Myers eyes growth across Yorkshire after £3m investment

A family-owned construction company which helped to build the M62 and has worked on Buckingham Palace is expecting double digit growth this year after a £3m investme
Brother and sister team Katie and James Berry, directors of Myers Group, which was founded by their great grandfatherBrother and sister team Katie and James Berry, directors of Myers Group, which was founded by their great grandfather
Brother and sister team Katie and James Berry, directors of Myers Group, which was founded by their great grandfather

Huddersfield-based Myers Group, which is run by fourth generation brother and sister team James and Katie Berry, said it had ‘ramped up’ investment in the last three years to support its growth plans across Yorkshire.

The group, which has a £50m turnover and employs 350 people, provides building products and services to the construction industry.

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The organisation quarries Yorkstone from its Johnsons Wellfield plant; mixes Readymix concrete at four sites; sells timber and general building products through its network of 14 Myers Building Supplies branches and provides a skip hire service to Huddersfield and the surrounding areas.

It has invested £4.5m since 2017. The £3m investment this year will take the total over three years to £7.5m.

The 90-year-old company has invested heavily in its HGV fleet and now has about 60 trucks on the road, including crane wagons, concrete mixers and skip wagons. It plans to invest a further £1.4m in the fleet this year. The fuel bill for the vehicles is £1m a year.

Another big investment is at the quarry which uses extraction and processing equipment.

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Other investments include adding a new builders’ merchant in Knaresborough to its regional branch network plus new technology and staff training.

Mr Berry said: “We plough an awful lot of money back into the business and we’ve really ramped that level of investment up to support the growth plans and make sure that we can maintain that high level of service.”

Current expansion plans include developing its builders’ merchant branch network in Yorkshire, particularly in the East.

Mr Berry said he also wants to broaden the company’s product ranges. “Historically we’re known for the heavy, below ground-type works, the concrete, breeze blocks and drainage but we want a better market share across things like plumbing, heating, timber and landscaping products as well.”

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Mr Berry is also looking to step into the agricultural market. “We supply the farmers for a lot of building materials but we think we could broaden that into fencing, more drainage, animal troughs and gates.”

Looking at the areas in which the group works, Mr Berry said the market was currently split. “The housing market remains strong and that’s really helping the builders merchant business,” he said. “However, the commercial market and the infrastructure market is a little slow and sluggish and we associate that with the current economic situation and the lack of certainty around that. People are parking some projects until they work out what’s going on.”

He added: “But on the whole, because we’ve got such a broad customer base, business is generally good at the moment.”

Mr Berry said he expects 10 per cent growth in turnover both this year and next year.

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The company is entering its busiest period as the landscaping season starts. “For the next six months we’re expecting to be extremely busy,” he said.

He added that the company didn’t have much exposure to Europe. “We’re going to keep a close eye on what’s going on in relation to Brexit but we’re not going to worry too much about it,” he said.