It's been a busy week for Sir Anwar Pervez. On Tuesday, the founder of the Bestway Group celebrated 30 years as a cash & carry wholesaler with a lavish bash for 1,000 guests at Grosvenor House in London. On Wednesday, he was treating journalists to a curry at the Park Royal-based HQ. And on Thursday Sir Anwar was at the FWD annual dinner with all his industry colleagues.
So, plenty to celebrate. But not much to look forward to, you might think, as its customers slowly but surely lose market share to the multiples. (Indeed, not for the first time, this week we saw independents stocking up on great deals at, er, the supermarkets, this time tempted by a Morrisons deal on Stella at 67p a pint.)
But the remarkable thing about this market is the resilience and optimism of wholesalers like Sir Anwar. True, margins are tight: 1.5% for the cash & carry business. And the acquisition of Batleys appears not to have improved that, even though Bestway has been able to broker better deals on product lines where Batleys had previously negotiated a lower price.
But with sales on the increase, up 26%, Bestway is quite clearly competing - and without losing margin (profits were up 27%). So it has enough money to go after the acquisitions that are surely inevitable in this market. It's even competing for talent. Bestway has 20 youngsters on its graduate recruitment scheme, another sign of a progressive outlook.
And it's not just this wonderful old boy who has a spring in his step. As we've already seen, Charles Wilson is breathing new life into Booker. As is Chris Etherington, the new boss at the UK's No1 delivered wholesaler, Palmer & Harvey (see p30). He is new to the industry and he has a fresh and upbeat outlook.
With people like this at the helm, the wholesale sector surely has plenty to look forward to, after all.
So, plenty to celebrate. But not much to look forward to, you might think, as its customers slowly but surely lose market share to the multiples. (Indeed, not for the first time, this week we saw independents stocking up on great deals at, er, the supermarkets, this time tempted by a Morrisons deal on Stella at 67p a pint.)
But the remarkable thing about this market is the resilience and optimism of wholesalers like Sir Anwar. True, margins are tight: 1.5% for the cash & carry business. And the acquisition of Batleys appears not to have improved that, even though Bestway has been able to broker better deals on product lines where Batleys had previously negotiated a lower price.
But with sales on the increase, up 26%, Bestway is quite clearly competing - and without losing margin (profits were up 27%). So it has enough money to go after the acquisitions that are surely inevitable in this market. It's even competing for talent. Bestway has 20 youngsters on its graduate recruitment scheme, another sign of a progressive outlook.
And it's not just this wonderful old boy who has a spring in his step. As we've already seen, Charles Wilson is breathing new life into Booker. As is Chris Etherington, the new boss at the UK's No1 delivered wholesaler, Palmer & Harvey (see p30). He is new to the industry and he has a fresh and upbeat outlook.
With people like this at the helm, the wholesale sector surely has plenty to look forward to, after all.
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