VII hen we pull up at the base of the
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Thompson Martin Group, in the village of Crowle, near Scunthorpe, we are presented with the sight of five brand spanking new ERFs finished in the metallic grey livery of the steelmaking giant Corus. Just days before, Corus had announced drastic rationalisation plans, but Scunthorpe's steelmaking industry escaped the axe.
Good news, then, for co-directors Alex Bogan and Chris Church. That said, Bogan had a hunch things would go their way: "I have always had confidence that the steel industry would survive in Scunthorpe," he says. "That allowed us to make the £500,000 investment in the new ERFs," adds Church.
Church and Bogan strike you as supremely confident and assured—a far cry from the many hauliers who are fed up with working in the industry.
When you look behind the scenes you can understand their enthusiasm. Church was previously general manager and director at Clugston Distribution; Bogan was managing director at the same firm. They left Clugston and, with backing from investment capital group 3i, bought WH Martin and Son, a haulage firm running three trucks. Church says: "We acquired the business in March 1988. We knew we had to grow fast to be a serious contender and on reflection i988 was the start of the recession, with the interest rate running at 15%. Yet in the first year the turnover increased from £160,0 00 to
A decade later the company's turnover was running at L3.5m. In 1999 they bought haulage firm Thompson Freight Services and in March 2000 Church and Bogan bought back 3i's shares. Joe Mansley, managing director at Thompson Freight Services, became managing director of the new Thompson Martin Group.
Current turnover is f8.5m, generated by a fleet of 70 tractive units: 50 are on the road, with 20 on site shunting duties for Corus in Scunthorpe, which accounts for 25% of the firm's work. Much of this involves carrying semi-finished steel billets to ports and rolling mills around the UK.
Bogan and Church aim to keep Coals happy, Church says: "Corus wants payloads of 28 tonnes rather than 24; that's why we have bought the 44-tonners."
The Thompson Martin Group also works for Rugby Cement, picking up from its plants then delivering to builders' merchants, construction sites and block manufacturers. The firm also carries paper and timber. "There is quite a diverse industrial base locally," Bogart remarks. Thompson Martin Group has two depots. The Crowle site accommodates the traffic office, workshops and admin staff; more workshops are located at the firm's satellite
depot in Scunthorpe, and there's a total of 9,0 oom2 of warehousing space.
Sagan believes that you are more likely to succeed if you invest in a going concern: "I think it is better to buy into an existing com• pany, rather than start from scratch."
But haulier-client compatibility is also important. Bogan explains: "Chris and I saw ourselves as being competent managers of big companies, where we can delegate things to people who know the nuts and bolts of the job. We feel more comfortable with bigger companies and working with large customers. There is more empathy between bigger companies."
So if this is Bogan's view, how does Church see the role of the owner-driver? "We can offer complete service packages, but the smaller haulier cannot always do this; they do not have the financial muscle." It seems that aiming high is the name of the game at the Thompson Martin Group. "We always wanted to work with big firms," says Church. "We are doing this and we are successful."