Running a £300m turnover business with Nick Howarth, Howarth Timber Group

Leeds Business Podcast

Today’s guest runs a 1000 staff, 45 location, £300m turnover business. AND he’s a 6th generation family owner.

Hear the fascinating story of Howarths Timber, the successes and failures of the business, how you manage such a huge entity and the family-owned aspects that power it. There's also learnings from the failures the company have experienced too.

From sawing down trees to AI, this episode is one worth listening to….

If you're looking for a business and entrepreneurship podcast that will inspire, motivate and educate you, through the personal business journeys and entrepreneurial lessons learnt of Leeds business owners then this is the podcast for you.

INTRODUCING NICK HOWARTH

Nick Howarth joined the company in 1979 after completing a Management degree at Manchester University. He and his brother became joint chair in 1988 after their father died.

The Howarth Timber Group is a 185-year-old Leeds based 7th generation family business with a turnover of £300 million, employs over 1,000 colleagues and is listed within the Sunday Times Best Places to Work Award. Howarth Timber Group import timber, value add process it and distribute it along with related building materials nationwide, operating from 45 locations.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

[00:00:00] The history of Howarths Timber

[00:07:30] Working in the family business

[00:10:00] The development of Howarths into new markets

[00:14:00] What is ‘value-add’? And helping the competitors…

[00:17:00] The challenges to managing a huge operation

[00:20:00] Adapting to market change and the businesses core values

[00:30:00] The use of AI and technology in the business

[00:35:00] The need for family emotional engagement in a family business

[00:43:00] The failures and the lessons learnt

3 KEY TAKEAWAYS & BUSINESS LEARNINGS

• Employ good people and let them understand what they need to do in terms of outputs and performance
• Learn to swim in choppy seas when the market goes into a downturn
• Missed market opportunities (things you didn’t do) are also business failures

3 MOMENTS TO LOOK OUT FOR

“My dad would go into the forests, mark up trees and chop them down”

“We’ve had a number of people with us over 50 years”

“85% of our profits are invested back into the business”

VALUABLE RESOURCES FOR YOU

Website: www.leedsbusinesspodcast.com

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/leeds-business-podcast/

Work with Phil - www.philfraser.co.uk

Website: https://howarth-group.co.uk/

Shout out: https://familybusinessuk.org/

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YOU MAY ALSO LIKE OTHER FAMILY BUSINESS EPISODES

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Jamie Bentley, Stephenson Personal Care - https://leedsbusinesspodcast.com/podcast/jamie-bentley/

Howard Moss - Astonish - https://leedsbusinesspodcast.com/podcast/howard-moss/

ABOUT YOUR HOST

Phil Fraser went from an accidental kitchen table start up, with no investment, all the way to multi-million pound sale to a PLC 18 years later. He’s travelled the full SME business journey of launch, growth, scale and exit.

As well as hosting the Leeds Business Podcast, Phil now works with ambitious SME-owners as a Business Sounding Board (think somewhere between Business Coach and Business Mentor). In simple terms, he’s ‘a pair of ears and an extra pair eyes’ for SME Owners helping them to be better at what they do. Phil’s mantra is It doesn’t need to be ‘lonely at the top’. He helps Business Owners to be better business owners, by helping with their clarity and focus.

As a Business Sounding Board, he gives SME Owners the time & space to regularly discuss their challenges and opportunities, with no sense of judgement or bias, and in complete confidence. This allows them to explore their options in full, culminating with a list of issues to address/clarify, a clear target in mind, a roadmap to success, and a renewed enthusiasm and confidence for the challenges ahead.

Want to work with Phil to help you? See www.philfraser.co.uk.

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