Record sales year for A F Blakemore

Turnover for the family-run group, which has its headquarters at Longacres Industrial Estate, Willenhall, was up 7.1 per cent to £1.28 billion with pre-tax profits up by 18.5 per cent to £9 million.

The 2014-2015 financial year to the end of April was a record year for growth and saw the business add 177 new shops to those it supplies in the year.

A F Blakemore, run by the third generation of Blakemores, owns 294 branches of Spar around the country

Chairman, Peter Blakemore, cited on-going innovation across the estate and the increased strength of the convenience sector as the key reasons for this success.

"These are encouraging results in a year when food retailing and wholesaling has encountered many challenges.

"Innovations have included our continued focus upon food service, fresh foods and food-to-go, which has included opening 19 Subways and three Greggs franchises to enhance the retail offer to the consumer.

"Supermarkets have continued to attract lower sales whilst convenience stores have witnessed growth in both numbers and turnover. We have continued to attract new stores and we have invested considerable time and money to help our independent retailers develop their stores," explained Mr Blakemore.

Of the new shops, 20 per were through co- investment by the company and the independent retail owner.

Mr Blakemore said the co investment proposition, whereby the company puts in a significant percentage of the money and all the support services, has helped drive the bottom line while keeping the proprietor fully supported within the A F Blakemore family.

The group has grown from a greengrocers' shop in Wolverhampton 98 years ago to employ 7,900 staff in 2015.

It also has its own cash and carry depot network and provides the logistics and services the businesses in its network require. It serve a total of 1,080 Spar stores across England and Wales.

Managing director of Blakemore Trade Partners, Jerry Marwood, said the group was being helped by the rapid growth of the convenience sector including shops opening on petrol station forecourts.

He said a lot of independent retailers it served were now investing in their businesses.

Mr Marwood, who has been with the group for just over four years, said Willenhall-based BTP was performing in line with growth across the group.

"We are seeing similar signs of growth across all the divisions in the group and we are quite optimistic for the future," he added.

The A F Blakemore group reinvests 98 per cent of its annual profits back into the business and the remaining two per cent is received by the Blakemore Foundation charitable trust.

"This on-going reinvestment has resulted in the significant growth of our business in recent years and I am totally confident that we have the strategy, tools and the people to continue this success in the years ahead," said Mr Blakemore.

Turnover across the group was also helped by 2014/15 being the first full year to include the BA Cash & Carry business in South Wales, as well as very good sales increases in the company's Foodservice, Fine Foods and Design and Shopfitting divisions.