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The Midas touch
Page 18
Page 19
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To do it once was an achievement, but to build up two transport firms to the point where rivals will pay a lot for them has to be more than just luck. We tracked down Glyn Davies to ask the obvious...
Words: Andy Satter / Images: Tom Lee
"NO, 1 THINK I'M too old now, and don't have the energy to do it all again," says Glyn Davies, when we enquire if he's got the thirst for another session at the haulage bar.
Davies is now over 60, although he doesn't look it, and frankly doesn't want, nor we suspect does his bank balance need, the pressures of running a 24/7 road transport operation.
"I've had the sleepless nights, worrying if drivers would turn in or goods get delivered," he says. "1 don't have the desire to go there again."
To coin a phrase, this is one chap who's most definitely been there, done that and, we'd argue, designed, never mind bought, the T-shirt.
OK. we're pandering a bit, but you can't help but doff your cap to a chap who has not only developed and diversified one business from a two-bob outfit to major player and then sold it off for a decent wedge, but then came back and did it all over again.
Secret of his success
The secret to the success is to have the necessary processes in place to ensure you have control of your business and know where you're going, he reckons. A simple enough idea, but it's something all too often missing from a number of operations.
The Russell Davies success story. and the eventual sell-out to Securicor in 1994, has been well documented over the years, so we won't dwell on it. This being Davies' first interview since he, and his fellow directors, sold Hanbury Davies to Wincanton in January this year for a reported £25m, we were keen to get the lowdown on how that deal was cracked.
"Hanbury Davies, as we called the company. was formed when we bought two struggling transport operations — Loadwell and Goodway — in 1999," Davies explains. "Both were on their backsides, but they had some interesting customers and we had retained some business links among other potential customers. In 2002, we took on the Felixstowe business of Newell & Wright, and in 2003, took over the third-party maritime business for DFDS, which involved 100 trucks. At the peak, we had in the region of 480 trucks."
The focus of the Hanbury Davies business was very much on container transport, and with substantial growth in this sector forecast, it was only a matter of time before someone came knocking, particularly given the highprofile nature of the smart fleet.
"There had been a few suitors," Davies recalls, "but Wincanton came along in November 2006, and 13 months after the inevitable tug of war, we agreed on the sale of Hanbury Holdings to Wincanton.
"Subsequently, we then bought back two parts of the business: Hanbury Riverside and Ashby Lawrence Homes, which builds properties."
Davies goes on to explain how those two businesses amounted to a turnover in the region of £30m, which would seem to be more than enough to keep him out of mischief.
These days, Davies is spending much of his time working on Hanbury Riverside, the contract hire and used vehicle specialist that is based in Thurrock, where he works alongside used truck sales supremo Lee Smith.
Hanbury Riverside was formed in 1997, although the relationship between Glyn Davies and Lee Smith goes back a number of years: "Lee's father Ron was Scania's first UK salesman. He sold me my first Scania in the '70s, when we were running Russell Davies," says Davies.
All about relationships Smith has generated an enviable reputation in the used truck sector — "If there is such a thing as an honest second-hand salesman, Lee Smith is it," is the faint praise one operator threw his way when we put out our feelers — and prides himself on having a very close relationship with his customers. Targeting the top end of the market with quality-spec vehicles, Smith and the Hanbury Riverside team are willing to go that extra yard, and have customers who keep coming back for more.
"We have people ring up and feel like they know us." Smith tells us. "We're doing around 300 trucks a year it's a team effort to satisfy the customer."
Lee's father Ron formed Riverside Commercials in 1982, and, according to Davies, this was the graveyard for many Russell Davies trucks as they reached the end of their life. With Hanbury Davies the relationship with the used truck area became more sophisticated. The transport company and the contract hire operation at Hanbury Riverside is effectively a factory for one-year-old used trucks.
"We put vehicles out on a one-year contract hire deal, and those trucks then become our stock for the used enterprise," Davies explains.
Over the past three years there has been an insatiable demand for the vehicles. "We specify the new vehicles with their second life very much to the fore," adds Smith. "For instance, by specifying the drawbars with nine-tonne front axles, this opens up a much bigger second life for the truck. I spend a lot of time listening to the market and picking up on the trends to ensure we've got the right line-up to satisfy demand."
Trust,reliability,expertise One of the current trends is the allround tightening of business in the face of the existing economic climate. Both Smith and Davies are philosophical about the prospects: "The market has been very buoyant over the past few years," says Smith. "We've now got to start earning our money. We'll need to be more creative to support our customer base." Neither will embellish on what this means, limiting the detail to: "We'll be offering more flexible options to our customers."
"We've seen tough times before," adds Davies. "We just need to stay focused on ensuring we satisfy our customers."
Although Davies reckons he's done with road transport, that doesn't mean he's lost his appetite for business.
With Smith and the rest of the team at Hanbury Riverside you have a formidable line-up of expertise. Sure, the tough times will come, but with them will come an even greater reliance on customer relationships. At Riverside, those are based on trust and reliability — a good mix, we'd venture. •