NBC increases revenues by 25% to £750 million

National Buying Consortium (NBC) has announced that its revenues have grown by 25% to £750 million in the past year.

Managing director David Lunt (centre) with member shareholders (left to right): Jason Langmead, David Longfellow, Stuart Lane and Jamie Granville.

Speaking at the group’s AGM, managing director David Lunt reported that 11 new members have joined the group, taking the total to over 50.

He added that key category sales (soft drinks, snacks and confectionery) through NBC are up by over 30% year on year.

“I am pleased to report another period of significant growth and development for the group,” said Lunt. “All of our key performance indicators are in the right direction – membership, revenues, and contributions from trading. For this we are thankful for the support and co-operation of our supplier partners.

“The key has been collaboration – ultimately we want brands to be available at the point of sale or purchase in the channels we supply – and whilst we have made significant progress there is still a great deal more to go for.

“It has become clear to us that providing access to brands, stock and fair prices for our members has to be the focus for the coming months,” he continued. “We will continue to grow our membership where the benefits are mutual and built around trust, and work closer in collaboration with supplier partners to make this happen. Our central warehousing and logistics facility – NDN – will help to facilitate this and we truly believe that this is a benefit to both members and suppliers. NDN is definitely helping smaller businesses get access to stock.”

Lunt said that NBC is launching a Web-2-Print service to help members support brands through their own businesses. “This will be a free service available to members, providing them with a very valuable business tool and immediate savings that can be re-directed to other activities,” he explained.

David Longfellow, director of Leeds-based J L Brooks, will become chairman of NBC on 1 January 2023, taking over from Jason Langmead, managing director of VWT (Guernsey), who will have completed his two-year stint in the role. Jamie Granville, director of Worthing-based Mr Crisp, will become vice chairman.