Heres what happened in 2018
With 2019 commencing, we are going to look back on our most successful year to date, as our turnover surpassed £100 million. 2018 brought us a lot of new and exciting changes for the business.
Our first major development in 2018 was the opening of SBS Newcastle, this expanded our depot network to 14, meaning that we can hold more stock and offer an excellent service nationwide.
A new product guide and website was released, showcasing our wide range of stock which now exceeds over 20,000 product lines. The website allows us to keep you updated with the latest developments happening within the company. Our literature was added to in the form of a brand-new video, released early this year. The short media clip gave all our stakeholders a “behind-the-scenes” overview of how our staff work to provide the quality service we deliver.
Throughout the year we have sponsored and supported many industry awards, where we were able to attend and given the opportunity to announce the lucky winners. We were shortlisted for “wholesaler/distributor the year” at the ACR awards and proceeded to win the coveted award at HVR awards ahead of BSS and SAV. Along with this accolade, we were featured in the leading lights supplement of Builders Merchants News, where we had the highest percentage increase of 23.19%. Smith Brothers (Leicester) were also included in the Top 200 companies in Leicestershire at number 62.
Again, Smith Brothers have achieved the silver FORS accreditation for the third year running, since upgrading from the bronze award. Overall SBS has held the accreditation for over six years. The award is granted to our wide fleet of vehicles usually compromising of LGV’s, 3.5T and 7.5T flatbeds along with our smaller box vans. All our vehicles hold the status, meaning that when you place a delivery from one of our 14 depots located in England and Wales, you know that they meet the high standards set by the scheme.
Our staff have visited many exhibitions including PHEX, the Installer show, and the Construction show at the NEC in Birmingham. However, we went one further in 2018 by having a stand the HVAC&R show between 23rd – 25th January at the ExCel arena, where we were in attendance alongside our supply partner Daikin, as SBS are an approved Wholesaler.
Loads of events took place throughout all the branches, but two events stand out this year. One included our first female only industry event held at a luxurious Spa. The other was the annual SBS Fishing event which reached its 10th year. Virtually all of our events have customers, suppliers and staff members in attendance, so that’s to all for your support.
SBS also went global this year with multiple factory visits across the world which included visiting the Daikin factory located in the Czech Republic and the Aquatechnik factory in Italy.
The England Football team almost made it to the final and SBS supported the team with having our own branded World Cup t-shirts, charts and van stickers.
In 2019, we already have a few exciting developments scheduled. We will announce them in due course via our newsletter, newsfeed and social media.
