingly harsh climate.
