Fiona Russell-Horne

Group Managing Editor across the BMJ portfolio.

JT Dove turnover heads to £60m

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Revenue at north east independent builders merchant JT Dove hit £58.8m in the 12 months to December 31 2018, new accounts have revealed. Turnover at the merchant, which stocks timber, plumbing products and building materials was up from £52.5m 12 months earlier. Pre-tax profits also increased to £2.4m from £2.3m. …

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NMBS issues fraudulent bank email warning to merchants

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Independent builders merchant buying group NMBS is warning its members and suppliers to beware of fake emails claiming to be from the Buying Society, following an attempt to trick builders’ merchants into sending payments intended for NMBS into a fake account. In early September a number of NMBS members received …

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Grafton shows half-year growth

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Irish merchanting group Grafton saw bigger contributions to its growth in the six months to June 30 2019, particularly from it Irish and Netherland businesses. The UK merchanting division saw more modest growth. Chief executive Gavin Slark said: “We made good strategic and operational progress in the first half of …

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(Not) Much ado about everything

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what we have we prize not to the worth Whiles we enjoy it, but being lacked and lost, Why, then we rack the value, then we find The virtue that possession would not show us While it was ours.   Well. What a to-do. There has been so much going …

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Froch opens Frank Key’s new Sheffield branch

Copy of Chris Cunliffe Frank Key Chairman Des Stancill Branch Manager Carl Froch and Robert Sansom Frank Key owner 1

Former world boxing champion Carl Froch MBE officially opened the newly-refurbished Sheffield branch of independent builders merchant Frank Key this morning (September 9). The Nunnery Drive branch of Frank Key Building Supplies in Park Hill, Sheffield has undergone a £250,000 investment, including a complete internal and external refit. Froch was …

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Pavestone rally: the convoy continues

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Check out the latest Pavestone Rally gallery…. The 2019 Psvestone Rally saw entrants buying  a road-legal car for under £500 (the cheaper the car, the more fun!), dressing it up and hitting the road for four days to Lake Como. Dressed in fancy dress, they have to complete challenges along …

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Keyline relocates from Warrington to Widnes

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Keyline, the civils specialist merchant, has made a move to further strengthen company growth by relocating its Warrington branch to a brand new 3.5-acre site in Widnes. Keyline had outgrown the Warrington branch location and the Widnes site gives it an additional 2.5 acres of space. This will allow Keyline …

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Pavestone Rally: it all starts here….

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Five days. Four countries. 2,250 miles. 31 teams. The Pavestone Rally 2019 starts here. In cars that cost no more than £500, the teams are heading from Reims to Lake Como, via Stuttgart, Salzberg and Venice, completing a variety of challenges along the way and donning an array of fancy-dress …

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Kerridge Commercial Systems buys MAM Software Group

Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) has agreed the acquisition of MAM Software Group, Inc, the global provider of on-premise and cloud-based business management solutions for the automotive parts, tyre and vertical distribution industries. The all-cash transaction is approximately $154.2 million. “This all-cash transaction provides MAM Software’s stockholders with a premium over the …

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